He signed a two-year contract with an option at Strahov. His assistant will be fellow countryman Pablo Amo.
FACR chairman David Trunda already mentioned at the beginning of July on the Livesport Daily podcast that the Czech football leadership preferred a foreign option as the successor to Miroslav Koubek.
This week, things started to move forward. On Tuesday evening, the Spanish sports daily AS reported that Denia was set to take over the Czech bench. The former centre-back, whose career was mainly linked with Atletico, is one of the most prominent figures in Spanish youth football over the past decade.
He gradually worked his way through the youth categories from the U16 squad up to the national under-21 team. He even won European championships with the U17s (2017) and U19s (2019).
A significant part of his coaching career is linked with Luis de la Fuente, the current coach of Spain’s world champions. Denia worked with him on the methodology and playing style of the youth teams.
He also served as his assistant with the under-21 national team and took on the same role at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, where Spain won the silver medal. Four years later, at the Paris Olympics, he led Spain as head coach to the gold medal.
He replaces Koubek, who stepped down early at the end of June after the World Cup. The experienced coach led the team through the play-offs to the tournament in the USA, Canada, and Mexico, but the Czechs managed just one point in three matches and were eliminated in the group stage.
Denia’s first game in charge will be during the Nations League, where the Czech Republic will take on Croatia at home on September 26th.
