{"id":40493,"date":"2026-08-25T22:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/40493\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T22:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:54:12","slug":"xavi-hernandez-aims-to-revive-netherlands-team-with-dutch-soccer-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/40493\/","title":{"rendered":"Xavi Hernandez aims to revive Netherlands team with Dutch soccer influence"},"content":{"rendered":"

ZEIST, Netherlands (AP) \u2014 Dutch soccer coaches helped shape Xavi Hernandez<\/a>. Now the former Barcelona and Spain midfielder wants to return the favor and rejuvenate a Netherlands team that disappointed with its defensive style at the World Cup.<\/p>\n

Louis van Gaal, who also coached the Netherlands, gave Xavi his debut for Barcelona. The midfielder grew up at the Catalan club where the playing philosophy of Dutch all-time great Johan Cruyff<\/a> remains strong.<\/p>\n

At his presentation Tuesday, Xavi sounded like he was harking back to the \u201ctotal football\u201d ideals of Cruyff-led Dutch teams in the 1970s as he laid out his ambitions for the Netherlands playing style.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want … to dominate the game, to take the initiative with the ball,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd at the same time, our goal is to show to everybody a team with passion, with desire and ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Netherlands Soccer Federation technical director Nigel de Jong said Xavi was on a shortlist of four candidates for the coveted job after former Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola, and Arne Slot, who is still without a job after being fired by Liverpool<\/a> in late May. They both declined. The other candidate was Michael Reiziger, who coaches the Netherlands\u2019 youth team.<\/p>\n

The new coach was unfazed by the big names ahead of him in the selection process.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, it\u2019s not a bad position after Guardiola and after Slot. Third position. At least we are … on the podium. I don\u2019t care,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Xavi\u2019s first test comes Sept. 24 in Amsterdam when the Netherlands plays Germany, which also has a new coach \u2014 J\u00fcrgen Klopp<\/a>. The former Liverpool manager replaced Julian Nagelsmann, who quit after another disappointing World Cup campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel excited,\u201d Xavi said, \u201cI feel motivated because, you know, we are playing against Germany, one of the best, teams in Europe and one of the best coaches in the last years, J\u00fcrgen Klopp. So yeah, it\u2019s a big challenge from the beginning, but I think we will be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 46-year-old Xavi had been out of work since leaving his job as Barcelona coach<\/a> in May 2024. He replaces Ronald Koeman<\/a> after his departure following the World Cup, where the Netherlands lost in a penalty shootout to Morocco in the Round of 32.<\/p>\n

While the Netherlands has struggled to win on soccer\u2019s biggest stages \u2014 Oranje has reached three World Cup finals and lost them all \u2014 Xavi has a history of victories.<\/p>\n

With Xavi playing at the heart of its midfield, Barcelona won 25 titles, including four Champions Leagues and eight Spanish leagues. He was also key to a four-year run in which Spain won the 2010 World Cup \u2014 beating the Netherlands in the final in Johannesburg \u2014 and European Championships in 2008 and 2012.<\/p>\n

Now he wants to extend his winning ways with the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will try to change some things. Good habits, new energy,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will work with passion, with ambition and with desire in order that people in Holland, the 18 million people, be proud of our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full soccer coverage here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ZEIST, Netherlands (AP) \u2014 Dutch soccer coaches helped shape Xavi Hernandez. Now the former Barcelona and Spain midfielder…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":40494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5901,17298,365,13482,26027,17951,24312,26029,6,363,24310,13596,367,364,26028,366,24286],"class_list":["post-40493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-netherlands","tag-arne-slot","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-fifa-world-cup","tag-johan-cruyff","tag-juergen-klopp","tag-julian-nagelsmann","tag-louis-van-gaal","tag-michael-reiziger","tag-netherlands","tag-netherlands-national-soccer-team","tag-nigel-de-jong","tag-pep-guardiola","tag-ronald-koeman","tag-soccer","tag-spain-national-soccer-team","tag-sports","tag-xavi-hernandez"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40493","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=40493"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40493\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40493"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40493"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40493"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}