THE HAGUE, March 28 (Xinhua) -- Guus Hiddink will return as head coach of the Dutch national team per Aug. 1 this year, with Danny Blind en Ruud van Nistelrooy as his assistants, the Dutch football association KNVB announced on Friday.
The 67-year-old Hiddink succeeds Louis van Gaal, who will quit after two years at the helm after the World Cup. The KNVB also said that the 52-year-old Blind, who already was assistant of current coach Van Gaal, will follow Hiddink as head coach after Euro 2016. Van Nistelrooy is a new addition. The former striker replaced assistant-coach Patrick Kluivert.
"I consider it as an honor to return as national team coach," Hiddink stated in a press release. "With Danny Blind and Ruud van Nistelrooy we have a solid team with a lot of football knowledge and experience."
"Personally it is a wonderful fact that I can prepare my own successor," Hiddink added. "In this way the football vision for the Dutch team can be guaranteed in the long term."
In July last year Hiddink resigned as coach of Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala. He previously coached PSV Eindhoven, Fenerbahce, Valencia, Real Madrid, Real Betis, Chelsea and the national teams of the Netherlands, South Korea, Australia, Russia and Turkey. With the Netherlands he reached the semifinals of the 1998 World Cup and with South Korea he did the same four years later.
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