Roberto Martinez, a former manager of Everton and Belgium, has been named the head coach of Portugal.
The 49-year-old Spaniard succeeds Fernando Santos, who quit following Portugal’s World Cup quarterfinal loss to Morocco last month.
Following Belgium’s group-stage elimination in Qatar, Martinez announced his resignation as their coach after six years in command.
“I am very happy to represent one of the national teams with the best talent in the world,” Roberto Martinez said.
“I am very excited to be here. From the first time I spoke with the president of the federation I knew this was a sporting project that would excite me.”
“I understand there are great expectations and big objectives, but there is a great team of people at the federation and I have great excitement that together we can achieve those objectives.”
Fernando Gomes, president of Portugal’s national football team, said: “This is an important moment for the national team.”
Martinez managed Wigan for four years, winning the FA Cup in 2013, before moving on to Everton for three years, where they twice ended 11th in the Premier League and finished fifth once.
After being named Belgium’s coach in 2016, he guided the team to third place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the top of the Fifa rankings.
During Santos’ eight years in command, Portugal won the 2016 European Championship and the 2018–19 Nations League.
During Qatar World Cup, Roberto Martinez and his Belgian team managed to win one of their three group games in Qatar.
On the other hand, Santos’ decision to bench striker Cristiano Ronaldo for the quarter-final game against Morocco cast a cloud over their campaign. They ended their journey in favour of Morocco.
While announcing his exit from the team, Fernando Santos said: “My point of departure will be the squad of 26 players who played in the World Cup, and Cristiano Ronaldo is one of them.”
Decisions will be made “on the pitch and not in an office,” he continued.
As for Portugal’s new coach, Martinez, some have criticized him for failing to extract more performance from the so-called “golden generation” of Belgian players, which includes Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard, and Romelu Lukaku.
Roberto Martinez
Roberto Martnez Montoliu, a former professional football player and current head coach of Portugal’s national team, was born on July 13, 1973, in Spain.
Martnez started his career as a defensive midfielder for Real Zaragoza, where he also won the Copa del Rey.
He played for CF Balaguer for a year in a lower level before joining Wigan Athletic in the English Third Division. He joined a tiny Spanish contingent at the club known as “the three amigos” with Jess Seba and Isidro Dáz, and for six years, the longest time he had lasted at one club, he was a regular first team member.
He won the Football League Third Division and the Football League Trophy when he was there. Before joining Swansea City in 2003, he first played for Scottish club Motherwell before moving on to Walsall.
In 2005, he was elected club captain and contributed to the team’s promotion to League One. In 2006, he relocated to Chester City, where he was once more selected as captain.
He gave up playing in 2007 to coach Swansea City, guiding them to League One championship and promotion.
He subsequently joined Wigan Athletic in 2009, assisting the team in avoiding relegation for three straight years.
Wigan were relegated in his fourth season, but in 2013, the team won the FA Cup for the first time ever.
He was appointed manager of Everton at the conclusion of that campaign, and his first campaign there resulted in a fifth-place finish.
Martinez led them to their best-ever finish in the 2018 FIFA World Cup in third place, and from 2018 to 2022, Belgium held the top spot in the FIFA World Rankings.
After the FIFA World Cup 2022, he left Belgium. He was chosen to lead Portugal as their coach in January 2023.
How Good Is Martinez?
Martnez is widely recognized with inventing Swansea City’s possession-based style of play during their League One title-winning season and subsequent climb to the Premier League.
Brendan Rodgers, Michael Laudrup, and Graham Potter were picked as the next Swansea managers after Martnez left for Wigan to continue playing the brand of football he had created.
Martnez, with varied degrees of success, also instituted a similar possession-based style of play at Wigan and Everton.
Martnez credits Johan Cruyff’s ideology with influencing his managing style.
