Dick Advocaat has been named as Holland’s coach for the third time, with Ruud Gullit as his assistant. The Dutch Football Association confirmed the appointments at a press conference in Zeist on Tuesday morning.
Advocaat, a former Rangers and Sunderland manager, turns 70 in September and becomes his country’s oldest national coach. Guus Hiddink was 68 when he left the position in June 2015.
Hiddink’s successor, Danny Blind, was unable to lead the team to Euro 2016 and was sacked in March in the wake of their World Cup qualifying defeat against Bulgaria. The Oranje have endured two defeats in their opening five Group A games and sit fourth, six points behind the leaders France and three behind the second-placed Sweden.
The Dutch FA’s technical director, Hans van Breukelen, said: “There were two scenarios. We opt for the longer term or we do everything that is possible to get to the 2018 World Cup. We chose the second scenario. It had to be a very experienced professional, preferably an authority.”
Advocaat will leave his post as coach of Fenerbahce in Turkey to take the job. He has had two previous stints as Holland coach, 1992-94 and 2002-04, and three as assistant, most recently last year. Only Rinus Michels has had so many spells in charge.
Fred Grim will remain in interim charge until Advocaat and Gullit join together, which looks likely to be when Fenerbahce’s involvement in the Turkish Cup is over. “It is unfortunate that Dick Advocaat cannot join up with us until later, but it is as it is,” Van Breukelen said.
Gullit will, as anticipated, assist Advocaat. The 54‑year‑old won the last five of his 66 Holland caps towards the end of Advocaat’s first tenure, before a dispute over tactics before the 1994 World Cup signalled the end of his international career.
Advocaat led Holland to the 1994 World Cup quarter-finals in the United States, where they lost against Brazil, and to the semi-finals at Euro 2004, at which they were knocked out by the hosts Portugal.
Advocaat’s other club jobs include Rangers, Sunderland and PSV Eindhoven. He has also managed the United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Belgium, Russia and Serbia.
Van Breukelen revealed a foreigner as coach had been “a possibility”, but that the final three candidates on the list were Dutchmen: Advocaat, Huub Stevens and Henk ten Cate.