Venancio to lead champions

José Venancio will take charge of holders Spain at the UEFA European Futsal Championship in November after being appointed as successor to Javier Lozano.

Joint role
National coach for the last 15 years, Lozano left the helm of the European and world champions this week to take a position at Real Madrid CF. The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) have turned to Venancio, who will also continue in his position in charge of División de Honor club A. Lobelle de Santiago FS. Venacio, who has long experience in club football and previously held a national-team role with Guatemala, said: "It's definitely a challenge and an honour to coach Spain because they are the best national team in the world, and also taking into account that the country has the best futsal coaches. I want to thank the RFEF and my club for allowing me to combine both jobs."

Tough task
The new coach will open his reign in friendlies against Uzbekistan on 24 and 25 September in Murcia, and on Tuesday his team will discover their 2008 FIFA Futsal World Cup qualifying opponents as they aim for a hat-trick of global titles. Venacio, whose side take on Ukraine, Serbia and Russia in the European finals from 16-25 November, added: "It'll be tough taking over from Javier Lozano and I don't want to set myself any objectives because taking over from someone with the character of Lozano is impossible. The European Championship and the World Cup qualifiers are around the corner and the core of the team will remain the same although I want to use younger players in the future."