Steven Martens

Steven Martens (born 25 May 1964 in Lier) is a Belgian sports executive and the ex-CEO of the Royal Belgian Football Association. He obtained a master's degree in classical philology at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and became a top trainer in tennis at the Flemish trainers' school Bloso.

Tennis and football

He became a tennis coach in 1987 within the Belgian Tennis Federation with players as Sabine Appelmans, Laurence Courtois, Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Kirsten Flipkens, Xavier Malisse, Olivier Rochus, Kristof Vliegen and Steve Darcis. In 1997 he was awarded the ITF Coach fair play award.

Additionally, Steven Martens was captain from Belgian national tennis teams in the Fed Cup team (1993–1998) There, he was busy with scouting and education from younger players and coaches and he took care of the support and guidance for top players.

Martens was also a regular co-commentator during tennis matches at the Belgian public broadcast VRT. In an interview one year after his entry as Secretary-General he explained his long-term vision to increase the Belgian interest for playing football (also the women's interest) and to improve the Belgian FA's image and Belgian stadiums.

Martens resigned on 9 February 2015 after accusations of bad management and financial losses.