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Del Bosque appointed as new Spain coach |
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Wednesday, 16 July 2008 |
 MADRID (Reuters) - Former Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque will take charge of Spain until the 2010 World Cup, the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) said on Tuesday.
Spanish media reported he will be presented on Thursday at 1115 GMT after a meeting of the RFEF general assembly on Wednesday.
“The RFEF executive committee approved president Angel Maria Villar’s proposal of Del Bosque as new coach for a period of two years,” the RFEF said in statement.
The 57-year-old Del Bosque replaces Luis Aragones, who quit to join Fenerbahce after leading the national side to victory at Euro 2008 in June.
The 1-0 win over Germany in the final in Vienna earned Spain their first major trophy in 44 years.
Del Bosque’s first game in charge will be a friendly in Denmark on Aug. 20, when he will need to decide whether to tamper with a side Aragones turned into European champions.
In particular, all eyes will be on him to see whether he brings Real Madrid striker Raul back into the fold, a player he knows well from his time at the Bernabeu.
Aragones was widely criticised for dropping Raul from the side just after the 2006 World Cup in Germany, and not recalling him.
Del Bosque’s first competitive match is at home to Bosnia on Sept 6, for Spain’s opening World Cup qualifier in Group 5, where they are also matched up with Turkey, Belgium, Armenia, and Estonia.
Apart from an unsuccessful eight-month spell coaching Turkish side Besiktas in 2004-5, Del Bosque spent over 30 years involved with Real Madrid as a player and then a coach.
His most successful spell in charge of Real’s first team was between 1999 and 2003, when he steered them to two Champions League titles, and two Primera Liga championships.
Real failed to renew his contract in 2003, and he has not held a coaching post since being sacked from Besiktas at the beginning of 2005. (Writing by Mark Elkington; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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