Rijkaard named Dutch national coach

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Posted: Monday August 31, 1998 09:46 AM

Former midfielder Frank Rijkaard will take over the Dutch national team Ben Radford/Allsport

ZEIST, Netherlands (Reuters) -- Frank Rijkaard was named on Monday as the new coach of the Dutch national soccer team.

Rijkaard, 35, one of three assistants for the Dutch team at France '98, replaces Guus Hiddink, who has become the trainer at Real Madrid.

The former Ajax and AC Milan midfielder has signed a contract with the Dutch F.A. (KNVB) to lead the side until the European Championships in 2000, being held in Belgium and the Netherlands, with an option to extend for another two years.

Johan Neeskens, 46, will be Rijkaard's assistant. Neeskens, who formed a potent midfield partnership with Johan Cruyff at Ajax and Barcelona, was also one of Hiddink's assistants in France, where the team reached the semifinals.

Rijkaard and Neeskens have both taken the KNVB's fast-track trainers' course for ex-internationals along with Ruud Gullit, now Newcastle boss, and Ronald Koeman, who had been one of the three World Cup assistants but who is now No. 2 at Barcelona.

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