We know we don’t have the best players, but that doesn’t mean that you cannot have the best team.”

ZEIST, Netherlands — Former Netherlands national team star Ronald Koeman was named coach of the squad on Tuesday, tasked with restoring the country’s pride after a series of humiliating defeats.

Announcing his appointment, the Royal Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) said Koeman has “just signed a contract which ties him to Oranje with immediate effect up to and including the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.”

Koeman told a media conference at KNVB headquarters he was “really excited and very proud” to have fulfilled what he said was “always one of my ambitions” to be head coach of the national team.

Nico-Jan Hoogma, currently with Dutch top-flight club Heracles, was also named a top sports director and assistant for Koeman.

Koeman, 54, was fired by English Premier League team Everton in October after just two wins in nine games. He led the Toffees to seventh last season, his first term in charge.

In a tweet, Koeman said he was “happy to be here and serve the country in our road to UEFA Euro 2020”.

He told reporters that “expectations are high, but we still have good players with a lot of talent”.

Koeman takes over from Dick Advocaat, who had been one in a raft of unsuccessful appointments for the Oranje since 2014.

Advocaat arrived in May for a third stint as national coach, but stepped down seven months later after failing to steer the three-time World Cup runner-up to this summer’s finals in Russia.

Mixing it up

Koeman said he was “really positive about the future of the national team” but suggested he would push greater discipline and training over the coming months.

He also hinted he might not always stick with the Dutch team’s vaunted 4-3-3 formation.

“I’m a coach who likes to change systems,” he said. “We know we don’t have the best players, but that doesn’t mean we cannot have the best team.”

Koeman had already been earmarked in 2014 to replace Louis van Gaal, who left to join Manchester United after taking the Dutch squad to third place in the World Cup in Brazil.

But instead, the KNVB appointed another stalwart, Guus Hiddink, who was then replaced by Danny Blind, fol- Ronald Koeman, new coach of the Netherlands lowed by Advocaat — all in less than four years.

During that time the national team slumped from one disappointment to another.

An attack-minded central defender, Koeman won 78 Dutch caps between 1982-94, scoring 14 goals.

He represented his country in the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, and helped his team to victory for the first time in the 1988 European championships.

Pedigree

Tuesday’s announcement marks Koeman’s 10th managerial post since starting his coaching career at Vitesse in 2000.

He was twice an assistant coach for the Dutch — during Hiddink’s reign and later Van Gaal’s.

The younger brother of former international team-mate Erwin Koeman, and the son of ex-Dutch international Martin Koeman, he played for Groningen, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord in his homeland.

Koeman’s club career peaked at Barcelona, where he was part of the so-called “Dream Team” from 1990-95 and scored the winning goal against Sampdoria in the 1992 Champions League final.

But a tough baptism awaits, with friendlies lined up against two teams heading to the World Cup: England on March 23 in Amsterdam, and Portugal three days later.

The Dutch will then face world champions Germany and France in the new UEFA Nations League in September and October.