Roberto Martínez announced his resignation as the Belgian national coach immediately after the loss in the preliminary round of the World Cup. “Today was my last game as national coach. It’s obviously very emotional,” said the Spaniard after Friday’s 0-0 draw against Croatia in Qatar in the final group game. Belgium missed the knockout stage for the first time since 1998 at a World Cup finals.
The 49-year-old Martínez explained that he made the decision before the World Cup to retire after the tournament. “You can imagine after third place in 2018 I had a lot of offers but I wanted to be loyal and fulfill my contract. Now our journey is over. But my decision has nothing to do with being eliminated in the preliminary round,” said Martínez, who had already hugged many players after the game against Croatia.
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Martínez has been the Belgian coach since 2016. At the 2018 World Cup and the European Championship last year, he failed with Belgium against the eventual title holders.
Roberto Martinez has announced that he will stop as national coach of the Belgian Red Devils. pic.twitter.com/l7EBqiOAeD
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