Del Bosque quits as Spain coach

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has resigned his post after the national team crashed out of Euro 2016. "It was a decision I had taken beforehand. I don't want to hide, nor make an exhibition of myself," he said.

Del Bosque had been asked not to make the decision public until the next RFEF assembly on July 15.

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque said he was stepping down from the job just three days after the defending champion was knocked out of Euro 2016 by Italy at the finals in France. “Of course, I have no intention of continuing,” he said in an interview with Radio Nacional de Espana on Thursday. “It was a decision I had taken beforehand.”

Spain, which was trying to win its third straight European title, lost 2-0 to Italy in the last 16 on Monday. Del Bosque, 65, led Spain to its first World Cup title in 2010 and followed that success by clinching Spain's second successive European Championship two years later.

At that point, Spain was the dominant side in world football, with its high-tempo possession game providing a template that many teams tried to emulate. Its air of invincibility was punctured at the World Cup in 2014, however, when it was knocked out in the group stage after losing its opening two matches.

Del Bosque, who won two Champions League crowns and two La Liga titles in a four-year spell in charge of Real Madrid from 1999, was persuaded to stay on as Spain boss and led them into Euro 2016 where it reached the last 16.

It was beaten, however, by a well-organised Italy side and looked a shadow of Del Bosque's previous teams. “However the European Championship worked out, I had no doubt about my future,” he said.

“It was a decision I had taken beforehand. I don't want to hide, nor make an exhibition of myself.”