Domenico Tedesco appointed as new Belgium manager

Belgium have confirmed the appointment of Domenico Tedesco as their national team manager.

The 37-year-old succeeds Roberto Martinez, who has since been appointed as Portugal’s head coach.

Tedesco is taking charge of a country’s football team for the first time as a manager.

The Italian-German signed a contract until after the 2024 European Championship.

He was recently in charge of Bundesliga club RB Leipzig. Tedesco was sacked in September 2022 after a disappointing start to the season.

He joined Leipzig in December 2021 and helped them win the 2022 DFB-Pokal.

The German club also reached the semi-finals of the Europa League that season.

Tedesco was with Russian club Spartak Moscow before moving to Leipzig. He helped them to second in the final league table at the end of his second season in charge before departing.

He began his managerial career with Erzgebirge Aue in the 2. Bundesliga in March 2017. He kept them up despite taking charge when they were rock-bottom of the league.

The achievement earned him a move to Schalke 04 ahead of 2017-18. The club finished second in the Bundesliga in his first season in the dugout.

Tedesco was fired the following season after six winless games culminated in a 7-0 loss to Manchester City in the Champions League round of 16.

Belgium are convinced that he has what it takes to take them to the next level. Their ‘golden generation’ largely struggled under Martinez.

The Spaniard failed to take the Red Devils out of their World Cup group in Qatar in December 2022.

He took charge of the team in September 2016 and helped them secure their best World Cup finish of all time in 2018.

Belgium lost the semi-final to France and met England in the third-place play-off, winning 2-0.

They rose to first in the FIFA World Rankings in September 2018 and remained there until February 2021.

However, they were eliminated in the quarter-finals of the 2020 European Championship in July 2021.

Belgium did not reach their full potential under Martinez and will hope that changes under Tedesco.