Spaniard Santi Denia is named coach of the Czech Republic national team after poor World Cup showing

PRAGUE — Spanish coach Santi Denia took over the Czech Republic national team on Friday to become the first foreigner in the post.

The Czech soccer association said the 52-year-old signed a two-year contract with an option to be extended by another two years.

Czech football association head David Trunda introduced Denia at a news conference in Prague.

“We greatly appreciate that an expert with such a credit and immense experience at the international level is joining the Czech national team,” Trunda said.

“I'm happy to be here and I'm extremely motivated, because I consider it a great opportunity to lead the Czech national team,” Denia said. “Czech football has a magnificent history and I honestly regard it as a great honor to be here.”

Denia replaced Miroslav Koubek who resigned after the team’s early exit from the World Cup.

Koubek acknowledged his responsibility for the poor results at the World Cup, where the Czechs lost to South Korea and Mexico and drew with South Africa. The Czechs finished on the bottom of Group A with one point.

Denia was a center-back in Atletico Madrid (1994-2005) and has two games on the national team to his credit.

As coach, he led Spain to gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. He also claimed the European titles with Spain’s under-17 (2017) and under-19 teams (2019).

He was most recently in charge of Al-Shahania, a club in Qatar.

His first major task in the post will be to face tough opponents in League A of the Nations League. The Czechs open the competition by hosting Croatia on Sept. 26 in a group which also includes England and World Cup champions Spain.