Domenico Tedesco named as new Belgium manager

Italian succeeds Roberto Martinez as manager on deal that runs to after 2024 Euros

Former RB Leipzig's head coach Domenico Tedesco. Photograph: Filip Singer/EPA
Former RB Leipzig's head coach Domenico Tedesco. Photograph: Filip Singer/EPA

The former RB Leipzig manager Domenico Tedesco has been appointed as Belgium’s new head coach. The 37-year-old Italian succeeds Roberto Martínez on a deal that runs to after the 2024 European Championship in Germany.

Tedesco told the Royal Belgian Football Association’s website: “For me it is a great honour to be the new head coach of Belgium. I’m really looking forward to the task and I’m extremely motivated. I had a very good feeling right from the first conversation.”

Tedesco, who was born in Italy but grew up in Germany, has also coached Schalke and Spartak Moscow, had been out of work since leaving Leipzig in September.

Martínez had a six-and-a-half-year stint as Belgium manager during which he guided them to their best World Cup finish with third in Russia in 2018. He stepped down in December after the team’s shock group-stage exit in Qatar, and has since become head coach of Portugal.

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Belgium open their 2024 European Championship qualifying campaign with an away match against Sweden in Stockholm on 24 March.