Frank de Boer is the new national coach of the Dutch national team, the KNVB announced on Wednesday evening. The fifty-year-old trainer has signed a contract up to and including the World Cup in Qatar, which will be held in the autumn of 2022. De Boer will immediately start his work for the Orange squad and will therefore already be on the bench in October at the exhibition game against Mexico and the Nations League duels with Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy.

De Boer succeeds Ronald Koeman at Oranje, who earlier this summer left the Dutch national team behind for an employment contract with Barcelona. Dwight Lodeweges temporarily took over the helm during the international matches against Poland (1-0 win) and Italy (0-1 defeat), after which there was plenty of speculation about the definitive successor of Koeman. The KNVB would have sought in vain contact with Frank Rijkaard and Peter Bosz, both of whom said they did not listen to the position of national coach of Orange.

This is the Orange of 17 million national coaches…… and Frank de Boer.#WelcomeFrank pic.twitter.com/YNIaOAzjkp

– @ (@Onsoranje) September 23, 2020

In the past week, De Boer’s name was increasingly linked to the Dutch national team. The former defender of Ajax, Barcelona, ​​Galatasaray and Rangers, among others, moved according to Football International Monday at the KNVB for a second meeting. In the first interview, both parties spoke ‘football content’ ‘without agents’ and after a positive conversation the ‘proceedings’ were started at the beginning of this week. De Boer and the KNVB apparently quickly decided on that, because The Telegraph reported an agreement on Tuesday evening.

The KNVB has now confirmed the arrival of De Boer as new national coach. It offers the 112-time Oranje-international an opportunity to revive his trainer career. With four national titles with Ajax, his career as a coach got off to a flying start, but periods abroad at the Italian Internazionale, the English Crystal Palace and the American Atlanta United subsequently came to a premature end. Since his departure from the latter club in July of this year, De Boer has been out of work.

De Boer is already on the bench with Orange in October, when the duels with Mexico (October 7, friendly), Bosnia and Herzegovina (October 11, Nations League) and Italy (October 14, Nations League) are scheduled. It is not yet entirely clear what the staff of De Boer at Oranje will look like exactly. The staff that Koeman had, consisting of Dwight Lodeweges, Patrick Lodewijks and Maarten Stekelenburg, is still working at the KNVB for the time being.