Ronald Koeman (59) will start on January 1, 2023 his second stint as national coach of the Dutch national team. The KNVB has just confirmed this. Koeman, who had been national coach for 2.5 years before his switch to FC Barcelona in August 2020, will succeed Louis van Gaal after the World Cup in Qatar. He signed a contract up to and including the 2026 World Cup in Mexico, Canada and the United States.
In his first period as national coach, the Dutch national team played twenty matches led by Koeman. Eleven matches were won, five ended in a draw and the Orange lost four. The Netherlands reached the final of the Nations League in 2019, in which Portugal was too strong 1-0.
“I am looking forward to the new collaboration”, says Koeman on the site of the KNVB. “I left the Dutch national team about a year and a half ago. My stay felt good, the results were good and the “click with the internationals was good. We will continue on that path. That is certain for me.”
Van Gaal indicated two weeks ago, during the previous international match with the Orange, that he advised the KNVB to go for Koeman. The current national coach called that the most logical choice.
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The changing of the guard will fall at an atypical moment
The KNVB already polled Koeman at the beginning of this year, says director of professional football Marianne van Leeuwen. ,,I didn’t want to wait to fill in the succession of Van Gaal. After all, the changing of the guard will come at an atypical moment; the end of the calendar year, a period in which top trainers have been under contract for a long time and the rinse is therefore thin. As early as mid-January, we therefore decided to contact Ronald, who was available. Then we came to an agreement in a few conversations. We are very happy that Ronald will return next year. During his previous ‘term’ as national coach, there was great satisfaction with his work and the results.”
Frank de Boer
With the appointment of Koeman, the KNVB again opts for someone who was previously national coach of Orange. The former defender previously had the Dutch national team under his wing from February 2018 to August 2020. After Koeman left for FC Barcelona, more than a year and a half ago, the football association came to Frank de Boer. Under the leadership of the former coach of Ajax, the Orange squad stranded in the eighth finals of the European Championship against the Czech Republic (0-2) last year.
Louis van Gaal then started for the third time as national coach of Orange. The 70-year-old trainer was previously in charge from 2000 to 2002 and from 2012 to 2014. After the successful 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the Dutch national team finished third, the KNVB chose Guus Hiddink. De Achterhoeker was also national coach before, from 1994 to 1998. Hiddink had to leave in 2015.
Danny Blind was in charge of the Dutch national team from July 2015 to March 2017. In the summer of 2017, the KNVB appointed Dick Advocaat, hoping to make it to the 2018 World Cup. For Advocaat this meant his third period as national coach of Orange. He previously held that position from 1992 to 1994 and from 2002 to 2004.
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