After the Tedesco flop, Rudi Garcia will have the difficult task of remobilizing the Belgian stars.
Belgium has a new coach and he is French. Rudi Garcia was named to the Red Devils squad this Friday by the Belgian Federation. Free since his ouster from Naples in November 2023, the former coach of Lille, Marseille or AS Roma, was chosen to replace Domenico Tedesco whose dismissal was announced last week, against a backdrop of crisis for the Red Devils, eliminated in the round of 16 during the last Euro.
An arrival in a hot context
“Welcome, Rudi,” the RBFA wrote in a press release, saying it was “proud to announce that Rudi Garcia has been appointed as the new federal coach of the Red Devils.” Garcia’s name had been mentioned for several days among the serious candidates for the position, alongside that of Thierry Henry, a former member of the Belgian staff. But the latter had denied this possibility in Rothen ignites on RMC. Garcia will be presented to the press this Friday at 1 p.m.
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-Rudi Garcia arrives on the bench in a context of crisis. His first missions will be to keep the Red Devils in League A of the Nations League during the play-off against Ukraine in March, then to get off to a good start in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, which will begin three months later.
Appointed in 2023 after Belgium’s failure at the 2022 World Cup, Tedesco was dismissed from his position after a long series. He was in the hot seat after the elimination in the 8th round of the Euro (against France) but also because of his conflicting relations with certain executives of the group (Thibaut Courtois boycotted, Kevin De Bruyne threatened to retire). In December, he was not invited by his Federation to participate in the World Cup pool draw. “There is no point in letting Tedesco make statements about his future opponents if he does not yet know his own future,” the Federation commented to the daily Het Nieuwsblad.
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