Mark van Bommel, the 49-year-old Dutch former international, has been appointed as the new head coach of the Belgian national football team, the Royal Belgian Football Association announced on Friday. Van Bommel signs a two-year contract, taking charge of the Red Devils through to Euro 2028, the tournament to be co-hosted by the United Kingdom and Ireland. He replaces Frenchman Rudi Garcia, whose contract was not renewed just over a week after Belgium's elimination from the World Cup.
Van Bommel will be joined by a three-man assistant coaching staff with strong Dutch ties: Boudewijn Zenden, a former Dutch international and ex-player for Barcelona and Chelsea, who had most recently been working as a specialist coach at Dutch club MVV Maastricht; Reinier Robbemond, a former head coach of Willem II; and Maarten Martens, a Belgian with nine international caps who was until recently head coach of Dutch club AZ. Both Zenden and Robbemond previously worked with Van Bommel at PSV Eindhoven.
Van Bommel is no stranger to Belgian football. Between 2022 and 2024 he managed Antwerp, one of Belgium's oldest clubs, where his debut season was nothing short of historic — he guided the club to a league and cup double in 2023, their first title in 66 years, while also lifting the Belgian Super Cup. His subsequent season proved more difficult, and his contract was eventually terminated by mutual agreement. He has been without a club since then, having previously also held — with more mixed results — head coaching roles at PSV and Germany's VfL Wolfsburg. As a player, Van Bommel was a decorated defensive midfielder who represented PSV, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan, earning 79 caps for the Netherlands.
Belgium arrive at this transition in a moment of generational change. The team's so-called "golden generation" carried the country to the top of the FIFA world rankings between 2018 and 2022, yet never won a major tournament. At the recent World Cup, Belgium reached the quarter-finals before losing 2–1 to eventual champions Spain. Key figures from that era — goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, playmaker Kevin De Bruyne and striker Romelu Lukaku — remain available but are in the later stages of their careers.
"Belgium has outstanding players and enormous potential," Van Bommel said in a statement. "Together with my technical staff, I 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 dedication are." Sports Director Vincent Mannaert expressed confidence in the appointment, citing Van Bommel's international experience as both a player and a coach, and describing the new management team as "hungry and ambitious". The task ahead is clear: rebuild a squad in transition and deliver a strong showing on home soil at Euro 2028.