Scaloni the student, De la Fuente the teacher: coaching classmates reunited in 2026 World Cup final

Spain’s Luis de la Fuente will face Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni in the 2026 World Cup final nine years after the pair first met in a UEFA coaching classroom – with the Spaniard then the tutor and the Argentinian one of his pupils.

The two managers will go head to head on Sunday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, as Spain and Argentina contest the showpiece of the tournament being jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Their paths, however, first crossed far from the glare of a World Cup, in a quiet lecture hall during a UEFA coaching course in 2017.

From classroom to World Cup final

French radio station RMC has revealed details of that earlier encounter, which took place almost a decade before the pair would stand on opposite benches in a World Cup final.

In 2017, De la Fuente was delivering sessions on a UEFA coaching programme while also serving as head coach of Spain’s under-18 national team. Scaloni, by contrast, was at the very start of his coaching journey and was enrolled as one of the attendees.

At that time, Scaloni had only just moved into technical roles after his playing career, having worked as an assistant coach at Sevilla during the 2016-17 season before taking up a similar position with the Argentina national team.

The now World Cup-winning Argentina boss obtained his coaching licence through the Spanish Football Federation, helped by the fact he had settled in Spain after spending much of his playing career there.

The relationship between the pair, first forged in those classes, has now become a central subplot to Sunday’s final.

‘He was my teacher’

Speaking after Argentina’s 2-1 victory over England in the semi-final, Scaloni recalled his earlier connection with his opposite number.

“الى جانب حقيقة انه (دي لا فوينتي) كان معلمي خلال دورة التدريب، كانت لدي علاقة خاصة معه”، قال سكالوني عقب الفوز على انجلترا 2-1 في نصف النهايي.

Beyond the formal teacher-student dynamic, Scaloni suggested there was a personal bond, rooted in their shared professional ambitions and the common language of Spanish football culture.

De la Fuente, for his part, has equally fond memories of his former student.

“كان ليونيل (سكالوني) طالبا مجتهدا للغاية، ولديه دافع كبير واهتمام شديد، كان يمتلك روح الشخص الذي يرغب بشدة في التطور والتقدم، كوني كنت معلما له شرف كبير لي”، قال دي لا فوينتي.

His words underline how seriously Scaloni approached his development at a time when there was little indication he would go on to become one of the most successful international coaches of his generation.

Different paths, same destination

Their trajectories since that course could hardly have been more dramatic.

Scaloni went on to take charge of Argentina and led them to a historic World Cup triumph at Qatar 2022, ending the nation’s 36-year wait for the trophy and cementing his status at the highest level of the game.

De la Fuente, meanwhile, climbed through the Spanish federation’s coaching ranks, eventually taking the senior role and guiding “La Roja” to the Euro 2024 title – Spain’s first major trophy since 2012.

Now he stands one match away from his first World Cup crown as a head coach, hoping to add a global title to his European success.

A mentor faces his champion

Sunday’s match at MetLife Stadium will therefore be more than a tactical duel between two highly regarded coaches.

It will also be a symbolic reunion between a mentor and his former student, each now at the pinnacle of international football, each carrying the hopes of a footballing nation, and each seeking to write the next chapter of a story that began, quietly, in a UEFA classroom nine years ago.