Marc Wilmots

Marc Robert Wilmots (born 22 February 1969) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the sporting director of Standard Liège.

During his club career as an attacking midfielder, he won trophies with KV Mechelen, Standard Liège and Schalke 04. He represented the Belgium national team, earning 70 caps. He was in the Belgium squad for the 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2002 World Cups, as well as the 2000 Euro which Belgium hosted jointly with the Netherlands.

Wilmots has also been a politician, having sat in the Senate for four years for the Mouvement Réformateur party.^[1]

Club career

In his club career, which started in 1987, Wilmots played for Sint-Truiden, Mechelen, Standard Liège, Schalke 04, and Bordeaux. At Schalke, he helped them to the 1997 UEFA Cup final. His goal in the first leg^[2] was cancelled out by Internazionale in the second leg, but Schalke went on to win the game on penalties,^[3] with Wilmots scoring the decisive goal. He retired in 2003, after his second stint with Schalke. During his time with Schalke, the fans there gave him the affectionate nickname "Das Kampfschwein" (The War Pig),^[4] which has been picked up by some English language journalists.^[5] In Belgium he is known under the nickname the Bull of Dongelberg, an allusion to his birthplace.^[6]

International career

For Belgium, Wilmots scored 28 goals in 70 caps, his first coming in May 1990. He went to four World Cups, playing in three. After being an unused substitute in 1990, he played 54 minutes in 1994 without scoring, but scored two goals in 1998 and three in 2002,^[7] making him Belgium's leading goal scorer in World Cup history. He also scored a goal against Brazil in the last 16 match of the 2002 World Cup which was disallowed because of a "phantom foul" on Roque Júnior.^[8] According to Wilmots, the referee Peter Prendergast apologized for the error to him at half time.^[9] Wilmots was named as one of the seven reserves in the 2002 World Cup All-Star Team.^[10]

Wilmots also played in Euro 2000,^[11] when Belgium co-hosted the tournament.^[12]

Managerial career

Wilmots became a football manager in summer 2004 for Sint-Truiden, but was sacked in February 2005. Between 2009 and 2012, he served as assistant manager of the Belgium national team under Dick Advocaat and later Georges Leekens.^[13] On 15 May 2012, following the exit of Leekens, Wilmots assumed the Belgium reins on an interim basis before going onto become permanent coach, signing a contract until June 2014.

On 11 October 2013, Belgium qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.^[14] Wilmots is credited with "not only giving the young group confidence in themselves as well as enjoying a close relationship with his players but also at the same time being capable of instilling discipline to the squad."^[15] During the group stage, Belgium topped the group with all three wins, before exiting the tournament at the quarter-final stage.

On 13 October 2015, Belgium won the group to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2016 in the last game of the stage against Israel.^[16] After a disappointing European Championship, Wilmots was fired by the Royal Belgian Football Association on 15 July 2016.^[17]

In March 2017 Wilmots was appointed as the manager of Ivory Coast national team.^[18] However he was sacked from his position six months later after failing to qualify for the World Cup.^[19]

On 15 May 2019, Wilmots agreed a three years contract to become the manager of the Iranian national team, after Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz left the team after eight years in charge following Iran's semifinal exit in the Asian Cup.^[20][21] He officially signed his contract on 29 May, effective from 1 June 2019. On 4 December 2019, following shock defeats to both Iraq and Bahrain he left his role as Iran coach after six games in charge.^[22]

On 11 November 2021, Moroccan team Raja CA announced that Wilmots would be their new head coach until 2024, succeeding Lassaad Chabbi.^[23] Wilmots was sacked three months later by Raja on 21 February 2022.

On 3 January 2024, Schalke 04 announced that Wilmots became the sporting director of the club.^[24] On 21 September 2024, after a 5–3 loss to Darmstadt 98 and with Schalke in the relegation play-offs, Wilmots was dismissed.^[25]

Political career

After retiring as a footballer, Wilmots went into politics. He was elected to the Senate for the French-speaking conservative party, the Reformist Movement (Mouvement Réformateur or MR) in the 2003 federal election.^[26] He received 79,437 votes, a number surpassed only by 17 other candidates in the whole country during the elections.^[27]

In 2005, he announced that he wanted to resign as a senator, a rather unconventional and criticized constitutional move.^[28]

Career statistics

Club

International

Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wilmots goal.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

KV Mechelen^[32]

• Belgian First Division: 1988–89^[33]
• European Super Cup: 1988
• Amsterdam Tournament: 1989^[34]
• Jules Pappaert Cup: 1990^[35]

Standard Liège^[36]

• Belgian Cup: 1992–93
• Intertoto Cup: runner-up 1996^[37]

Schalke 04^[38]

• UEFA Cup: 1996–97
• DFB-Pokal: 2001–02

Belgium

• FIFA Fair Play Trophy: 2002 World Cup^[39]

Individual

• Young Professional Footballer of the Year: 1989–90^[40]
• Kicker German Football Rankings - International Class Player: 1997–98, 2001-02^[41]
• Best Belgian Footballer Abroad: 2001, 2002^[42]
• Belgian Sports Merit Award: 2002^[43]
• Golden Shoe Lifetime Achievement Award: 2002^[44]
• 4 FIFA World Cup participations: 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002
• Belgian Sports Coach of the Year: 2013,^[45] 2014^[46]
• Raymond Goethals Award: 2015^[47]
• Globe Soccer Awards Best Coach of the Year: 2015^[48]

References

1. ^ "Marc Wilmots - MR" (in Dutch). senate.be. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
2. ^ "Football: Schalke shock for Hodgson". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. 8 May 1997. Archived 2 July 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
3. ^ "Football: Ince and Hodgson suffer as Schalke lift Uefa Cup". The Independent. Independent Print Limited. 22 May 1997. Archived 10 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
4. ^ "Belgien-Coach Wilmots: "Ich wollte nie Nationaltrainer werden"" (in German). SpiegelOnline. Archived 24 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
5. ^ "England face a Belgium team rich in talent and hell-bent on victory". The Guardian. 1 June 2012. Archived 23 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 23 May 2014.
6. ^ "Bakkerszoon vs. boerenzoon". De Standaard. 1 July 2014. Archived 6 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
7. ^ "Marc Wilmots 2002 World Cup profile". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 17 May 2002. Archived 6 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
8. ^ Witzig 2006, p. 289.
9. ^ "Wilmots tells of ref's apology". BBC Sport. 17 June 2002. Archived 28 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 June 2014.
10. ^ "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan™ - Report and Statistics". FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). p. 104. Archived 12 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
11. ^ "Marc Wilmots Euro 2000 profile". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Archived 12 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
12. ^ "The host countries". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. 14 May 2000. Archived 25 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
13. ^ "Principeakkoord KBVB – Wilmots" (in Dutch). footbel.be. 28 September 2009. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
14. ^ "World Cup qualifiers: Romelu Lukaku sends Belgium to Brazil". BBC. 11 October 2013. Archived 11 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
15. ^ Noel, Benoît (11 October 2013). "Hazard and co help Wilmots prove critics wrong". AFP. Yahoo! Sports. Archived 19 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 12 October 2013.
16. ^ "Belgium defeat Israel to finish top of Group B in Euro qualifying". ESPN. 13 October 2015. Archived 7 August 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
17. ^ "Marc Wilmots is niet langer coach Rode Duivels" (in Dutch). De Standaard. 15 July 2016. Archived 21 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
18. ^ "Wilmots appointed Ivory Coast coach". Euronews. 21 March 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
19. ^ "Marc Wilmots leaves Ivory Coast coaching job". BBC. 15 November 2017. Retrieved 14 May 2019.
20. ^ "Marc Wilmots appointed Iran's football team coach". business-standard.com. Business Standard. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
21. ^ "Belgium's Wilmots to coach Iran". sportstar.thehindu.com. The Hindu. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
22. ^ "Wilmots leaves role as Iran coach". Reuters. 4 December 2019. Archived from the original on 5 December 2019.
23. ^ Wilmots takes charge of Raja Casablanca, Africaninsider.com, 11 November 2021
24. ^ "Marc Wilmots appointed new sporting director of FC Schalke 04". 3 January 2024.
25. ^ "Marc Wilmots and Karel Geraerts leave S04 with immediate effect". schalke04.com. 21 September 2024.
26. ^ "Marc Wilmots – MR" (in French). senaat.be. Archived 4 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
    "Marc Wilmots – MR" (in Dutch). senaat.be. Archived 4 February 2008 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 28 September 2009.
27. ^ "Political coup for Wilmots". UEFA. 19 May 2003. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
28. ^ Edwin Jacobs (7 September 2005). "Willi das Kampfschwein – Belgian Senate: 0–0 ?". lawjustice.blogspot.com. Archived 29 June 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 31 January 2008.
29. ^ "Marc Wilmots L'Équipe profile". L'Équipe. Archived 12 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
30. ^
31. ^ "Marc Wilmots – Goals in International Matches". RSSSF. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Archived 26 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 15 January 2013.
32. ^ "KV Mechelen | Geschiedenis". Eurosport. Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
33. ^ "Michel Preud'homme". Eurosport. Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
34. ^ "Amsterdam Tournament"
35. ^ "Le Trophée Pappaert"
36. ^ "Standard de Liège | Palmares". Eurosport. Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
37. ^ "UEFA Intertoto Cup 1996". RSSSF. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
38. ^ "Schalke 04 | Palmarès"
39. ^ FIFA.com. "Belgium honoured with the FIFA Fair Play Award". www.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
40. ^ "Jonge Prof van het Jaar". 31 December 2011.
41. ^ "Kicker Ranking / Rangliste 1955 to 2017 (in German)". 26 January 2015.
42. ^ "Kevin De Bruyne volgt zichzelf op als Beste Belg in het buitenland". Eurosport. Archived 6 February 2016 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
43. ^ "Nationale Trofee voor Sportverdienste". 7 November 2019.
44. ^ "Anderlecht Online - Vanderhaeghe eindigt 5e in Gouden Schoen (15 jan 03)". www.anderlecht-online.be. Retrieved 8 November 2020.
45. ^ "Wilmots verkozen tot Coach van het Jaar" (in Dutch). Het Laatste Nieuws. 22 December 2013. Archived 29 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 29 May 2014.
46. ^ "Rode Duivels zijn grote slokop op Sportgala" (in Dutch). Sporza. 14 December 2014. Archived from the original on 14 December 2014. Retrieved 14 December 2014.
47. ^ "Trofee Raymond Goethals". 21 March 2014.
48. ^ "Globe Soccer Awards : le triplé pour le Barça, le doublé pour New York City" (in French). L'Équipe. 27 December 2015. Archived from the original on 1 July 2016. Retrieved 27 December 2015.

Bibliography

• Witzig, Richard (2006). The Global Art of Soccer. Harahan: CusiBoy Publishing. ISBN 0-9776688-0-0.