Former assistant Lenie Onzia takes charge of the Red Flames with a return to League A in her sights

The Belgian football federation presented Lenie Onzia in Tubize on Monday as head coach of the Red Flames. Until now she was an assistant on the staff of Iceland's Elisabet Gunnarsdottir, who led the women's national team for almost two years and left after the Flames missed out on the World Cup. According to RTBF, Belgium won the first leg of the play-off, but Poland eventually went through.

Onzia won 62 caps as a midfielder and played for clubs including Arsenal, Twente, Anderlecht and Gent, DH reports. After ending her playing career in 2022 she worked for the federation as U17 coach and U23 assistant, and from 2024 she was part of the senior team staff. According to DH, many applications came from abroad, but no Belgian candidate was as convincing as she was. Sporting manager Simon Mignolet said, according to Sporza, that continuity was needed and that the team must focus on the next two years.

Onzia sees it as an advantage that she already knows the squad, so she does not have to start from scratch. Kevin Bogemans becomes her assistant and former Austria coach Irene Fuhrmann joins as technical adviser. The first task is the Nations League from March, where Belgium face Serbia and Romania among others in League B and aim to win promotion back to the top tier.