It was written in the stars: the Belgian Football Association kicks out national coach Domenico Tedesco

The association appointed Tedesco in February 2023 as successor to Spaniard Roberto Martinez. After an encouraging match against Germany on March 28 that year, his Red Devils’ performances plateaued. The low point came at the European Championships in Germany, where Tedesco’s team played a weak group stage, were jeered by traveling fans after a draw against Ukraine and were subsequently eliminated by France in the next round.

There were also few strong performances or results in the Nations League afterwards. The conflict with goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and the absence of strongmen De Bruyne and Lukaku also deteriorated Tedesco’s image to the outside world. According to some newspapers, Tedesco would receive just over a million euros in severance pay, money that a Football association in financially turbulent waters would rather not have spent.

The Red Devils’ next international matches, a double match against Ukraine for retention/relegation in the Nations League, will take place on March 20 and 23. It is not yet clear who will sit on the bench.

Less than two years in service

What had been in the air for a while at the beginning of 2023 was confirmed on February 8 in a federation announcement: in the search for a successor to Roberto Martinez, who called it quits after the disappointing World Cup in Qatar, the football association had settled on Domenico Tedesco, and Frank Vercauteren as technical director.

Tedesco, who was very young for a national coach, was not yet very well known in the football world at that time, but had already had remarkable spells in his own country at Schalke 04 and RB Leipzig, with a stop in Russia at Spartak Moscow in between. A balance was found with the appointment of the experienced Vercauteren.

Martinez was accused that his 3-4-2-1 had become too predictable and that the Catalan was holding on too much to his anciens. With Tedesco we opted for an opposite. The Italian German is said to be a laptop trainer who bases his skills on data, is tactically flexible and likes to adapt to the opponent’s position. He also dares to continue selection, although he was partly obliged to do so with the Belgian national team after many international players left the national team behind them after Qatar.

Tedesco was not given much time to settle in, because barely a month later the European Championship qualifying campaign started, with a difficult move to Sweden. A few days later, a friendly match in Germany was also scheduled. With a partly renewed selection, Tedesco brought his first diptych to a successful conclusion. In Sweden, a supreme Belgium won 0-3, in Cologne the Mannschaft suffered a 2-3 home defeat after a brilliant first half hour by the Belgians.

However, the first crack in the marriage already appeared in the second diptych. After an unremarkable 1-1 draw in Brussels against Austria, Thibaut Courtois refused to travel to puny Estonia, where they won 0-3 a few days later. Things would not work out between Real’s goalkeeper and Tedesco. Courtois later indicated in interviews that he would no longer play for Belgium as long as Tedesco was national coach. The Belgians survived the remainder of the qualifying campaign unscathed. With only two draws, six wins and not a single defeat, the Belgians finished qualifying almost flawlessly as group winners. In mid-November, after the 5-0 win against Azerbaijan in the catacombs of the King Baudouin Stadium, a delighted Tedesco thanked the press extensively for the pleasant cooperation in his first year as national coach. When a few weeks later a very feasible European Championship draw was made in the draw in Hamburg with Slovakia, Romania and later also Ukraine, Belgium was already dreaming aloud of a memorable European Championship.

However, 2024 would turn out completely differently. In the friendlies in March, after a lackluster draw against Ireland, there was a hopeful 2-2 draw at Wembley against England, where the Belgians took the lead twice by applying quick and good pressure while waiting for the counter-attack. A lot was also given away at the back, after which in the international matches just before the European Championship against very modest opponents such as Montenegro (2-0) and Luxembourg (3-0) the brakes were on their way. However, it meant that Tedesco was allowed to start the European Championship in ‘his’ Germany with an impressive run of fourteen unbeaten matches in a row (ten wins and four draws).

In Frankfurt am Main, the European Championship immediately started on a bad note, when the Belgians lost 0-1 to the Slovaks after two disallowed goals from Romelu Lukaku. Despite heavy pressure, they subsequently won flawlessly 2-0 against Romania, but against Ukraine in Stuttgart it was all over. The Devils then opted for a conservative approach and qualified for the next round, but lost the group win due to the scoreless draw, which put them in the difficult half of the table in the eighth finals and France was the first opponent. After the final whistle, players were then whistled at by the Belgian supporters. No one was surprised that a few days later they were eliminated against France (1-0), after another conservative approach.

There was no evaluation and the national coach then issued a ‘mea culpa’ just before the start of the Nations League group stage. The conservative approach was abandoned, but after a no more than logical 3-1 win against Israel, it was a prize again in Lyon against France. The Devils were overrun, went down without a chance with the 2-0 and afterwards none other than captain Kevin De Bruyne criticized some of his fellow players and also the tactics. In the meantime, it had become clear that KDB and Lukaku would ignore the October diptych. In Italy, a 2-2 draw was achieved against one man less, despite a dramatic first half hour. The 1-2 home defeat against France was even described as ‘hopeful’, but the last dip proved to be too much. Defeats against Italy and Israel condemned the Belgians to barrages for retention in the A division and definitively sealed Tedesco’s fate as Belgian national coach after less than two years. He also never lasted longer as head coach at his clubs.

Overview of Red Devils national coaches

Domenico Tedesco (Germany/Ita) (2023-2025) 24 matches (12 wins, 6 draws, 6 defeats)

Roberto Martínez (Spa) (2016-2022) 80 matches (56 wins, 13 draws, 11 defeats)

Marc Wilmots (2012-2016) 51 matches (34 wins, 8 draws, 9 defeats)

Georges Leekens (2) (2010-2012) 19 matches (8 wins, 7 draws, 4 defeats)

Dick Advocaat (Ned) (2009-2010) 5 matches (3 wins, 0 draws, 2 defeats)

René Vandereycken (2005-2009) 30 matches (10 wins, 7 draws, 13 defeats)

Aimé Anthuenis (2002-2005) 39 matches (12 wins, 7 draws, 10 defeats)

Robert Waseige (1999-2002) 35 matches (16 wins, 11 draws, 7 defeats)

Georges Leekens (1) (1997-1999) 29 matches (10 wins, 10 draws, 9 defeats)

Wilfried Van Moer (1996) 5 matches (2 wins, 2 draws, 1 defeat)

Paul Van Himst (1991-1996) 36 matches (19 wins, 5 draws, 12 defeats)

Guy Thys (2) (1990-1991) 13 matches (4 wins, 4 draws, 5 defeats)

Walter Meeuws (1989-1990) 6 matches (2 wins, 3 draws, 1 defeat)

Guy Thys (1) (1976-1989) 101 matches (45 wins, 24 draws, 32 defeats)

Raymond Goethals (1968-1976) 44 matches (25 wins, 8 draws, 11 defeats)

Constant Vanden Stock (1958-1968) 68 matches (28 wins, 11 draws, 29 defeats)

Géza Toldi (Hon) (1957-1958) 6 matches (1 win, 2 draws, 3 defeats)

Louis Nicolay (ad interim) (1957) 1 match (1 win, 0 draws, 0 defeats)

André Vandeweyer (1955-1957) 17 matches (4 wins, 2 draws, 11 defeats)

Doug Livingstone (Sch) (1953-1954) 13 matches (5 wins, 6 draws, 2 defeats)

Bill Gormlie (Eng) (1947-1953) 44 matches (18 wins, 9 draws, 17 defeats)

François Demol (1944-1946) 8 matches (2 wins, 2 draws, 4 defeats)

Hector Goetinck (2) (1939-1940) 2 matches (1 win, 0 draws, 1 defeat)

Jack Butler (Eng) (1935-1939) 30 matches (7 wins, 7 draws, 16 defeats)

Jules Turnauer (Hon) (ad interim) (1935) 3 matches (0 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats)

Hector Goetinck (1) (1930-1934) 31 matches (7 wins, 5 draws, 19 defeats)

Viktor Löwenfeld (Oos) (ad interim) (1928-1930) 11 matches (5 wins, 2 draws, 4 defeats)

William Maxwell (Sch) (2) (1920-1928) 56 matches (18 wins, 10 draws, 28 defeats)

Charles Bunyan (Eng) (1914) 4 matches (0 wins, 0 draws, 4 defeats)

William Maxwell (Sch) (1) (1910-1913) 19 matches (8 wins, 3 draws, 8 defeats)