AMSTERDAM: Ronald Koeman will retake the helm of the Dutch national team after the World Cup from Louis van Gaal following a disappointing stint at Barcelona, the Dutch football federation said on Wednesday.
Van Gaal announced at the weekend that he had been receiving treatment for prostate cancer for the last two years but that he still hoped to lead the team at the finals that kick off in Qatar in November and will end on Dec 18.
It will be 59-year-old Koeman’s second time in charge of the Dutch national team after taking the reins from 2018 to 2020, when he left the post to become coach of Barcelona.
“I am looking forward to working together again. When I left the national team a year and a half ago, it was certainly not because I wasn’t happy,” Koeman said.
Koeman helped the Netherlands reach the Euro 2020 finals after they had missed the previous tournament and the 2018 World Cup, and also to the final of the Nations League, where they lost 1-0 to Portugal.
Marianne van Leeuwen, the director of professional football at the Dutch federation, said: “We’re very happy that Ronald is coming back next year”
Koeman was equally happy to reclaim a job that he had liked throughout.
“It felt right. The results were good and I got along well with the players,” he said. “It is clear that we will continue down that same road.”
Published in Dawn, April 7th, 2022
