European football veteran Domenico Tedesco has been appointed as the national team coach of Belgium after Roberto Martinez was sacked from the role.
Domenico Tedesco, who has managed top clubs in Germany and Russia, takes over from the former Everton and Fulham manager after the latter resigned following Belgium’s exit from the 2022 World Cup in the group stages.
After leading Belgium national team to the semifinals and third-place finish in the 2018 World Cup, Roberto Martinez hit the lows of managerial career at Belgium failing to qualify for round 16 of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
He fell down the pecking order after falling behind expectation and failing to make the best out of the so-called Belgium’s golden generation of players. However, he has been named as Portugal manager.
Now, 37-year-old Italian football tactician has assumed that reins having signed a one-year contract with Belgium and will see the team through Euros 2024 qualifiers and lead them to Euros 2024.
Domenico Tedesco has managed Schalke and RB Leipzig in Germany, including Russia Premier League side Spartak Moscow in Russia.
Reacting to his emergence as the new manager of Belgium national team coach, Tedesco said it is an honor to be appointed as the manager of one of the best national teams in Europe, and is looking forward to the task ahead.
“It is a great honour to be the new head coach of Belgium,” said Tedesco.
“I’m really looking forward to the task and I’m extremely motivated. I had a very good feeling right from the first conversation.”
The Italian-born tactician will take charge of his first match as Belgium coach in a Euro 2024 qualifier against Sweden in Stockholm on 24 March.
Domenico Tedesco
Domenico started as a footballer before venturing into coaching. He started his managerial career at the the age of 31 after a low-key playing career in the German lower divisions. Tedesco managed Stuttgart and Hoffenheim youth teams in the early stages of his coaching career.
He also worked with Erzgebirge Aue, a Lower division side in German football. In the 2017-18 football season, he joined Schalkee as a manager, and led the club to a second place finish in the German top flight before being shown the way out the next season following a poor run of form in the league.
Schalkee went 7 straight matches without a win and suffered a heavy and historic Champions League defeat to Manchester City in the 2019/2020 football season, prompting his dismissal from his managerial role at the club.
He was appointed manager at Spartak Moscow, and spent two years with the Russian outfit before joining RB Leipzig in December 2021. Leipzig won the German Cup and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League last season, but Tedesco was sacked in September after a poor start to the 2022-23 campaign.
He joins a Belgium side looking to bounce back from a hugely disappointing performance in Qatar.
The Red Devils, who had claimed third place in the 2018 Euros, went into the World Cup as the world’s second-ranked team but were eliminated at the group stage after winning only one of their three matches and scoring just once.
Can Domenico Tedesco achieve what Roberto Martinez was not able to achieve with Belgium?
