Around five months after leaving Bayer Leverkusen, Erik ten Hag is taking on a new job. The Dutchman is returning to his homeland.
As announced by Dutch first division club Twente Enschede, Erik ten Hag will take up the position of technical director on February 1. Ten Hag, who will celebrate his 56th birthday one day after officially taking office, comes from Haaksbergen in the Twente region and is thus returning to his homeland. He will initially share his new job with Jan Streuer on a transitional basis. However, the 74-year-old recently announced his retirement at the end of the season as technical director of the current sixth-placed team in the Eredivisie. Ten Hag will therefore be solely responsible for the strategic direction of the club in the new season. “I think it’s wonderful and very special to return to FC Twente, where I have been a fan since my childhood at the Het Diekman Stadium (FC Twente’s stadium until the end of the 1990s),” ,“ ten Hag is quoted as saying in a statement. ”With my experience in youth work, team building, and top-level sport, I want to work with the supervisory board, management, and staff to strengthen FC Twente’s technical foundation so that the club can sustainably exploit its potential as a regional flagship.”
First steps as a coach in Enschede
During his playing career, ten Hag played over 200 competitive games for FC Twente and won the cup in 2001. He later began his coaching career in Enschede, first as a youth coach and later as an assistant coach, before ten Hag himself embarked on a career as head coach. In this role, ten Hag worked at Bayer Leverkusen for two months last summer, but had to leave after only three competitive games. The reason for this was fundamental differences with the club management regarding the sporting direction, working methods, and cooperation, which meant that the necessary relationship of trust was no longer considered to exist. The Dutchman later sharply criticized the separation, describing it as “unprecedented.” Despite this interlude, ten Hag has made a name for himself as a successful coach, including at Ajax Amsterdam.
However, a lot of work awaits him in Enschede: the two-time champions are having a mixed season, parted ways with coach Joseph Oosting early in the season and have managed to stabilize somewhat under his successor John van den Brom.
