Spain stalwart Quereda on World Cup

They may be debutants at the FIFA Women's World Cup finals but Spain have the longest-serving national coach in the game, Ignacio Quereda.

At the Spanish helm since 1988, Quereda's side qualified for the 1997 UEFA Women's EURO but then no other tournaments until the continental finals of 2013. They reached the last eight in Sweden and proving it was no fluke, Spain are now in their first World Cup, kicking off on Tuesday. Quereda spoke to UEFA.com about the tournament and why Spain are now making the breakthrough.

UEFA.com: How are you looking forward to your first World Cup?

Ignacio Quereda: We are really looking forward to it. I have never experienced a World Cup from the bench, I've only watched it [in a stadium]. So we are very hopeful with a lot of anticipation and desire. We want to get to know the competition from the inside, experience it, participate in it and get to know it – and certainly to be competitive. That is our target.

UEFA.com: What do you think about your three group opponents, Costa Rica, Brazil and South Korea?

Quereda: I don't think it is one of the toughest groups, there are more difficult ones. But it is a difficult group for us because it's the first time we've taken part, we've not had this experience before. We want to enjoy it and to be competitive.

I think Brazil are a huge opponent to play against – they have actually taken part in every World Cup – Costa Rica play on our level and South Korea are a very physical, very organised and very disciplined team. So we will have our difficulties. But we will go there with the greatest anticipation in the world and we will try to cause a surprise.

Quereda at UEFA Women's EURO 2013©Sportsfile

UEFA.com: You got to the quarter-finals in Sweden, how far can you go in Canada?

Quereda: We'll see. What we have been doing is to prepare as well as we can, to get as far as we can. But we haven't set ourselves any targets. What we have been focusing on is the continual development and improvement of the team. The first objective will be to get through the first round. And then there is a dream – 'to dream big', as the players have put it as their slogan for this tournament – which means striving to qualify for the Olympic Games [as one of the top three European teams in the finals].

UEFA.com: For a long time Spain did not qualify for a tournament; now you've qualified for Sweden and qualified for Canada. Why have the team suddenly stepped up a level?

Quereda: It's because of the way the Royal Spanish Football Federation [RFEF] has been committed to women's football – creating the right infrastructure starting with the youth, and initiating competitions for girls from seven and eight up to the age of 12, called 'Football 8'. And then of course the emergence of new players and new clubs who have been helping us to grow. Those developments that the girls are benefiting from [at an early age] are enhancing the quality of Spanish women's football, and we reap the rewards later with the senior national team.

Spain's established star Boquete©Sportsfile

UEFA.com: Verónica Boquete has recently gained a global profile and played in several big leagues. How much of an inspiration is she for young female players in Spain?

Quereda: She is a player who has developed and grown a lot, by virtue of having left the country. She has grown up as a person and as a player, and she has become a real reference point. Thank God, we now have a real reference point, not only in Spanish women's football but also on a European level. That's something we needed, so that young girls see themselves reflected in her and want to imitate her and to take that same path in women's football.

UEFA.com: Very few national coaches of any kind have been in charge as long as you. What is your secret?

Quereda: I don't have any secret. I just enjoy it, because I have been lucky and privileged to have the confidence of the [RFEF] president and the Spanish FA, so I do my job with the same dreams, hopes and fun, and also with the ambition to continue to raise Spanish women's football to the level where it should be, and to create all the structures to build that future. And at that moment it will be the time for me to say: "Job done, mission accomplished."