Former Netherlands international Mark van Bommel has taken over as head coach of Belgium's national team following its run to the World Cup quarterfinals.
Van Bommel replaces Rudi Garcia, who it was confirmed this week would leave at the end of his contract on July 31.
“Belgium has outstanding players and enormous potential,” Van Bommel said. “Together with my coaching staff, we want to build a team that is disciplined, ambitious and brave enough to compete with the very best.”
Van Bommel has coached PSV Eindhoven, VfL Wolfsburg and Royal Antwerp FC. As a player he represented top European clubs including Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AC Milan. He was also in the Netherlands side which reached the final of the 2010 World Cup, losing to Spain.
He boosted his coaching reputation in Belgium by winning a league and cup double with Antwerp in 2023. That was Antwerp's first league title since 1957.
“Success is never guaranteed, but hard work, honesty and commitment are. We will give everything to help this team improve every day and make the Belgian people proud,” Van Bommel said.
Boudewijn Zenden, Maarten Martens and Reinier Robbemond have been named as Van Bommel's assistants.
“I am truly delighted that Mark van Bommel and his assistants have agreed to take on this challenge. They are highly motivated and ambitious, and I am convinced that, with their international experience as both coaches and players, they will be perfectly placed to help our Belgian Red Devils continue to improve, achieve results and reach their full potential, both individually and as a team,” Belgian soccer federation sports director Vincent Mannaert said.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
FILE - Royal Antwerp's head coach Mark van Bommel reacts during a Champions League group H soccer match between Porto and Antwerp at Estadio do Dragao in Porto, Portugal, Nov. 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Miguel Pereira, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Diplomats began voting Friday on the fate of the embattled chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court during a special meeting in New York, the end of a nearly two-year saga that has left the already beleaguered institution even more bruised.
British barrister Karim Khan has been accused of sexual misconduct with a female aide, as outlined by The Associated Press in a series of stories, allegations which he has steadfastly denied.
The lengthy and complicated process has pitted human rights advocates, staff and member states against one another at a time when the court is already facing daunting challenges, including a campaign by the United States to “ dismantle ” the ICC, which was established to prosecute people responsible for humanity’s worst crimes.
The 56-year-old Khan was formally removed from his duties at the ICC in June after a report by the executive committee of the court’s oversight body found he had committed “serious misconduct.” According to documents seen by The Associated Press, Khan engaged in a sexual relationship with the woman and tried to prevent her from pursuing her allegations. Khan disputes those findings.
Now his future lies in the hands of the 125 nations who make up the court’s oversight body, the Assembly of States Parties. They are holding a special session in New York that will culminate in a vote where a majority would need to support a resolution to oust him.
Early in the session, a motion brought by Sierre Leone that would have made it harder to oust Khan failed and diplomats quickly moved forward to a vote on removal, several hours ahead of schedule, according to three diplomatic sources who were familiar with the proceedings.
The outcome of the vote, which is secret, is unclear. The court’s host state of the Netherlands will vote for his removal, as will France and Norway, the only countries so far to have made their decision public.
“We believe it has been proven beyond reasonable doubt that his conduct constituted sexual harassment and abuse of power," Norway's deputy foreign minister, Andreas Motzfeldt Kravik, said in a statement to the AP.
In a letter to Parliament last week, Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen indicated that there was sufficient support to remove Khan. “Although the balance of power within the ASP is still evolving, the position of most contracting parties also appears to be in line with the recommendation of the ASP Office,” he said.
Päivi Kaukoranta, president of the Assembly of State Parties, said at the public opening of the meeting that the vote would be in private to “address a complex and sensitive disciplinary matter as part of this governance and oversight role of the International Criminal Court.”
“There has been splintering over how the court has handled this,” Lucy Gaynor, a historian of international criminal tribunals at the University of Amsterdam, told The Associated Press.
Groups that support the court’s work have taken diverging positions. Last week, a group of Palestinian organizations issued a public letter, accusing the executive committee of “unwarranted political interference” and said it lacks “the independence, impartiality or legal expertise to make assessments.”
In June, the International Federation for Human Rights, Redress and Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice with others said that the victim has been “publicly questioned, instrumentalized, and too readily dismissed as part of a political agenda.”
Staff members are also wary of the future. A group within the prosecutor’s office sent a letter to the oversight body expressing serious concerns about Khan’s potential return, writing that his “leadership has been materially diminished.”
Prominent international figures have also been voicing their views. In an opinion piece in Project Syndicate, former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the allegations are a plot against the court. “Khan’s enemies have managed to start a debate about his potential removal, with allegations of sexual misconduct serving as the tip of the spear,” the Spanish diplomat wrote.
Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, has taken an entirely different stance, writing on social media that Khan “clearly does not” have “the moral authority and credibility to continue serving as prosecutor.”
Khan himself has given a series of interviews denying the allegations and arguing they are part of a conspiracy against him for his investigation into Israeli officials. In an interview with CNN last week, the female staffer strenuously denied this. A United Nations investigation report seen by the AP said that “multiple credible witnesses dismissed the notion that she was a spy.”
Whatever its member states decide, the court is facing more turbulent times ahead. The Trump administration, which has already sanctioned key ICC staff including Khan, seeks to further destabilize the 24-year-old tribunal that it claims is a challenge to US sovereignty.
Regardless of the outcome, “the court is going to walk away bruised and battered and wounded and less able to face the greater threats ” Iva Vukusic, a researcher at Utrecht University who has been following the process, told the AP.
FILE - Karim Khan, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, looks up prior to a press conference in The Hague, Netherlands, July 3, 2023. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, File)
FILE - The International Criminal Court (ICC) is seen on Dec. 9, 2025, in The Hague, Netherlands. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong, Pool, File)
