Political coup for Wilmots
Monday, May 19, 2003
Article summary
Former Belgium international Marc Wilmots has been elected to the Belgian senate.
Article body
Political career
The 34-year-old acting FC Schalke 04 player-coach, who announced his intention to retire from football to pursue a political career at the end of this season, will join the Belgian senate as a member of the Walloon liberal party, MR, the party of Belgian foreign affairs minister Louis Michel. Wilmots' popularity with the Belgian public was reflected in by the fact that he won 79,437 votes. Only 17 other candidates in the whole country polled more
Popular figure
The excellent political news for Wilmots was in stark contrast to his current troubles with Schalke, who lost their fourth consecutive game on Saturday against SV Werder Bremen. The well-respected player retired from international football after putting in some excellent displays at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals in Korea/Japan. In an exemplary career for Belgium, he scored 28 goals in 70 matches.
