Al Jazira hire Dutchman Keizer
Al Jazira has once again put their confidence behind a Dutch coach to lead their 2018-19 campaign.
Following the retirement of renowned Henk ten Cate, the Pride of Abu Dhabi has decided to rope in another high profile coach in Marcel Keizer.
Keizer, who played for Ajax from 1987 to 1989 and managed them until 2017, was in the capital to sign the contact but the club is yet to announce the period of the deal. Ayed Mabkhout Al Hajeri, the board member of Al Jazira Football Company and CEO attended the signing ceremony, said: “We haven’t decided on that yet.”
However, Keizer’s agent Humphrey Nijman, speaking to Dutch media, has reportedly confirmed that the contract is for two years.
“There was interest from various clubs from the Netherlands and abroad, and Al Jazira’s offer appealed to him the most,” says Nijman.
Under Keizer, who took over from Peter Boszin in 2017, the club failed to get the desired result. Ajax was soon eliminated in the preliminaries of the Champions League and the Europa League. He was eventually fired in December due to the volatility with in the team. Before that, the 49-year-old was with Jong Ajax, Telstar, FC Emmen and SC Cambuur in the Netherlands.
Ten Cate, who too had coached Ajax before, led Jazira to President’s Cup success in 2016 and the Arabian Gulf League title in 2017. Al Jazira also made it to the semi-finals of the Fifa Club World Cup in the UAE, before going down fighting 2-1 to Spanish giants and eventual champions Real Madrid.
The 63-year-old recently announced that he wanted to quit at Al Jazira, where he has been a coach for two and a half years. He had said that he wanted to end his trainer career in order to spend ‘more time with his family.’
“We were successful with the style and system Henk ten Cate developed at the club and want to continue a similar type of football under Keizer,” said Al Hajeri.
“Ten Cate promoted a lot of youngsters to the first team and it would be easier for them to continue with the brand of football they played under the new coach.”