Patrick Kluivert: Indonesia appoints the Dutch legend as head coach


Indonesia has appointed former Netherlands and Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert as coach of the team.

The 48-year-old replaces South Korean coach Shin Tae-yong and will look to qualify his new side for an expanded 48-team World Cup in 2026.

Kluivert, who won the Champions League with Ajax and played in the Premier League with Newcastle, has signed a two-year contract with an option to extend.

The Southeast Asian nation has only previously qualified for the tournament once, playing in the 1938 edition while they were still the Dutch East Indies.

The Dutch coach's first task will be to face Australia in the third qualifying round in March, with two teams from their group of six automatically reaching the World Cup finals while two other teams head to another round.

Indonesia, ranked 127th in the FIFA rankings, is third in its group after six of 10 matches.

The last time Kluivert coached a team was in 2023, when he coached Adana Demirspor in Turkey for five months.

He previously coached Curacao twice and assisted Louis van Gaal and Clarence Seedorf when they captained the Netherlands and Cameroon respectively.



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