The Belgian football federation have announced that national team coach Dick Advocaat has resigned. No reason has been given for the Dutchman’s decision and the federation admit they are stunned by his resignation which comes barely six months after he stepped into the role.
The federation also confirmed they would be consulting their lawyers about legal recourse.
A statement on the federation website read: “The federation’s president Francois De Keersmaecker was informed this Thursday by national team coach Dick Advocaat that the latter was breaking his contract which linked him to the URBSFA with immediate effect.
“The Belgian football federation will contact their lawyers to study the consequences it will give to this matter.
“The URBSFA management, who were surprised by this announcement, will abstain from any comments at this moment and, since they do not know all the factors, the URBSFA will now reflect on what future steps they will take.”
Speculation has been rife recently that Advocaat is set to become Russia coach, replacing compatriot Guus Hiddink, whose contract ends in June.
Advocaat was supposed to take charge of Belgium after the World Cup but when they failed to qualify the start date of his two-year contract was brought forward to October 1st last year.
The former Dutch coach won his first game in charge, a 2-0 victory over Turkey in their penultimate qualifier, but swiftly followed that up with a 2-0 defeat to Estonia.
Advocaat also led the Belgians to friendly victories over Hungary and Qatar before losing to Croatia last month.
Since the beginning of December the 62-year-old has combined his role with his job as AZ Alkmaar coach.
Advocaat has a glittering array of trophies, among which are two Scottish Premier League titles with Rangers and the Uefa Cup and Russian Premier Liga with Zenit St Petersburg.