Roberto Martinez has replaced Fernando Santos as Portugal national men’s team head coach, it was confirmed on Monday.
The former Everton and Belgium head coach was heavily linked to take over alongside AS Roma manager Jose Mourinho, following Santos’ unsuccessful campaign at the 2022 Fifa World Cup. Portugal were knocked out by in the quarter-finals by Morocco.
Despite producing a poor display and exiting the World Cup in the group stages, Martinez takes over the reigns having led a Belgian golden generation side that sat on the Fifa world rankings from September 2018 to February 2021.
However, the Spaniard tactician was unable to deliver a trophy for the Red Devils, resulting in him stepping down after an unsuccessful world cup in Qatar in December.
Um novo 𝗟𝗶́𝗱𝗲𝗿 ao serviço de Portugal 🇵🇹: bem-vindo, Mister Roberto Martínez! 🤝 #VesteABandeira
A new 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿 at 🇵🇹 service: welcome, Coach Roberto Martínez! 🤝 #WearTheFlag pic.twitter.com/TCDe3yzJr9
— Portugal (@selecaoportugal) January 9, 2023
“I am very excited to be here. I am very happy to represent one of the national teams with the best talent in the world,” said Martinez.
“From the first time I spoke with the president of the federation, I knew this was a sporting project that would excite me. I understand there are great expectations and big objectives, but there is a great team of people at the federation, and I have great excitement that together we can achieve those objectives.”
Martinez is expected to be in the dugout for Portugal in their UEFA Euro qualifiers against Liechtenstein on March 23.
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