KNVB director Nico-Jan Hoogma was the man who appointed Frank de Boer as Netherlands head coach but will not resign from his position. Hoogma is now beginning the search for the successor.

De Boer submitted his resignation to the KNVB after their exit from the European Championships in the last 16.

After the meeting, Hoogma spoke to NOS and said, “This afternoon’s conversation was not pleasant. Frank himself indicated that the pressure would be so high that it would be a difficult situation to continue. Besides that, we had a contractual agreement, namely reaching the quarterfinals. Unfortunately we were unable to achieve that. We wouldn’t continue together on that ground either.

“It is possible to imagine that you had played a fantastic group stage, then you would meet a team like Portugal and be eliminated after a great game. Then you could say: why should we stop with each other? If you play well and have every confidence for the qualification of the World Cup… That was the escape.”

Asked if he made a mistake appointing De Boer, “I don’t want to say that, but I do feel responsible for it. We made an estimate at the time, but in the end it didn’t turn out to be what we hoped for. Of course you have to look at yourself, but I’m not a runaway. I took responsibility at the time and will have to take it now, to ensure that we have the right national coach in two months.”

On a successor for De Boer, Hoogma said, “It certainly won’t be easy. I won’t go into names, everything is very fresh now. Ronald Koeman had a kind of aura about him: he really was the chief, the boss. That has worked very well and put us all on a certain path. I’m thinking in that direction, that’s the feeling I have.”




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