New Netherlands women’s coach Arjan Veurink said tears were shed in an emotional farewell after a long spell working with Sarina Wiegman and the England team.
The 38-year-old served as Wiegman’s assistant for eight and a half years, first with the Dutch before following Wiegman to England in 2021 and winning two European Championships in a row.
“I don’t consider myself an emotional person, but quite a few tears were shed,” he said of the end of his collaboration with Wiegman, which also included taking the Netherlands to the 2019 Women’s World Cup final and seeing England finish runners-up at the 2023 World Cup.
“It was a wonderful time. We went out for dinner last week. Sarina gave me a beautiful photo book of our years together. That was quite emotional,” Veurink told reporters on Tuesday as he was formally presented as the Dutch coach.
Veurink, however, had no hesitation when offered the chance to coach the Dutch team.
“When the Dutch national team approaches you, you don’t have to think twice. When I got my qualifications in England, I started to get the itch. I talked about it with Sarina then, too,” he said.
Veurink replaced Andries Jonker as coach after a disappointing Euros in Switzerland where the Netherlands failed to get out of the group phase.
“So much has been said about that in recent months, but I wasn’t involved,” he said. “I’ve been appointed to lead a new phase and want to look ahead.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ed Osmond)
