Wesley Sneijder hits out: ‘This is very strange from the KNVB. I’m not saying I want to be called tomorrow, but…’

Wesley Sneijder has serious doubts about the appointment of Xavi to the Netherlands national team, he said on Rondo on Ziggo Sport. Sneijder believes the KNVB are moving away from the line they previously followed on coach education.

“Well, I found it remarkable,” says Sneijder, before explaining his stance in detail. “I also sat down with Nigel (de Jong, ed.) a number of times about how we could shape it with regard to a coaching course. At the time, they were very clear about that at the KNVB.”

“The accelerated course at the Netherlands national team was no longer possible, because that had therefore been determined by UEFA,” says Sneijder, arguing that even having worked with great coaches in the past was not enough to qualify for the accelerated route. “But now they are actually going back on that.”

Then he pointed to Xavi’s coaching badges. “Because Xavi completed A, B and Pro within four weeks. When he was still a player, through the Spanish federation. Of course he does have it, but not according to the KNVB’s standard. I do find it strange, because earlier you are basically saying that every coach is obliged to follow the 4.5-year course.”

“Now you take someone who has not done that at all, under the guise of ‘he has worked with great coaches’. I do wish it for Xavi, and for the KNVB, but I do find it strange. At the time I said: ‘Let’s go for a bit of tailor-made work.’ But that was not listened to.”

Above all, Sneijder took issue with the KNVB's explanation. “What I find remarkable above all is that they say: ‘It has been determined by UEFA.’ That is not true. It is not true, because it is still different in a great many countries. I am not saying that I want a phone call tomorrow and want to do it in one year, quite the opposite. I just find the policy strange now, odd,” concludes the Netherlands national team’s record international.

Back in 2021, Sneijder himself stopped the coaching course after a difference of opinion with the KNVB over the content of the programme. “I understand that I need to learn something, I am not a coach. But it is suggested that we as former footballers have no experience. That is nonsense,” he said at the time to RTL 7. “A bit of tailor-made work did not fit the KNVB’s view and then it becomes difficult to work.”