Roberto Martinez

The manager of the Belgium national team, Roberto Martinez began his football career as a player in his native Spain before signing for Wigan Athletic in 1995. He made 227 appearances in six seasons for the Latics, and along with Jesus Seba and Isidro Diaz, formed the club’s famed ‘Three Amigos’. Remaining in the UK, he went on to play for Motherwell, Walsall, Swansea City and Chester City before hanging up his boots. Martinez enjoyed a meteoric start to his management career after taking charge of former club, Swansea, in February 2007. In his first full season in the job, Martinez led the Swans back to the second tier of English football for the first time in 24 years, winning the League One title and picking up three divisional Manager of the Month accolades plus the LMA League One Manager of the Year award. Following one solid season in the Championship with Swansea, and after just missing out on a play-off place, Martinez seized the opportunity to manage in the Premier League and moved to another of his former clubs, Wigan Athletic, in June 2009. In his first season at Wigan, he helped to retain the club’s place in the Premier League with a 16th place finish. Notable results in that campaign included an opening day win at Villa Park and home victories over Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal. His four impressive seasons at Wigan culminated in winning the 2013 FA Cup Final after defeating Manchester City at Wembley. It was the first major trophy in the club’s 81-year existence and the result also secured European football for the following campaign. Within a month of lifting the FA Cup, Martinez was appointed manager of Everton, and in his first season at Goodison Park he led the club to their highest ever Premier League points tally, which resulted in a fifth place finish and qualification for the Europa League. Moving into international management, in August 2016 Martinez became the new head coach of the Belgium national team. He guided the Red Devils to third place in the 2018 World Cup finals.