Louis van Gaal has been named the new coach of the Netherlands, signing a deal through to next year’s World Cup final in Qatar, the Dutch football association have announced.
This is the third time he will be appointed as the head coach of the Dutch side, with his latest appointment coming less than a week before his 70th birthday.
Van Gaal replaces Frank de Boer, who was relieved of his duties after the Netherlands lost to the Czech Republic in the last-16 of the European Championship in June.
Speaking about his appointment, the Dutch technician said;
“There is little time until the next qualifiers so the focus is therefore immediately 100 per cent on players and what approach we will take.
“I have already spoken to a number of players and together with the KNVB, we have completed the technical staff. I look forward to doing the job together.”
Van Gaal will coach the Netherlands team as they seek to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, playing three World Cup qualifiers in the space of seven days in September.
They will play Norway on 1 September, and then Montenegro on 4 September and Turkey on 7 September.
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KNVB director, Nico-Jan Hoogma on explaining the appointment said;
“We have in the coming months ahead of us the assignment of qualifying for the World Cup. We have little preparation time and given this, we were looking for a coach with exceptional qualities, which can also quickly anticipate and for whom coaching the national team does not hold any secrets,”
“With his experience and record at the highest level, we identified Louis van Gaal, making quick contact and in recent days we have carefully put the dots on the I’s. We are happy that Louis has taken on this job.”
Van Gaal was first appointed Dutch coach in September 2000 but resigned just over a year later when they failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup.
He returned in August 2012 and led the Dutch national team to a third-place finish at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
In the last seven years since, the Dutch have had seven coaches – Guus Hiddink, Danny Blind, Fred Grim (acting), Dick Advocaat, Ronald Koeman, Dwight Lodeweges (acting) and De Boer.
The Netherlands were finalists at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. They finished third in the next edition of the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil but were unable to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
In Van Gaal, the Netherlands have a coach who is not a stranger to Dutch football, and hopefully, he will be able to secure them a spot in Qatar next year.
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