Dick Advocaat appointed Netherlands manager

Advocaat replaces Danny Blind as manager who was sacked in March following a 2-0 loss to Bulgaria. The team also failed to qualify for the European Champions in France – a far cry from their third place at the 2014 World Cup.

Advocaat wasn’t present on Tuesday to make the appointment official after rumours doing the rounds for numerous weeks. He will continue to manager Turkish club Fenerbahce, until the end of the Turkish league season.

In his previous spells as national team manager, Advocaat led Netherlands to the 1994 World Cup quarter-finals and the semi-finals of Euro 2004.

Advocaat earned praise in 2015 to help Sunderland avoid relegation and would need the same heroic act from Netherlands players in order to qualify for the World Cup. Netherlands are six points behind Group A leaders France with only the group winner guaranteed a place at the World Cup.

Advocaat has previously coached Russia, Belgium and Serbia, as well as club teams including PSV Eindhoven, Glasgow Rangers, Zenit St. Petersburg and Sunderland. While, Gullit, a former Chelsea coach, captained the Netherlands to its only major tournament success, the 1988 European Championship.

Van Breukelen admitted that the search for new coach was tough with some candidates unavailable or unwilling. Everton coach Ronald Koeman and former Ajax coach Frank de Boer were both identified as possible successors shortly after Blind was fired.

Advocaat’s first game in charge will be the World Cup qualifier against Luxembourg on June 9 in Rotterdam.