The Scottish Football Association announced on Sunday the appointment of Belgian Sebastián Buonanotti as the new head coach of the senior team, on a two-year contract. Buonanotti replaces Steve Clark, who stepped down from the role after seven years.
Buonanotti, 39, left the bench at French side Monaco at the end of last season, after the team finished in seventh place. Previously, the Belgian manager achieved a notable milestone with Union San Gilberto, leading the team to win the Belgian League title in the 2024-2025 season, the club's first championship in the competition since 1935.
Buonanotti will be the second foreign manager to direct the Scottish national team, after German Berti Vogt, who guided the team between 2002 and 2004. Clark signed a new four-year contract last May, but resigned from his post following Scotland's elimination in the group stage of the World Cup, ending his seven-year spell in charge of the national team.
Buonanotti has previous experience in English football, where he played for West Bromwich Albion and Brighton during his career. He also won 13 international caps for the Belgian national team. After retiring from football following a 17-year career as a left-back in England, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, Buonanotti started working as a coach with Union San Gilberto and in youth categories of the Belgian national teams.
In 2024, Buonanotti took charge of Union San Gilberto's senior team and quickly managed to lead the club to win the Belgian Super Cup, before securing the league title for the first time in 90 years, as well as competing in the European Champions League. This performance attracted the attention of Monaco, who signed him in October that same year before sacking him in early June last year.
