The former coach of the Belgian national team, Roberto Martinez, has been appointed as the new coach of Portugal. The Spaniard thus replaces the veteran Fernando Santos, who resigned at the end of the World Cup. The Portuguese national team was eliminated in the quarter-finals by Morocco. Martinez meanwhile also resigned as Belgium manager after their elimination from the World Cup in Qatar.
The new coach of Portugal said:
"I am very happy to represent one of the national teams with the best talents in the world. I am very excited to be here. From the first time I spoke with the president of the federation, I knew that this would be a project that would arouse a lot of interest in me."
Martinez added:
"I understand that the expectations are high and the objectives are great, but we are dealing with a fantastic group here at the federation and together we can achieve these objectives... My starting point will be the 26 players who played in the World Cup, and Cristiano Ronaldo is one of them."
The coach also said he will make his decisions "on the pitch and not in the office", referring to the importance of the players and their chance to start for Portugal under his leadership.
In addition to international experience, Martinez also spent 4 years at Wigan in England, where he managed to win the FA Cup in 2013. Then the technician joined Everton for 3 years, where in one of the seasons he managed to rank fifth with the team his in the Premier League. Roberto was appointed in charge of Belgium in 2016, and the national team reached its peak in 2018 at the World Cup in Russia, where they finished third.
It remains to be seen how Martinez's adventure in charge of Portugal will go.
