Roberto Martinez has been named as the new head coach of Portugal after he stepped down as coach of Belgium following their early elimination from the World Cup in Qatar.

The 49-year-old takes over the reign from Fernando Santos, who was sacked after they were defeated by surprise package Morocco in the quarter-finals of the World Cup.

Matinez, meanwhile, also had a World Cup to forget after his Belgium side failed to progress past the group stages, which subsequently put an end to his six-year tenure with the Red Devils.

“My point of departure will be the squad of 26 players who played in the World Cup, and Cristiano Ronaldo is one of them,” Martinez told a press conference.

Martinez added that he would make his decisions “on the pitch and not in an office”.

Martinez got his start as a manager at Swansea City, Wigan Athletic, and Everton. In 2016, he became Belgium’s coach and led the team to the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

Belgium was ranked first in the world by FIFA for more than three years while he was in charge.

But his time with the Red Devils ended in Qatar, where they beat Canada 1-0 but then lost 2-0 to Morocco and 0-0 to Croatia, which meant that they had to leave early.

Santos was in charge of Portugal for eight years. During that time, the 68-year-old led the team to its first two international titles: the 2016 European Championship and the first-ever 2019 Nations League.

Five days after Portugal lost in the quarterfinals of the World Cup, Santos quit as their coach.

Photo by EPA/Tolga Bozoglu