“We will continue the chosen path”

Koeman, who was national coach for 2.5 years before moving to FC Barcelona in August 2020, signed a 3.5-year contract, until the 2026 World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

In his first tenure as a national coach, the Dutch national team played twenty matches led by Koeman. Eleven matches were won, five of which were a draw, and the Orange lost four. The Netherlands reached the Nations League final in 2019, with Portugal very strong 1-0.

“I look forward to the new collaboration,” Koeman says on KNVB. “A little over a year and a half ago, I did not leave the Dutch national team due to dissatisfaction. My stay was good, results were good and tapping with international players was good. We will soon continue on this path. That is certain for me.”

Louis van Gal

Van Gaal noted two weeks ago, during the previous international match with Orange, that he had advised the KNVB team to go to Koeman. The current national coach described it as the most reasonable choice.

Professional football director Marianne van Leeuwen said the KNVB had already polled Koeman at the beginning of this year. “I didn’t want to wait to fill in the Van Gaal succession. After all, the changing of the guard will come at an atypical moment; the end of the calendar year, a period when the top coaches have been on contract for so long and so the rinse is poor.”

So in the middle of January we decided to call Ronald who was there. Then we came to an agreement in a few conversations. We are very excited to have Ronald back next year. During his previous ‘term as a national coach, there was great satisfaction with his work and the results’.

The passing of Ronald Koeman

With Koeman’s appointment, KNVB has once again chosen someone who was previously the Orange national coach. The former defender had previously put the Dutch national team under his wing from February 2018 to August 2020. After Koeman left for FC Barcelona, ​​over a year and a half ago, the FA came to Frank de Boer. Under the ex-Ajax coach, the Orange squad were stranded in the eighth European Championship final against the Czech Republic (0-2) last year.

Then Louis van Gaal started for the third time as the national coach of Orange. The 70-year-old coach was previously in charge from 2000 to 2002 and 2012 to 2014. After the success of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, where the Dutch national team finished third, KNVB picked Guus Hiddink. De Achterhoeker was also a 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 reach the 2018 World Cup. For Advocaat, this meant his third term as national coach. for Orange. He previously held this position from 1992 to 1994 and from 2002 to 2004.

It was recently announced that Van Gaal suffers from prostate cancer. However, Van Gaal will continue to hold the World Cup finals in November “as normal”, according to the agreements. According to Zeist, the KNVB Board also does not think in terms of “Plan B just in case”. For now, Koeman is committed to the post-Van Gaal era.