Heatinga "goes home" to take the helm! Ajax appoints Slott s assistant to replace Farioli

On May 31, the Eredivisie giants Ajax Club officially announced that the team's meritorious former player and former Dutch international John Heitinga would be appointed as the new head coach of the first team, and the two sides will sign until the summer of 2026. The 41-year-old young coach will replace Italian coach Farioli who resigned last week.

Hetinga's return this time is to take over the parent team that started his player's career. Ajax confirmed in the announcement that Hetinga signed a two-year contract. His assistant coach will be Michael Kaiser, who had briefly coached Ajax in 2017. In recent years, Hattinga's resume on the coaching seat has been quite impressive. In the just-concluded 2024-25 season, he worked as an assistant coach under Premier League champion Liverpool coach Slott. Earlier, he also worked on the coaching team of West Ham coach Moyes and accumulated valuable Premier League experience. This English experience became an important capital for him to coach Ajax.

In a statement released by the club, Heatinga expressed his expectations for the new role: "I am very excited to take office. The experience in England in the past few years has made me a lot of money and has been able to continue to develop around Moyes and Slot, while gaining an in-depth understanding of the operations of the two giant clubs. I am ready to continue as head coach and I am honored to get this opportunity in Ajax." Heatinga took over a challenging position. Ajax suffered a dramatic and heartbreaking ending in the Eredivisie this season: he still held a huge lead of 9 points with only the last five rounds of the league, but eventually collapsed and was won by Eindhoven in the final round. Although former coach Farioli successfully led the team out of the trough of only fifth place in the 2023-24 season, this humiliating loss and subsequently exposed "ideological differences" with the club's board of directors eventually led to the Italian's departure.

As a player, Hetinga, who plays as a central defender, has a prominent career experience. He became famous in Ajax, and later played for well-known European clubs such as Atletico Madrid, Everton and Fulham, and retired after playing for a brief second-time parent team Ajax in 2016. At the national team level, he even made 87 appearances for the Dutch team, and was the backbone of the "Orange Clothes Army" defense. However, one of the most memorable moments of his career was the 2010 World Cup final, when he left the court in overtime. In the end, the Netherlands lost to Spain 0-1 and finished second.

Hetinga's return is regarded as an important measure for Ajax to revive his strength and stabilize his morale after a regretful season. Whether this young coach who is well versed in the club's DNA can lead the young Ajax out of the trough and regain lost glory will be a major highlight of the Eredivisie in the new season.