Vicente del Bosque confirmed on Thursday his Spain career is over, leaving a daunting challenge for the candidates vying to take over one of world football's powerhouse teams.
The 65-year-old had already revealed ahead of Euro 2016 that he intended to leave his position after the tournament, but he refused to confirm as much after his side's disappointing round-of-16 defeat at the hands of Italy, fuelling speculation he could stay on after all.
There was no U-turn performed, though.
"Without a doubt, I have no intention to remain as coach, but you have to be discreet. No matter what the result of the Euros, I had no doubt about what my future would be," Del Bosque told RNE.
With that, Del Bosque's eight-year reign came to an abrupt end.
Admittedly, their stock has significantly fallen in the subsequent four years, but Del Bosque remains the most successful coach in the history of the country's national team.
Second half of Del Bosque's spell in charge of unimpressive, but well ahead of his predecessors numbers wise. July 1, 2016
He coached Spain during an impressive 114 games - more than any of his predecessors - and led them to 87 victories during his eight-year spell, resulting in a winning percentage of 76.3. For comparison, his successful predecessor Aragones had to settle for a winning percentage of a little over 70, while Inaki Saez and Jose Antonio Camacho won 65.2 and 63.6 per cent of their games in charge, respectively. Javier Clemente, meanwhile, recorded a winning percentage of 58.
Spain scored a stunning 254 goals in the Del Bosque era (2.23 per game), while conceding only 79 times (0.69 per game). In the four years with Aragones at the helm, they netted 76 goals (1.41 per match) against 25 conceded (0.46 per match).
Although Spain were slightly less solid in defence under Del Bosque than they were under Aragones, they more than made up for it going forward. Del Bosque not only made Spain the dominant force in football, but he did so with attacking football.
That makes the vacancy still more challenging for the candidates in the frame to succeed him.
Coaching some of the world's best players remains an enticing prospect, but the Spain job - as far as improving on Del Bosque's achievements - looks like something of a mission impossible at this stage.
Not only because the core of Spain's successful team is slowly saying farewell to the game, with Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez and Xabi Alonso all already having retired from international duty in recent years, but mainly because Del Bosque has set the bar outrageously high over the past eight years.
Good luck to whoever is tasked with following those historic feats.
