Ajax announce surprising new head coach | OneFootball

Ajax have confirmed that Maurice Steijn will take over as the club’s new coach after they came to an agreement with Sparta Rotterdam.

The 49-year-old led Sparta to survival in his first year in charge before going on to achieve a surprising sixth place finish last season, which resulted in a European football play-off.

Steijn has penned a three-year deal at the Johan Cruyff Arena.

“Maurice is now roughly 20 years active as a trainer in professional football, of which 10 years as head coach. With all the clubs he worked for, the results exceeded the expectations,” stated director of football Sven Mislintat.

“He has shown multiple times with his teams that he is a real overperformer. He is ready for a step up, I’m sure of that. Furthermore, we are carefully composing the technical staff surrounding Maurice. At the end of June, the first players will report at Sportpark de Toekomst and the preparation for the new season will begin.”

Said Bakkati has joined as an assistant, Max Lesser arrives from Stuttgart as head of analysis, although the search for another assistant coach to assist Steijn remains ongoing.