Roberto Martínez out as Belgium coach following group stage disappointment
Roberto Martínez has coached his last game for Belgium, as the Spanish coach announced on Thursday that he's leaving his role following the Red Devils' group stage exit from the World Cup. Martínez said he made his decision before the tournament started.
"That was my last game. It was emotional, as you can imagine," Martínez said in a news conference. "The decision was taken just before the World Cup. I always work towards the long-term projects, and they need to be set in advance.
"Since 2018, I had many opportunities to leave to take jobs at club level. I always wanted to be loyal and finish the job. I don't resign; it is the end of my contract. That was always the plan."
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Martínez was hired by Belgium in 2016 with the hope that he'd help the national team's Golden Generation — led by world-class talents Thibaut Courtois, Kevin de Bruyne, Eden Hazard and Romelu Lukaku — to great heights, but that wasn't the case during his tenure as both coach and technical director.
At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Belgium was eliminated by eventual-champion France and won the third-place playoff against England. It's next opportunity to prove that it was a true contender was Euro 2020, but it lost in the quarterfinal to Italy.
The 2022 World Cup was viewed by many as the last real chance for Belgium to win a trophy with its Golden Generation, especially since it was rated by FIFA as the second-best team at the tournament. Not only did it fail to make a deep run; it failed to make it out of its group.
On paper, Martínez was successful as Belgium's coach, losing only 11 of the 80 games in which he was in charge, but success for this generation was always going to be judged by trophies.
Belgium now appears to be headed toward a full overhaul, while Martínez, 49, will evaluate his options at the club and international level. Before accepting his role with Belgium, Martínez served as Premier League club Everton's manager for three years.
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