Koeman adds Jonk to technical staff of Dutch national team

National coach Ronald Koeman has added Wim Jonk to the technical staff of the Dutch national team. The 57-year-old former international, who, like Koeman, is a supporter of Johan Cruijff’s philosophy, succeeds Sipke Hulshoff as assistant national coach.

Hulshoff signed with Liverpool in the wake of Arne Slot and was unable to combine that position with a role with Oranje. During the European Championship, Dwight Lodeweges temporarily returned to Koeman’s side. Now the vacancy has been permanently filled with the arrival of Jonk. The former trainer and technical director of FC Volendam had his hands free since he left the club from his hometown last year after the necessary unrest.

Jonk has signed with the KNVB until the 2026 World Cup, to Koeman’s delight. ‘With his experience, he is an excellent addition to our technical staff. I know him as a good trainer with a fresh, unique view on football’, the national coach said in a press release. ‘With the arrival of Wim, our technical staff is complete for the next two years, in which we want to perform well in the Nations League and then work towards the 2026 World Cup.’

Oranje

Just like Koeman, Jonk has a past as a player at Ajax and PSV. The two never played together at club level, but they did appear on the field together several times for the Dutch national team. At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Jonk and Koeman were both regular players, after having been part of the selection during the 1992 European Championship in Sweden. Jonk played 48 international matches for Oranje, in which the midfielder with the blazing long-range shot scored eleven times.

Jonk will be on the bench for the Dutch national team for the first time next month, when the Nations League matches against Hungary and Germany are on the programme. Last Friday, Koeman announced the preliminary selection for those matches. The national coach already had another assistant at his side in his brother Erwin. Patrick Lodewijks acts as goalkeeper coach for Oranje.