Roberto Martínez is the new Portugal coach

The Spanish Roberto Martinezhas been named Portugal coach, replacing the Portuguese Fernando Santosafter managing Belgium from 2016 until its elimination in the group stage of the World Cup in Qatar, the Portuguese Football Federation announced on Monday.

The first challenge for the new Portugal coach, 49, will be to clarify the role of Cristiano Ronaldo who, after a controversial World Cup, has just signed for 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 coach, adding that he will make his decisions “on the pitch” and ” not in offices.”

The Catalan coach left the Red Devils at the beginning of December, affirming that his early elimination in the World Cup in Qatar was not the cause of his departure, decided, according to him, before the tournament.

After a short victory over Canada (1-0), Belgium lost against Morocco (2-0) and drew with Croatia (0-0).

Martínez had taken the reins of Belgium in 2016, after the traumatic elimination in the quarterfinals of the Euro Cup against Wales. Under his direction, the team reached the semifinals of the 2018 World Cup and was first in the classification established by FIFA for more than three years.

The Portuguese team is also coming out of a long period of stability after eight years led by Fernando Santos, with whom they won their first major titles: Euro 2016 and the first edition of the League of Nations in 2019.

When the 68-year-old coach announced his departure, five days after the Seleçao’s elimination in the quarterfinals of the 2022 World Cup against Morocco (1-0), the Portuguese press wrote that the Federation wanted to hire his compatriot Jose Mourinhocurrent coach of AS Roma.