The Hague, Sep 24 (IANS): Frank de Boer has been named as the new head coach of the Netherlands national football team, the Dutch football association KNVB has announced.

After Ronald Koeman left 'Oranje' for FC Barcelona in August, the search for a new candidate started. Assistant Dwight Lodeweges led the Netherlands temporarily against Poland (1-0 win) and Italy (0-1 loss) in the beginning of September, reports Xinhua news agency.

The KNVB called three people who were interested to be named as Koeman's successor. Frank Rijkaard said no, because he wishes to remain retired. Peter Bosz said no because he is under contract at Bayer Leverkusen and the third candidate Frank de Boer was available and said yes.

The 50-year-old de Boer has signed a contract until the 2022 World Cup. He will start his term next month, when the Dutch play Mexico in a friendly, and Bosnia-Herzegovina and Italy in the Nations League.

Frank de Boer wore the Netherlands shirt 112 times as a player. He started his coaching career at Ajax in December 2010, with which he captured four Dutch league titles. After that he had unsuccessful spells at Internazionale, Crystal Palace and until July 2020, at Atlanta United.