Xavi honoured to be named Netherlands coach

AMSTERDAM: The appointment of Xavi as ⁠Netherlands coach late on Wednesday completes an extensive search and brings full circle the special ​relationship between Dutch football and ​Barcelona.
Xavi replaces Ronald Koeman, who quit after the Netherlands were eliminated from the World Cup in the round of 32 in June.
A World Cup winner with Spain as a player in 2010, Xavi has been out of coaching since leaving Barcelona in 2024, where he spent three seasons in charge.
He has signed a four-year ⁠contract through the 2030 World Cup and is the first foreign coach to take ⁠charge of the Dutch since Austrian Ernst Happel at the 1978 World Cup.
The six-week wait for a coach drew criticism from Dutch media, but the country's football association received several rejections, including from Arne Slot ‌and Erik ten Hag, before turning to the ​former Barcelona playmaker.
Xavi had ⁠also succeeded Koeman at Camp Nou in November 2021 and coached ​Barcelona to the La Liga title ‌in 2023 before leaving after a run of poor results a year later.
Barcelona’s football philosophy of dominant possession, short passing and quick ​ball recovery was introduced with the arrival of Rinus Michels as coach and Johan Cruyff as a player, the pair bringing ‘Total Football’, a philosophy honed at Ajax Amsterdam in the early 1970s.
Cruyff, who later coached Barcelona, was a major influence on subsequent coaches, particularly Pep Guardiola, who had Xavi ‌as one of his key players during his time in charge from 2008 to ​2012.
'As someone who received his training at the Barcelona academy, with strong influences from Johan ​Cruyff and ‌Rinus ⁠Michels, among others, I feel a special connection to Dutch football,” Xavi said in a statement on Wednesday.
'You could say that I am a bit of a son of Dutch ​football. I consider it a tremendous honour to become the national ⁠coach of ​the Dutch national team.'
Xavi also played under Frank Rijkaard and Louis van Gaal, who gave him his Barcelona debut in 1998, and had as his teammates a myriad of Dutch internationals, including Frank and Ronald de Boer, Marc Overmars and Patrick Kluivert.
His most pressing tasks ​include building towards the European Championship in 2028 and the World Cup two ​years later.
The Netherlands also play four Nations League matches in quick succession in the September-October international window against Germany, Serbia (twice) and Greece. — Reuters