After several cancellations, Jeroen Rijsdijk now seems to be the first candidate to take over the coaching helm at Sparta. According to several sources, the 46-year-old from Rotterdam will be presented next Monday. A two-year contract would be ready for the coach at Het Kasteel.
In that case, Rijsdijk can get to work immediately, because on that same day Sparta will start preparing for the new season at Nieuw-Terbregge.
The scenario that Rijsdijk would lead that training together with fellow assistant coach Nourdin Boukhari was becoming more and more realistic: Sparta, after all, was unable to commit a trainer. Gregg Berhalter, Danny Blind, Ron Jans and Fred Ruth: Thank you all for the honor. Jordi Cruijff was also approached, but he – like Rutten – wants to work abroad.
Structural successor
Given the most recent developments, it now seems that Rijsdijk is being pushed forward. Not as a temporary solution, but as a structural successor to Maurice Steijn who left for Ajax.
For Rijsdijk it means his second job in professional football: he was previously an assistant and interim head coach at Almere City. Before that, Rijsdijk was active in amateur football for years as a trainer of SHO and Excelsior Maassluis. At Sparta he was previously also responsible for the youth academy and was a trainer of Jong Sparta.
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