{"id":37505,"date":"2026-08-12T22:50:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:50:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/37505\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T22:50:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T22:50:12","slug":"netherlands-announce-surprise-xavi-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/37505\/","title":{"rendered":"Netherlands announce surprise Xavi appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Netherlands have confirmed the appointment of Barcelona icon Xavi as their new head coach on a contract to run until the end of the 2030 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The Oranje parted ways with Ronald Koeman for the second time in the aftermath of this summer&#8217;s tournament, which saw them impress in the group stage before suffering a round-of-32 exit.<\/p>\n<p>They topped a tough group containing Japan, Sweden and Tunisia before losing to Morocco on penalties in the first knockout round, following a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>After Koeman&#8217;s exit, the Netherlands were linked with several big-name coaches, including Dutch bosses Erik ten Hag and Arne Slot.<\/p>\n<p>Former Belgium and Portugal boss Roberto Martinez was also touted as a possible candidate, but another Spaniard has ultimately taken the role.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">1 \u2013 Xavi will be the first foreign manager of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OnsOranje?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">@OnsOranje<\/a> since Ernst Happel in 1977-1978, with the former midfielder making his debut for the Spanish national team in a friendly match against the Netherlands in 2000.<\/p>\n<p>Full-circle. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/B9moUQDK2V\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/B9moUQDK2V<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 OptaJohan (@OptaJohan) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OptaJohan\/status\/2087621271060185542?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 12, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Xavi had been out of management since leaving Barcelona in 2024, having won LaLiga in 2022-23 and the Supercopa de Espana in the same season.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He compiled 90 wins, 23 draws and 29 defeats in 142 games in charge of the Blaugrana across all competitions, giving him a win percentage of 62.7%.<\/p>\n<p>Xavi will be the first foreign coach of the Netherlands since Ernst Happel in 1977-1978.<\/p>\n<p>The former midfielder made his Spain debut in a friendly against the Oranje in 2000, while he also lifted the World Cup after overcoming them in the 2010 final in South Africa.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Xavi&#8217;s four-year contract means he will oversee the Netherlands&#8217; Euro 2028 campaign, with that tournament being hosted in England, Wales, Scotland and the Republic of Ireland, before leading them into the next World Cup in 2030.<\/p>\n<p>Portugal, Spain and Morocco are serving as co-hosts for that tournament, though UEFA countries are currently threatening to boycott FIFA competitions as Gianni Infantino faces pressure to resign from his role as president.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>                        <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Netherlands have confirmed the appointment of Barcelona icon Xavi as their new head coach on a contract&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[23238,23239,365,6,364,612],"class_list":["post-37505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-netherlands","tag-default","tag-en","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-netherlands","tag-soccer","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}