Portugal National Team have appointed former Belgium coach Roberto Martinez as their new manager. Martinez has replaced Fernando Santos, who stepped down from his role after Portugal was knocked out by Morocco in the quarterfinals of FIFA World Cup 2022. Martinez also stepped down from the role of Belgium coach after the Red Devils failed to qualify to the knockouts. Belgium’s World Cup group stage exit was quite disappointing because they were also among the favorites to the win the tournament.
Jose Mourinho and Paulo Fonseca were also strong contenders in the race of Portugal’s new manager. In the end, Martinez won the race and has been appointed as the new coach of Portugal football team.
Roberto remained manager of Belgium for a long time. He took them to number one in the FIFA world rankings and under him, Belgium finished at third place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Fernando Santos was also successful with the Portugal National Team. Under him, Portugal became the champions of Europe in 2016 and also won the UEFA’s inaugural Nations League in 2018-19. However, he was widely criticised by the Portugal fans as he left star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo on the bench for two consecutive World Cup games.
Portugal’s new coach, Roberto Martinez said that he would sit down with Cristiano Ronaldo to talk about his future with the national team. “I want to contact all 26 players who were at the last World Cup … Cristiano is a player on that list.” Martinez said.
Even at the age of 37 years, Ronaldo wants to continue with his national football team. His place in the starting 11 was lost at the World Cup under Fernando Santos.
