Belgium appoint Mark Van Bommel as New Head Coach after Martinez stint

Belgium have appointed Mark van Bommel as their new head coach, the Royal Belgian Football Association announced on Friday. The 49-year-old Dutchman replaces Rudi Garcia, who left the role this week after 18 months in charge following the end of the World Cup cycle.

Van Bommel will officially take over on August 15 and is contracted to lead the team through the 2028 European Championship. He will be supported by assistant coaches Boudewijn Zenden, Maarten Martens and Reinier Robbemond.

"It is a great honour to become head coach of Belgium," Van Bommel said. "I would like to thank the Royal Belgian Football Association for their confidence in me. Belgium has outstanding players and enormous potential. Together with my coaching staff, we want to build a team that is disciplined, ambitious and brave enough to compete with the very best. Success is never guaranteed, but hard work, honesty and commitment are. We will give everything to help this team improve every day and make the Belgian people proud."

A former midfielder for Bayern Munich and Barcelona, Van Bommel earned 79 caps for the Netherlands and was part of the side that reached the 2010 World Cup final. He has been without a club since leaving Royal Antwerp at the end of the 2023-24 season. In his first campaign there he guided the club to its first Belgian league title in 66 years, though the following season brought a Champions League group-stage exit and a sixth-place finish in the championship play-offs.

His earlier coaching path included the Netherlands under-17s, assistant roles with Saudi Arabia and Australia, work with PSV's youth and first teams, and a short, unsuccessful spell at Wolfsburg that ended in dismissal after fewer than five months in 2021.

Belgium, currently eighth in the FIFA rankings, reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup under Garcia. They topped a difficult Group G, staged a dramatic 3-2 extra-time comeback against Senegal in the round of 32 after trailing late, and beat the United States 4-1 before falling to eventual champions Spain. That exit ended an 18-match unbeaten run.

Van Bommel's immediate task will be to improve Belgium's record at major tournaments, particularly the European Championship, where the side has not advanced beyond the quarter-finals since the competition expanded in 1996.