PARIS: Former England international Scott Parker was appointed coach of Belgian side Club Brugge on Saturday, three days after Carl Hoefkens was sacked for poor domestic form.
“Scott Parker succeeds Carl Hoefkens as coach of Club Brugge,“ the reigning Belgian champions said in a brief statement.
Former midfielder Parker was capped 18 times for England, and played for teams including Chelsea and Newcastle during his footballing career.
He began his coaching career with Tottenham's under-18s, before joining Fulham's managerial setup in July 2018 where he was deputy to Claudio Ranieri before taking over from the Italian in February 2019.
The 42-year-old could not prevent the London club being relegated, but they climbed back to the Premier League at the end of the 2019-20 season.
Fulham were relegated again in 2020-21 and Parker left for Bournemouth whom he guided into the top flight, before leaving in August 2022 after just a few weeks in the Premier League.
Hoefkens, 44, was appointed head coach in May but was sacked due to disappointing domestic results, despite leading the outsiders to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The team qualified second in its group after impressive wins over Bayer Leverkusen, Porto and Atletico Madrid.
The club will face Benfica in the Champions League last-16 in February, but are currently fourth in the Belgian Championship, 12 points behind leaders Genk, and have just been eliminated from the Belgian Cup.
Club Brugge have enjoyed major domestic success and growing financial clout in recent years, winning the Belgian Pro League in five of the last seven seasons.-AFP
