Ranking top five favourites to take Belgium national team job

The post is empty since Roberto Martinez stepped down after a poor World Cup performance.

Belgium Football has almost seen their golden generation on the verge of clinching important trophies and making big impressions but they have not delivered it just yet. After a fallout in the ongoing 2022 FIFA World Cup where Belgium where knocked out in the Group Stage, manager Roberto Martinez decided to stand down as the manager and look for further prospects. After that, there have been many speculations as to who is going to take on the duties of this country and that need a tactical manager to deliver for them. Without further adieu, let’s have a look at the top five managers who can take on the Belgium national team job:

5. Joachim Low

A philosophical coach with a deep set of ideologies, Low prizes himself for bringing up young talents and nurturing them to their full potential. He led the German team to third place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the final of Euro 2008, and the semi-finals of Euro 2012 but he is glorified for lifting the World Cup trophy in 2014. Remember the 7-1 mauling of Brazil in their own background?

He was the perpetrator of the tactics that led to the decimation of Brazil that night. He was the manager of the German National team from 2006 until 2021 and was also linked to VFB Stuttgart recently but the offer seems to have run out now. Despite a shocking group stage exit in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he decided to remain the coach of Die Mannschaft until Euro 2020 when he decided to step down after England knocked them out in the Round of 16. Belgium can use his prior experience in getting them out of this quagmire certainly.

4. Andre Villas Boas

You will find very less managers with a win percentage of more than 50% throughout their managerial career and he is one of them. Most recently managing Marseille in Ligue 1, he has never been at the helm of a nation’s managerial role but he has certainly developed his tactics and his reputation with each passing year. Villas-Boas was molded to be the heir to Jose Mourinho. In fact, it was the Special One who first offered him the opportunity to be his assistant manager, first at FC Porto, and later at Chelsea and Intern Milano. Also managing the likes of Spurs and Zenit St Petersburg, he managed to finish Marseille second in Ligue 1 earning them a Champions league ticket.

The manager likes to play with a back four and use a high press. His teams are, usually, very strong on the counterattack and the role of each player is carefully prepared to suit that player’s qualities. AVB often uses three forwards and, at least, one attacking wing-back. Given the versatility of the Belgian team, he might just be the one to sort out their problems.

3. Andrea Pirlo

A legend of the game, he is currently the manager of Super Lig club Fatih Karagumruk. He began his managerial career as the head coach of Serie C Club Juventus U23 on 30 July 2020 and was later promoted as the head coach of Juventus following the departure of Maurizio Sarri. Despite having a topsy-turvy season in black and white, he managed to win the 2020 Coppa Italiana by defeating Napoli 2-0 in the final. He idolizes a different type of football which has much of a resemblance to the style of Pep Guardiola in Barcelona. A deep-lying playmaker himself in his playing days, he generally admires possessional-based football which is a rare strategy of managers these days.

He led the Juventus team to a fourth-place finish in Serie A in the 2021 season, earning them an all-important Champions League spot. Though these are relatively early days in his managerial career, his experience might just prove fruitful for Belgium.

2. Mauricio Pochettino

Pochettino did well at Tottenham to re-fashion the team into top-four contenders and a Champions League finalist but has been out of work since being sacked by PSG last year. Although he has been one of the most important factors in the resurgence of Tottenham Hotspur, he has never been at the helm of a nation’s managerial role which keeps Joachim Low in prime contention for the job. Pochettino favours a very high-pressing, attacking style of football. He often employs a 4-2-3-1 formation at the clubs he manages. While doing so, he instructs his team to build from the back, intimidate and unsettle opponents with a quick-press system and work the ball into the box.

He managed PSG for 84 matches of which he won 55 giving him a win percentage of 65.48%. As confirmed by journalists and reporters around Belgium, he remains one of the most viable options and is considered to be ahead of Claude Puel and Herve Renard for this role.

1. Thierry Henry

Though there have been reports circling that he did not contact the Belgian football association for the vacant managerial role, he remains the most important option as of now. He began his coaching career by developing Arsenal’s youth team in 2015 and got up the ranks in the blink of an eye. He is considered to be more of a mentor by the players and is lauded for his constant inspiration on and off the field. In 2016, he became second assistant coach of the Belgium National Team, working alongside head coach Roberto Martinez and fellow assistant Graeme Jones.

After that he went on to manage Monaco in Ligue 1, where he had very less success and he was relieved of his services after a mere 20 games in which he could manage only 4 wins. Though these are relatively early days for him, no wonder he knows the players in the Belgian ranks inside and out after being with them for almost 7 years now.