The news had been announced for almost ten days by the Belgian media, and an agreement in principle had been signed on January 31, but the football federation (L’Union belge) only confirmed on Wednesday February 8 the choice of Domenico Tedesco, 37, as the new coach of the Red Devils. A delay due to the slowness of financial negotiations between the Italian-German and the Leipzig club, which had decided to dismiss him in September 2022 for insufficient results but had to pay him significant compensation.
Thierry Henry will therefore not succeed Catalan Roberto Martinez, whose deputy he was at the head of the Belgian national team. Praised by some players (including centre-forward Romelu Lukaku, currently at Inter Milan, and Loïs Openda, the RC Lens striker), the Frenchman probably embodied an era as much marked by enthusiasm as many disappointments for Belgium. Long leaders in the world rankings of the International Football Federation (FIFA), often brilliant on the pitch, Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne and other Thibaut Courtois have not, in fact, achieved any significant success. Neither at the Euro, nor in the League of Nations, nor at the last World Cup, where they failed to go further than the group stage, in which the Red Devils were notably opposed to Croatia and Morocco.
If Thierry Henry gave up, affirming moreover, at the beginning of January, that he had never applied, many “sizes” would have seen themselves putting on the costume of Martinez, who left to train Portugal after the resounding failure of the Belgians at the 2022 World Cup. The Catalan never confessed the slightest mistake, which left a bitter taste for supporters and leaders.
Financial requirements
In any case, we rushed to the gate to succeed him: the German Joachim Löw, the Italian Andrea Pirlo, the Portuguese André Villas-Boas, the Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino and dozens of others approached the leaders of the Belgian Union. The latter preferred, in any case, to overcome the usual quarrels between Flemings and French speakers and to find the rare bird outside the borders of the kingdom. Their main problem, however, was to meet the financial demands of some of these stars. Hence the final choice of Domenico Tedesco, hitherto unknown to the Belgian public.
Before securing Leipzig a place in the Champions League, Tedesco had officiated at Spartak Moscow, FC Schalke 04 and FC Erzgebirge Aue, a modest German D2 club, which he had miraculously saved from relegation in 2017.
Engineer, fan of computer techniques, polyglot (he speaks six languages), graduate of the highly reputed Hennes-Weisweiler-Akademie, the training center for German coaches, the 30-year-old born in Calabria, who joined Germany at the age 2 years old, never played at a high level and opted for a coaching career at the age of 27. He would have caught the attention of the leaders of Belgian football because of his youth, his dynamism, his experience and, above all, his financial requirements, which are more modest than those of his competitors. Martinez’s annual salary was 3 million euros, the highest in the history of the Belgian Union. Some of the Spaniard’s successor suitors were much more greedy.
Frank Vercauteren sports director
Fearing a failure of negotiations with Tedesco, the task force in charge of finding Martinez’s successor also continued, in the home straight, negotiations with the Dutchman Peter Bosz, a former international from the Netherlands, who notably passed through Toulon, who later became coach of Ajax Amsterdam and Lyon, among others.
Helped by a new sports director, the former Belgian international Frank Vercauteren, 66, who had been living in Russia for a few years, Tedesco will quickly have to meet some challenges and overcome the skepticism of many observers. These highlight his lack of experience as a national coach and the fact that his club spells often fell short after an interesting start.
The Belgian national team will face Sweden on March 24, in a qualifying match for Euro 2024. A few days later, they will face Germany in a friendly match. Two interesting tests for the Red Devils still marked by their failure (2-0) against Morocco and their inability to defeat Croatia (0-0) in Qatar. The team is, moreover, now deprived of its captain Eden Hazard, who has given up future selections in the national team and vegetates, again injured, on the bench of Real Madrid.
Open conflicts also broke out during the qualifiers in Qatar between Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and defenders Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld. Young players to whom Martinez has always been slow to give their chance have, for their part, expressed their impatience. And the defense, whose main pillars are aging, will also claim the full attention of the new coach.
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Renowned, in particular, for its ability to listen and its sense of communication, Tedesco will therefore very quickly have the opportunity to prove itself. He should quickly feel a certain obligation of result, because, even before his first match, many Belgian football commentators describe him as a simple “transitional pope”.