25 Quotes by Vicente del Bosque

Leadership must be likeable, affable, cordial, and above all emotional. The fashion of authoritarian leadership is gone. Football is about life. You can’t be angry all day.

I didn’t really want to be the coach who wins but the coach who educates.

The certainty that our football, the football of Spain, is recognised, that’s very important to us – perhaps more important than the successes and the joy that you can create. Football hasn’t always been appreciated, and luckily our football is appreciated now, at all levels of society.

No one knows anything about economics. It’s the great lie of the economists. By contrast in football people might have contrasting opinions, each of which has some validity. But the economists always speak in conditionals – what a mess.

I think it is important to help our country’s image outside of Spain.

Sometimes people say that coach is a winner, but everyone wants to win. You must know how to behave in victory and in defeat, to look after what is our sport, football.

Spain used to be very individualistic in its sporting activities. Now we are showing we are pretty good in teams – that is an improvement.

As with Cesc Fabregas, some players who go and play for foreign clubs improve on a cultural level. It makes them grow on many levels; intellectually, because you have to learn a new language and adapt to another culture, and on a footballing level too.

The Confederations Cup is interesting. It served Spain very well to take part and then go on to win the 2010 World Cup. We knew the stadiums, the atmosphere, the conditions and also the difficulties of a tournament which simulated the World Cup format.