Raja Casablanca appoint Marc Wilmort as head coach
Raja Athletic Club (Raja Casablanca) have appoint former Belgian senior football team coach Marc Wilmot as the new head coach after terminating the contract of coach Lassaad Chabbi by mutual consent,Felele247.com understands.
The former Ivory Coast head coach who recently managed the Iran national team. During his club career as an attacking midfielder, he won trophies with KV Mechelen, Standard Liège, and Schalke 04. He also represented the Belgium national team will be in charge of the Green Eagles until the end of the season with an option to extend.
Wilmots has also been a politician, having sat in the Senate for four years for the Mouvement Réformateur party.
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. On 15 May 2012, following the exit of Leekens, Wilmots assumed the Belgium reins on an interim basis before going onto becoming permanent coach, signing a contract until June 2014.
On 11 October 2013, Belgium qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. 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. 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. After a disappointing European Championship, Wilmots was fired by the Royal Belgian Football Association on 15 July 2016
In March 2017 Wilmots was appointed as the manager of the Ivory Coast national team. However, he was sacked from his position six months later after failing to qualify for the World Cup.
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.
He officially signed his contract on 29 May, effective from 1 June 2019. On 4 December 2019, he left his role as Iran coach.
