Kevin Hofland and Sjors Ultee will switch roles at Fortuna Sittard from next season. Hofland will become head coach and Ultee will act as his assistant and will also become technical manager at the Limburgers.
“It may not be a usual one, but it is a logical construction for us. In practice, Kevin, Kristof (assistant Aelbrecht, ed.) And I will complete the technical policy with the three of us,” Ultee told Tuesday Football International.
“We have worked very well this season and that will continue in the new set-up. As head coach Kevin will take over from me, for example to the media, but much will stay with the old one. I will stay active on the field and will continue matches are also on the bench. “
Hofland can start as head coach, because next season he will receive the KNVB dispensation to perform that task without a coaching diploma. He is one of the fourteen students who were unable to complete the highest level of education this season due to the corona crisis.
Ultee succeeds Ars as technical manager
Ultee succeeds Sjoerd Ars as technical manager. The latter, according to VI, had a bad relationship with Hofland and after the summer will become head of international scouting and transfers and will no longer have to deal directly with the first team.
General Manager Ivo Pfennings is happy with the changes. “It was a bit of a puzzle to balance the future vision of the club and the qualities of the above-mentioned people, but we managed to do just fine in my opinion,” he says on the club’s website.
Ultee, only 32, is the youngest head coach in the Eredivisie this season. In recent years he has already been an assistant at Helmond Sport, FC Twente and FC Utrecht. Hofland, 40, has been an assistant at Fortuna since mid-2018, the club where he made his debut in professional football in 1997.
Fortuna is sixteenth in the Eredivisie. The Sittarders should play playoffs for relegation with that spot, but chances are that the season will not be completed because the Dutch cabinet has prohibited playing professional football until September 1.
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