Spanish coach Roberto Martínez appointed as Portugal's new national team manager
The Spanish coach Roberto Martínez has been named the new manager of Portugal, replacing the Portuguese Fernando Santos, after leading Belgium from 2016 until their elimination in the group stage of the Qatar World Cup, the Portuguese Football Federation announced on Monday.
The first challenge for the new Portugal manager, 49 years old, will be to clarify Cristiano Ronaldo's role, who, after a controversial World Cup, has just signed with the Saudi club Al-Nassr.
"The starting point is the list of 26 players who played in the World Cup, and Cristiano is one of them," said Martínez, in his presentation as the new Portugal manager, adding that he will make his decisions "on the field" and "not in the offices".
The Catalan coach left the Red Devils in early December, stating that his early elimination in the Qatar World Cup was not the reason for his departure, which he said was decided before the tournament.
After a narrow victory over Canada (1-0), Belgium lost to Morocco (2-0) and drew with Croatia (0-0).
Martínez took charge of Belgium in 2016, after their traumatic elimination in the quarterfinals of the European Championship against Wales. Under his leadership, the team reached the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup and was ranked first in the FIFA rankings for over three years.
The Portuguese national team is also coming out of a long period of stability after being managed for eight years by Fernando Santos, with whom they won their first major titles: the 2016 European Championship and the inaugural edition of the Nations League in 2019.
When the 68-year-old coach announced his departure, five days after Portugal's elimination in the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup against Morocco (1-0), the Portuguese press wrote that the Federation wanted to hire their compatriot José Mourinho, the current coach of Roma. AFP