Rudi Garcia has been appointed as Belgium‘s new coach, the country’s football federation said on Friday.
Garcia has coached several large European clubs including Napoli, Marseille and Roma in his much-travelled career but has never managed a national side.
The 60-year-old was appointed as a replacement for Domenico Tedesco, who was fired last week after he failed to revive the team during a relatively short tenure.
Tedesco was hired in February 2023 with the goal of rebooting Belgian football after a disappointing end to the Roberto MartÃnez era at the World Cup.
He failed and was sacked after further disappointing performances at both the 2024 European Championship, when Belgium lost to France in the round-of-16, and the Nations League.
Garcia, whose most successful spell in management came with Lille where he won the Ligue 1 title and manager of the year in 2011, last coached Napoli. He was sacked in 2023 after just 16 games in charge, winning half of them.
