Dutchman Andries Jonker, former assistant to his compatriot Louis van Gaal at FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich for men, has been named new coach of theNetherlands women’s teamthe Dutch football federation (KNVB) announced on Wednesday.
“We have ambitious goals”
He replaces Briton Mark Parsons, whose departure was announced by the federation two weeks ago following the disappointing results of the Oranje at Euro-2022 last month. The Dutch, crowned European champions in 2017 and finalists of the 2019 World Cup, were eliminated in the quarter-finals by France.
“Andries Jonker will start immediately as national coach of the OranjeLeeuwinnen (the Orange Lionesses) and signed a contract with the KNVB until the European Championship 2025”the federation said in a statement. “At the last European Championship, we saw how women’s football has developed at an incredible speed in recent years”said Andries Jonker, quoted in the press release.
“We have ambitious goals, but also a lot of qualities and talent on which we can rely for the 2023 World Cup”, he added. Jonker takes over from Parsons for World Cup qualifying in Australia and New Zealand next year. A victory against Iceland on September 6 in Utrecht would qualify the Netherlands, top of their group.
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Jonker, 59, served as interim women’s coach for a short period in 2001 and has coached men’s football, including at Willem II, Wolfsburg and Telstar. On the men’s side, he was also an assistant coach under Louis van Gaal at FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich.