Former Belgium coach Roberto Martinez has been named the new manager of Portugal, the country’s football federation (FPF) has confirmed. He now replaces Santos as Portugal’s manager on a three-and-a-half-year contract until the end of the 2026 World Cup.
Martinez’s contract with Belgium expired at the end of the 2022 World Cup, having been hired in 2016. The former Wigan Athletic, Swansea City and Everton manager led Belgium to third in the 2018 World Cup but regularly came in for criticism for failing to get the most out of the country’s ‘Golden Generation’.
Santos won Euro 2016 and helped bring through a number of young players but was dispensed with after the country was knocked out of the 2022 World Cup by Morocco in the quarter-finals.
“I appreciate the enthusiasm and ambition with which he (Martinez) received the invitation,” FPF president Fernando Gomes told a news conference.
“This is an important moment for the national team.”
