The name of Pirlo (43 years old) has already been circulating for three weeks behind the scenes of the Federation, but his record as a coach does not make you dream. He failed as coach of Juventus. Admittedly, he won the Coppa Italia, but he finished 4th in Serie A while Juve had won nine consecutive titles. Currently, he is 10th with Karagümrük in Turkey.
Renard (54) is known following his success (2-1) against Argentina with Saudi Arabia at the World Cup. Especially his speech in the locker room at halftime had made a strong impression. After the World Cup, he said he was ready to coach a great footballing nation, even if he doesn’t have Zidane’s name.
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But the candidate with the profile that best matches what the Federation is looking for is Claude Puel (61). He is not unknown in Belgium. In 2016, already, he was in the last five candidates to succeed Marc Wilmots. Finally, the Belgian Union had invited three other candidates for an interview: Roberto Martinez, Rudi Garcia and Ralf Rangnick. That same year, Puel was also on pole to succeed Besnik Hasi at Anderlecht, but he finally refused and René Weiler took advantage of it.
He coached with some success several big clubs in France (Monaco, Lille, Lyon, Nice and Saint-Etienne) and he tried his luck in the Premier League (Southampton and Leicester). It was under him that Eden Hazard made his Lille debut in November 2007, and he worked with Youri Tielemans at Leicester. Since December 2021, when he was sacked as coach of Saint-Étienne, he has been without an employer.
The Federation’s task force meets on Friday and will make a first selection among the candidates.