Ronald Koeman will be the national coach of the Dutch national team again from January 1, 2023, report the Telegraph and the AD† He has reached an agreement with the KNVB to succeed Louis van Gaal after the World Cup in Qatar and signs a contract for 3.5 years. That means that he hopes to play with the Orange at the European Championship of 2024 in Germany and the World Cup of 2026 in the US, Canada and Mexico.
The 59-year-old Koeman was previously national coach of Orange between 2018 and 2020, but left early to his dream club FC Barcelona. He was fired there last fall because of poor results. It recently leaked that he was in talks with the KNVB to return to the Dutch national team. The current national coach Louis van Gaal then said that Koeman would be a good successor. “They consulted me, I have a say in that. It’s not all that difficult. A year ago I was the only coach available with experience. That now applies to Ronald Koeman.”
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Koeman won the European title in 1988 as a player for the Dutch national team. As national coach, he reached the final of the Nations League in 2019 and qualified for the European Championship postponed to 2021 due to the corona pandemic. In his previous period with Orange he had a good relationship with a number of key players and they would have insisted on his return.