Why did Spain sack their manager Julen Lopetegui before World Cup 2018 and who has replaced him?
SPAIN are one of the World Cup favourites, but will have to do without former manager Julen Lopetegui.
La Roja's boss was sacked just 48 hours before their opening game against Portugal after agreeing to join Real Madrid at the end of the tournament.
Who is Julen Lopetegui?
Julen Lopetegui was born in Asteasu, in the Basque province of Spain in 1966.
The former goalkeeper came through the Real Madrid academy after being snapped up from his local side Real Sociedad at the age of 19.
Lopetegui would make one appearance for Los Blancos before moving to Logrones in 1991.
But after joining Barcelona in 1994, he joined the likes of Michael Laudrup, Luis Figo and Ronaldo in holding the honour of playing matches for both of Spain's El Clasico rivals.
He also made one appearance for the Spain national team, coming on as a substitute in a 2-0 friendly loss to Croatia in 1994.
Lopetegui secured his first coaching job in 2003, as assistant manager of Spain U17, before moving to Rayo Vallecano.
In the 2008/09 season he managed Real Madrid B and in 2010 he returned to the Spain fold, progressing from the Under-19s to the Under-21s in two years.
He then left to join Porto for a two-year spell in 2014 before being given the Spain job in 2016.
Lopetegui was unbeaten in his 20 games as La Roja manager before Real Madrid came calling.
Why did Spain sack Julen Lopetegui as manager?
Lopetegui agreed to join Real Madrid two days before the start of the World Cup and three days before Spain's opening game.
Although managers such as Antonio Conte and Louis Van Gaal have taken other jobs before leading respective national teams to tournaments, the Spanish FA were furious with the underhand nature of negotiations.
Lopetegui informed FA chief Luis Rubiales just five minutes before Real Madrid's press conference that he would be joining Los Blancos.
Added to that, he had signed a new deal with Spain just three weeks before agreeing his move to the Bernabeu.
Rubiales said: “I found out (Lopetegui was leaving) with one or two calls five minutes before the official announcement.
“Real Madrid are looking for a coach and is looking for the best, that is normal, I will not say anything about that.
“But while that coach is working for the Spanish Federation you can not do things this way.
“You have to have a clear message for all the workers inside the Football Federation that there is a way to act and behave.
“I don’t feel cheated, the problem was the total lack of clarity with the Spanish Football Federation, that is something that cannot happen.
"Lopetegui is an impeccable professional but actions are important."
Fernando Hierro has been swiftly chosen as Lopetegui's replacement for the tournament.
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Did Julen Lopetegui nearly join Wolves?
Julen Lopetegui admitted he was very close to joining Wolves in 2016, before Spain came calling.
The connection came about through his agent Jorge Mendes and a year later, Lopetegui's Porto successor Nuno Espirito Santo was chosen as manager.
Lopetegui said: "I was very close to Wolves. They were very nice to me and really interested, but things happened the way they happened."