The Belgian Football Association is negotiating with Julen Lopetegui to become the new national coach

Now that Domenico Tedesco’s dismissal is official, the Belgian Football Association is working hard to find a successor. In addition to Rudi Garcia and Thierry Henry, also on the shortlist: Julen Lopetegui. The 58-year-old former national coach of Spain received his C4 at West Ham on January 8.

Vincent Mannaert has certainly not been idle during his first weeks at the Belgian Football Association. Behind the scenes, the sporting director intensively searched for a successor for Domenico Tedesco, whose dismissal was merely a formality.

Sergio Conceicao, among others, was an interesting target for the football association, but the ex-Standard player eventually went to work for AC Milan. Options such as Rudi Garcia and Thierry Henry have also already been mentioned and are on the table.

Now, however, another candidate has emerged: Julen Lopetegui.

At the beginning of January, the 58-year-old Spaniard was not yet an option as he was then coaching West Ham, but on January 8, Lopetegui received his C4 due to a disappointing 17th place in the Premier League.

The football association quickly moved and initiated negotiations with Lopetegui, who is one of a handful of candidates on Mannaert’s shortlist.

The experienced Lopetegui has an interesting profile for the football association.

The ex-goalkeeper of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Rayo Vallecano knows what it is like to be in charge of a (successful) national team. In 2016, Lopetegui, who previously coached Porto, succeeded successful coach Vicente del Bosque in Spain. With success: he was undefeated for 20 (!) matches.

Just before the 2018 World Cup, Lopetegui caused a bomb in the Spanish camp. Two days before the start, it was announced that he would be joining Real Madrid after the tournament. The Spanish Football Federation immediately stopped cooperation with Lopetegui and started the World Cup in Russia without him.

Lopetegui’s story at Real did not last long. At the end of October, the Spaniard was allowed to bounce back with a negative report (14 out of 30) after a 5-1 humiliation in the Clasico.

Lopetegui flushed his disappointment with a successful spell at Sevilla, where he managed a total of 170 matches and won the Europa League.

This was followed by challenges in the Premier League at Wolves and West Ham – Lopetegui was fired from the latter club two weeks ago due to disappointing results.