Roberto Martinez will even succeed Fernando Santos as national coach and will have a contract that runs until 2026.
Without indicating the name of the coach, the federation informed the press that the new national coach will be presented on Monday at 12.00 by the president of the entity, Fernando Gomez, in a ceremony to be held at the Cidade de Futebol.
According to Spanish radio today, Sunday Cadena SirThe terms of the agreement were closed, and the coach even refused an invitation from Everton of the English Premier League, in recent days, because he was already committed to the Portuguese Federation. The contract will be valid until 2026, that is, it includes the 2024 European Championship in Germany and the World Cup, which will be held two years later, which is a joint organization between Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The 49-year-old Spanish coach was coach of Belgium between August 2016 and December 2022, and left his post after the fiasco of the Belgian national team in the World Cup in Qatar, as it did not pass the group stage. Nevertheless, Martinez did an excellent job for Belgium, leading them to first place in the FIFA rankings and third place in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
The coach was not the FPF’s first choice. The body led by Fernando Gomez tried to appoint Jose Mourinho to this position, shortly after Fernando Santos officially left, but the Portuguese coach’s contact with AS Roma did not allow an agreement to be reached. Then the FPF turned to a foreign coach. Among the various possibilities, the bet ended up falling to Roberto Martinez. According to this Sunday’s edition of the L’Equipe newspaper, Zinedine Zidane, the former French coach of Real Madrid, was approached, but he refused.
And the British newspaper The Telegraph revealed, on Friday, the news of the federation’s interest in Martinez, as it talked about contacts between the two parties, meaning that the former Belgian coach may be Fernando Santos’ successor.
Born in Balaguer, Spain, Roberto Martinez has worked as a player in England and Scotland, representing clubs such as Wigan, Moteruel, Walsall, Swansea and Chester City. In 2007, when he fixed his shoes, he started coaching Swansea and then Wigan, where he signed a contract with Everton in 2013, where he showed work and stayed for three seasons, before contracting with the Belgian Federation. But in Wigan, in May 2013, he accomplished a historic feat: he won the FA Cup, beating Manchester City in the final.
Roberto Martinez’s first task will be the qualification of Portugal to Euro 2024. To get there, the selection must first pass the qualifying stage – it is included in Group J, along with the selection of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Luxembourg, Slovakia and Liechtenstein. Portugal will participate for the first time in the qualifiers on March 23, with a match in Alvalade against Liechtenstein.
Among his other tasks is managing the status of Cristiano Ronaldo, after the cases carried out by the captain of the Portuguese national team in the Qatar World Cup, derived from his condition as a substitute.
As Belgium coach, Martinez has faced Portugal twice – winning 1-0 in the round of 16 of Euro 2020 and previously drawing 0-0 in a friendly match played in June 2018.
The news was updated at 9:05 AM on 01/09/2023
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