Roberto Martinez appointed manager of Belgium

Posted Thursday, August 04, 2016 by Skysports.com

Roberto Martinez is Belgium's new manager

Roberto Martinez has been appointed as the new manager of Belgium, succeeding Marc Wilmots in the role.

Wilmots lost his job as Belgium boss after their failure to get beyond the quarter-finals at Euro 2016, with Wales defeating them 3-1 in the last eight.

Marc Wilmots was sacked by Belgium after Euros

Martinez has been out of work since being sacked by Everton late last season following a disappointing Premier League campaign.

He was appointed as David Moyes' successor in June 2013 and guided Everton to their best Premier League points tally - 72 - and a fifth-place finish in his first season in charge.

Martinez smashed the club's transfer record with the £28m signing of Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea in the summer of 2014, but failed to build on the success of his debut campaign at the club, finishing in 11th.

Romelu Lukaku will be reunited with Martinez

The 2015/16 season was another disappointing campaign for Martinez and Everton, who managed only five wins at Goodison Park - only relegated Aston Villa had fewer home victories.

Belgium took the unusual decision of widening their search for a head coach by posting a job advert online.

The "desired profile" of the person tasked with getting the best from the likes of Romelu Lukaku and Eden Hazard must, according to the ad, be a "strong communicator" with "experience and results in the currently fast changing world of football".

Nevertheless, the Belgians boast one of the deepest and most talents squads in international football and were ranked No 1 in the world as recently as November 2015.