Pocognoli 'feels connection' with 'passionate' Scotland

What the report says

Sebastien Pocognoli has said the “passionate” culture around Scottish football helped convince him to accept the Scotland men’s head coach job. The 39-year-old Belgian, announced as Steve Clarke’s successor on Sunday, was introduced to the media in Glasgow on Monday by Scottish Football Association chiefs Ian Maxwell and Craig Mulholland.

Pocognoli arrives after leaving Monaco at the end of last season and following a successful spell at Union Saint-Gilloise, where he guided the club to a long-awaited league title in 2024-25. He said he sees Scotland as a strong challenge with a wider project to develop the national team and future players, and he wants to build on the foundation left by Clarke and his staff.

Clarke stepped down earlier this summer after Scotland did not advance from the World Cup group stage. The appointment makes Pocognoli only the second foreign manager to lead Scotland’s men’s team, after Germany’s Berti Vogts. The SFA said it had used a mix of data and personal assessment in its search and believes Pocognoli can help the team become a “high-performing” nation.

The appointment matters because Scotland have recently qualified for major tournaments, and the SFA is hoping the new coach can raise performance levels further while maintaining that momentum. Pocognoli said he was drawn not only by the metrics around the role, but also by the human connection and the sense that Scotland offered the right environment for his next step.