Luis Enrique leaves Spain as manager after World Cup last-16 defeat to Morocco, replaced by Luis de la Fuente

Luis Enrique has stepped down as Spain manager following their shock early exit at the 2022 World Cup.

Spain crashed out on penalties to Morocco in the last 16 on Tuesday after failing to break down their resilient opponents in a cagy goalless draw.

Enrique claimed his side had practised 1,000 penalties before the tournament, but they failed to convert a single one as they missed out on the quarter-finals in Qatar.

Spain also lost to Japan as they finished second in Group E – and were briefly staring at an even earlier exit when Costa Rica took a shock lead in their final group game before Germany hit back.

The Spanish football federation, the RFEF, said that a “new project” would begin soon.

“The RFEF would like to thank Luis Enrique and his entire coaching staff at the helm of the national team in recent years,” read a statement.

The Spanish produced the biggest statement in the opening round of fixtures with a 7-0 win over Costa Rica, following it up with a 1-1 draw with Germany that put them on course to top the group.

But the surprise 2-1 defeat to Japan pushed them into a knockout tie with Morocco, who had conceded just one goal – a freak own goal – in their opening three fixtures.

Morocco frustrated their more fancied opponents to force a shootout, with Achraf Hakimi clipping a gutsy penalty down the middle to win the match for the north Africans and send Spain home.

Enrique took over as Spain boss in July 2018 after the World Cup in Russia, left the following June amid “personal issues”, then returned in November 2019.

He guided them to the semi-finals at Euro 2020, also losing on penalties to eventual champions Italy.

Spain have replaced Enrique with Spain U21 coach Luis de la Fuente.

In a statement, the RFEF wrote: “The RFEF has chosen Luis de la Fuente as the new absolute national coach.”

De le Fuente has been part of the national coaching setup for nine years. He first took charge of the U19 side in 2013.

He became the U21 coach in 2018 and won the UEFA European Under-21 Championships in 2019 after a 2-1 win over Germany in the final.