Euro 2024: Bishops highlight faith of Spain’s national coach

In recent hours, several representatives of the Spanish episcopate have congratulated the national soccer team for having won their fourth European Championship this Sunday and have highlighted the Catholic faith of their coach, Luis de la Fuente.

The Archbishop of Seville, Mons. José Ángel Saiz Meneses, has spread on X (formerly Twitter) his congratulations to the national team after having been proclaimed winner of the European national team championship after playing the final against England this Sunday in Berlin.

In particular, he highlighted that the national coach is “a deeply believing man, without complexes about publicly expressing his faith and devotion to the Holy Christ of Expiration”, known in Seville as “El Cachorro”.

For the archbishop, the coach “has known how to transmit faith, humility, the value of the team above individuality, the spirit of sacrifice, effort, trust.”

On the same social network, the Bishop of Orihuela-Alicante, Mons. José Ignacio Munilla, has shared the testimony of faith of the coach, who was questioned by an atheist journalist about the role that God played facing the final in a round of press.

Luis de la Fuente responded by pointing out that “faith is something personal and transferable” before explaining his particular case: “As I am free and can choose what I think I have to do, based on my intelligence and my experiences (…) well, I “They invite me to believe in God and give me a lot of security and a lot of strength.”

This public declaration of faith led the prelate to remember the words of Leo Messi after winning the soccer World Cup, who recognized: “I didn’t do anything, it was God who made me play like this.”

In reference to both testimonies, Bishop Munilla adds: “How can we not remember those words of Jesus?: “Whoever confesses me before men, I will also confess before the Father” (Matthew 10, 32).”

For his part, the Bishop of Vitoria, Mons. Juan Carlos Elizalde has congratulated the selection Spanish with the champion of the Wimbledon tennis tournament, Carlos Alcaraz, wishing “that many young people will follow you in the example of a leisure linked to sport, teamwork, healthy competitiveness and effort and improvement to be every day better. You have given us an unforgettable afternoon!”

Other Catholic ingredients of the Spanish team

Among the footballers that make up the Spanish football team that has won the last title is the very veteran Jesús Navas, 38 years old, whose family connection to the Neocatechumenal Way is known.

In 2010, when the Spanish Soccer Team became world champion, Navas wore the phrase “God is love” on his boots.

Among the youngest coaches selected by Luis de la Fuente is Nico Williams, whose parents, from Ghana, arrived in Spain in 1994 after crossing the Sahara and managing to circumvent the Melilla border. His mother was pregnant with his brother Iñaki, also a soccer player.

Finally they were sent to Bilbao, where they were welcomed by Cáritas and the eldest of the Williams brothers, both Athletic Bilbao players, was born. According to Iñaki Mardones, the volunteer who was in closest relationship with them from the first moment, the Williams “have lived their faith very intensely. First, parents have trusted, lived, and given the gift of Baptism and Communion to their children. They have lived it like this. Furthermore, they are very aware of their faith and it accompanies them in their lives.”