It was a double celebration for Sander van Dijk this week. On Thursday, his contract as head coach of Hovocubo was extended by two years. The day after it was announced that he will become assistant national coach of the Dutch futsal team.
Van Dijk was one of the candidates to become national coach of the Dutch team. He was approached about this, but then he would have had to stop at Hovocubo. “That dual function suits me much better. I’m still having too much fun at Hovocubo and I think it’s too early to say goodbye. This role is made for me.”
Ferguson of Dutch futsal
At Hovocubo, Van Dijk will start his sixteenth season as head coach. This makes him the Sir Alex Ferguson of Dutch futsal. “It seems like that,” laughs Van Dijk, who is by far the longest serving coach in the Eredivisie. “That has been accompanied by a lot of success. The cooperation is still very good. I always ask the players whether it is time for new impulses. We talk about that openly,” says the coach, who can count on the confidence of the player group.
It was recently announced that Lebo coach Zaid el Morabiti just like Van Dijk becomes assistant national coach. “Very funny and coincidental. They still know each other from their time on the Dutch team and I have also known the new national coach Miguel Andrés Moreno as coach of Eindhoven for a while.”
Where Van Dijk has earned his spurs as head coach, it will take some getting used to to adapt to a different role. “I know Miguel and Zaid well. We often had conversations about football and that clicked well. Miguel is ultimately responsible and I love working at the KNVB after all. That is an honorary job. And that while retaining you. club, then it’s an ideal combination.”
national coach
Where the KNVB has more often moved on from an assistant national coach to national coach, Van Dijk thinks it will not come to that. “I don’t look that far ahead. It’s not for nothing that I pledged again for two years at Hovocubo. I first have to see how it goes at the KNVB and then we’ll see how it goes later.”