Maurice Steijn is the new manager of Ajax. The team from Amsterdam has just confirmed the arrival of the 49-year-old coach. Steijn signs a three-year contract at the Johan Cruijff Arena. Ajax also confirmed the arrival of assistant coach Saïd Bakkati on Wednesday morning.
Ajax confirms Steijn’s arrival as new manager
On Sunday, it was reported that Ajax saw Steijn as the top candidate for the vacancy of head coach. A day later, the team from Amsterdam reached an agreement with the tactician on a three-year contract. Because Steijn still had an ongoing contract with Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax had to talk to the club about a transfer fee. Those negotiations were also successfully concluded on Monday. Ajax has now announced Steijn’s appointment to the world.
Six months after the dismissal of Alfred Schreuder, Ajax finally has a permanent successor in house. John Heitinga has been doing the honors as interim coach since January. But was recently told that the club did not want to continue with him in that role. Director of football affairs Sven Mislintat then looked at various options. Kjetil Knutsen was in the picture, but the Norwegian coach did not want to leave Bodø/Glimt in the middle of the season.
Maurice Steijn’s journey
For Steijn, Ajax is his fifth Dutch club as head coach. The former player of ADO Den Haag and NAC Breda started his career as a coach at ADO, where he became responsible in 2011 after the departure of John van den Brom to Vitesse. With the team from The Hague, Steijn finished ninth and fifteenth respectively in the Eredivisie, before he had to make way for Henk Fraser in February 2014. ADO was last at that time.
Steijn did not have to wait long for a new job. VVV teamed up with him and reaped the benefits in the third season with promotion to the Eredivisie. Steijn maintained his position in the Eredivisie with the team from Venlo for two seasons in a row, before making a lucrative trip to Al-Wahda. After a troubled period at NAC Breda, Steijn was successful again with Sparta, which he first saved from relegation and led to sixth place this season.
