Roberto Martínez will remain as head coach of the Belgian national team after the European championship, so assures The newspapaer Thursday. The Spanish coach will play the quarterfinals against Italy with his team on Friday evening, but has already been told by the Belgian federation that his future is assured. Martínez has acted as national coach since the summer of 2016 and also fulfills the role of technical director, albeit to be able to justify his salary of three million euros per year.
When he was appointed in 2016, Martínez indicated that he would remain as national coach for two years, before returning as club coach. He came back to this when he prematurely extended his expiring contract in 2018, before the start of the World Cup in Russia. That happened again last year, as a result of which he will only run out of his contract after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Since the departure of Chris Van Puyvelde as technical director in 2018, he has also held that position.
For a long time, the Belgian federation feared a departure from Martínez, as the trainer had a surrender clause included in his contract in case a nice club would come by. The Spaniard has never concealed his desire to be in charge of Barcelona, Real Madrid or a top club in the Premier League in the future. His name was briefly associated with Tottenham Hotspur and Everton, but those clubs already appointed a new manager on Wednesday with Nuno Espírito Santo and Rafael Benítez.
Due to the performances in recent years, the Belgian federation does not want the results at the European Championship to depend on Martínez’s future as national coach. The association has set itself the goal of reaching the semi-finals, which can happen on Friday. The Belgians advanced quite easily from the group stage with three victories and eliminated Portugal in the eighth finals. At the 2018 World Cup, Belgium finished third behind France and Croatia. Subsequently, Martínez was elected trainer of the year in Belgium.
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