Belgian international defender Vincent Kompany has hung up his boots at the age of 34 to become manager of Anderlecht on a four-year contract, the club announced Monday.
Kompany joined
Anderlecht from Manchester City in 2019 as player-manager, and now takes over
from Franky Vercauteren, who had been handling coaching duties, in a purely
managerial role.
“I want to fully
commit to my role as a coach and need 100% of my time and focus for it. That’s
why I’m quitting as a football player,” said Kompany, who enjoyed a
trophy-laden 11-year spell in England with City.
“Our ambition and
our hunger remains the same. I want to stay with the club for at least four
seasons and prove that Anderlecht can play a modern style of football, with
results.”
Kompany’s first
game in charge will come on Sunday as Anderlecht take on Mouscron.
As defender and
skipper at City, Kompany won four Premier League titles, two FA Cups and four
League Cups with City and is widely regarded as one of the club’s greatest ever
players.
After making his
international debut as a 17-year-old, he went on to play 89 times for Belgium,
notably leading them to third in the 2018 World Cup.