Dirk Kuijt is the intended new coach of FC Dordrecht, sources reported to NU.nl on Monday. The former international is already in talks with the Keuken Kampioen Divisie club.
The 44-year-old Kuijt is without a club since he left the Belgian Beerschot earlier this month, with whom he was relegated from the Jupiler Pro League. FC Dordrecht is looking for a new coach: Melvin Boel left for Go Ahead Eagles eight days ago.
Under the leadership of Boel, FC Dordrecht was close to promotion to the Eredivisie last season. The club stranded in the semi-finals of the play-offs. Willem II, who later lost the final to Telstar, took the penalties better.
FC Dordrecht maintains warm ties with Feyenoord, where Kuijt had hoped to become head coach for years in vain. After years as a youth coach in Rotterdam, the 104-time Oranje international became head coach in professional football for the first time at ADO Den Haag in 2022.
That didn’t go well for Kuijt: after four months, the former player of FC Utrecht, Feyenoord, Liverpool and Fenerbahçe was fired. A year after his dismissal, he got a new chance at Beerschot, which was then playing in the second tier of Belgium. Under his leadership, the club was promoted to the Jupiler Pro League.
After that, things went wrong, partly because Kuijt had to work in difficult circumstances. The Saudi club owner barely made himself heard and Kuijt sometimes had no field to train on. In recent weeks, he has been linked with the position of assistant to Arne Slot at Liverpool, but his agent Rob Jansen recently said that a return to Anfield will not happen.