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| Real Madrid's Belgian goalkeeper #1 Thibaut Courtois poses with the tournament trophy during the podium ceremony after the 2024 FIFA Intercontinental Cup final football match between Spain's Real Madrid and Mexico's Pachuca at the Lusail Stadium in Doha on December 18, 2024. (Photo by KARIM JAAFAR / AFP) |
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| Real Madrid's Belgian goalkeeper #01 Thibaut Courtois celebrates at the end of the Spanish league football match between Girona FC and Real Madrid CF at the Montilivi stadium in Girona on December 7, 2024. (Photo by Josep LAGO / AFP)<저작권자(c) Yonhap News, 무단 전재-재배포, AI 학습 및 활용 금지> |
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Belgium's leading gatekeeper Thibaut Courtois (33, Real Madrid), who was pushed out of the national team due to a feud with his former coach, is expected to recover his honor with 'regime change'.
The Belgian Football Association announced on the 25th (Korea Standard Time) that former Napoli coach Rudy Garcia (61) from France has been inaugurated as the new national team head coach. Coach Garcia, who has served as a coach in Lille, Marseille, Lyon (France), AS Roma and Napoli (Italy), will take the helm of the Belgian national team until the 2026 North-China World Cup.
There was a player who Garcia had a special affection for at his inauguration press conference, which was Courtois, the missing goalkeeper. On Courtois, he is one of the best players of all time in Belgium. We are looking forward to him," he said, hinting at the possibility of returning to the national team.
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| Soccer Football - Belgium Present New Coach - Tubize, Belgium - January 24, 2025 New Belgium coach Rudi Garcia poses for a picture with New Sports Director of the RBFA Vincent Mannaert REUTERS/Johanna Geron<저작권자(c) Yonhap News, 무단 전재-재배포, AI 학습 및 활용 금지> |
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FILE - Napoli coach Rudi Garcia walks on the pitch ahead of the Serie A soccer match between Napoli and Empoli at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium in Naples, Italy, Sunday, Nov. 12, 2023. (Alessandro Garofalo/LaPresse via AP, File) ITALY OUT; MANDATORY CREDIT
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As a result, Courtois, who disappeared from the Belgian national team after last year's Euro tournament, is expected to revive as the regime is replaced by the new coach.
Courtois disappeared from the national team after being embroiled in rumors of a feud with his former coach Domenico Tedesco. Courtois, who also experienced friction with some of the team's teammates during the 2022 Qatar World Cup, quietly left the team just before starting the 'Euro2024' last year, disproving that internal conflicts have reached an extreme.
According to local media boards at the time, it was the appointment of a captain a year before Euro 2024 that caused Courtois and Tedesco to have a bitter feud. At the time of the A-match in June 2023, Belgium's captain Kevin De Bruyne left due to injury, and co-deputy captains Courtois and Lukaku clashed over the issue of acting as surrogate captains. In response, former coach Tedesco tried to 'Traffic Clearance' for Lukaku to play against Austria and Courtois to play against Estonia, but Courtois' complaints were not satisfied.
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| Soccer Football - 2024 Dubai Globe Soccer Awards - Dubai, United Arab Emirates - December 27, 2024 Real Madrid's Thibaut Courtois, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham, Real Madrid Director of Institutional Relations Emilio Butragueno and Real Madrid Chief Executive Officer Jose Angel Sanchez pose with their awards Globe Soccer/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NORRESALES. NO ARCHIVES |
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| Real Madrid's Belgian goalkeeper #01 Thibaut Courtois punches the ball away during the UEFA Champions League football match between Liverpool and Real Madrid at Anfield in Liverpool, north west England on November 27, 2024. (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)<저작권자(c) Yonhap News, 무단 전재-재배포, | No AI learning and utilization>
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It was initially announced that Courtois had left the national team due to injury, but Tedesco said in a press conference that Courtois had packed himself up and left due to captaincy issues. Since then, Courtois has not made the shortlist for Euro 2024.
In the end, after Belgium's elimination from the round of 16 at Euro 2024, Courtois released a statement on his personal SNS, "'As long as Tedesco continues to be the coach of the national team, he will not return to the national team.'"
Courtois, who stands 2 meters tall, is called one of the best goalkeepers in the world. Since 2018, he has played for Real Madrid and has won 12 championships, including three La Liga wins, one Copa del Rey win and two European Champions League wins. After being selected for the Belgian national team since 2011, he has played in 102 A matches, including five major tournaments from the 2014 World Cup in Brazil to the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Euro 2020, Euro 2022 and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
