The King of the Belgians, Philippe, unaccustomed to leaving the codes of protocol, staged himself in a video broadcast on the official website of the monarchy on Tuesday, where we see him taking on the role of coach of the Red Devils with humor .
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While Eden Hazard and his partners have begun their preparation for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the sovereign is abandoning his costume for the assistant cap of coach Roberto Martinez.
Whistle in mouth and tactical notebook in hand, he gives his instructions at the edge of the field, in particular to Kevin De Bruyne to whom he indicates his position on the lawn during training at the national center of Tubize.
"
It's Deviltime!"
("
It's Devils time!
"), exclaims the king, before the sequence shows a forearm - supposedly his - on which is tattooed the World Cup with the inscription "Belgium 2022”.
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Football as cement of the unity of a country
In a country regularly shaken by linguistic tensions between Flemings and French speakers, the king and the Red Devils are often considered as cements of national unity.
The Belgian players had ranked third at the last World Cup, in 2018 in Russia, and had received a triumphal welcome on their return to the country, receiving the honors of the royal palace before a walkabout at the Grand Place in Brussels .
Belgium, in group F, will start its World Cup on November 23 against Canada before facing Morocco and Croatia.
Before joining Qatar, the selection flew to Kuwait on Tuesday where it is due to play a friendly preparation match against Egypt on Friday.
