Nigel de Jong: 'We still think he can become head coach of the Netherlands national team in the future'

Nigel de Jong has spoken to the NOS about the possibility of Michael Reiziger becoming national team manager. The 53-year-old coach had long been mentioned as one of the leading candidates to take over as Netherlands boss, but in the end the KNVB opted for Xavi.

Plenty of criticism greeted the possible appointment of Reiziger as national team manager. "You can always have football-related criticism. I think that is normal too; that is also what makes us the Netherlands," says De Jong, the KNVB's director of top-level football.

Reporter Jeroen Stekelenburg points out that most of that criticism centred on the fact Reiziger still lacks much experience as a coach at senior level. He has mainly worked as an assistant, although he did serve as head coach of Jong Ajax from 2017 to 2019 and has led Jong Oranje since 2023.

"Yes, but of course there are also other criteria that he does meet," De Jong replies. "In particular, also how we view him within the organisation. It is not always a given, based on a visual impression people have of him from the outside, to say whether or not he is a candidate for the national team manager's job."

"In that, you have to be honest with each other. We brought him in three years ago for a particular reason. Mainly so that he could develop himself, but I also think because we saw him as a serious candidate to become the potential national team manager."

"That is how we have always approached him. And to this day I still hold Michael in very high regard. He knows that too."

"We have had that conversation as well. And we still believe in Michael that he can become a successful coach and a possible national team manager in the future," De Jong concludes.