Del Bosque to step down after World Cup 2014

Posted Saturday, April 27, 2013 by Goal.com

The current Spain boss has announced he is looking to take on more of an ambassadorial role for the country's football federation following the tournament in Brazil

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque has declared that he will step down from his post after the 2014 World Cup.

The former Real Madrid boss led his country to glory in South Africa in 2010, and secured la Roja's second consecutive European Championships crown with last summer's triumph in Poland and Ukraine.

The 62-year-old has confirmed that next year's finals in Brazil will be his last in his current capacity, and says he would consider moving into an ambassadorial role for the Spanish Football Federation [RFEF} in future.

"My final responsibility as Spain national coach will be at the World Cup in Brazil next year," Del Bosque told Telam.

"Afterwards, maybe I will continue to work with the Spanish federation carrying out representative duties like this, travelling to different places and accepting invitations to public events."

Looking ahead to next summer's showpiece tournament, Del Bosque believes Argentina and hosts Brazil will pose the biggest threat to his side's crown.

"Argentina have a great team, from the midfield going forward, and can count on a player like Lionel Messi who can unbalance any defence," he continued.

"I have always been an admirer of Brazilian football. As hosts, they will be one of the main challengers for the trophy."

Del Bosque also believes it is too early to claim that Germany have moved to the pinnacle of European football after Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund's respective Champions League triumphs over Barcelona and Real Madrid this week, insisting it could all change in the second legs.

"I do not believe that Germany is going to unseat Spain just because of these results," he said.

"We had three teams in the knockout rounds, and now the two ties are still not decided. When that happens, we will speak. We should not get ahead of ourselves. It could be next week we have to take back what is being said at the moment.

"Nobody expected these results as Spanish football is in a privileged position. The first leg results were very bad. But, we have the best foreign players in our country and Spain has been leading the Fifa rankings for some years now. This shows we are in a good moment, and we cannot enter into pessimism just because of two games."