According to Gridiron.nl, the American Football Federation of the Netherlands, AFBN, may have solved their head coaching problem.
Apparently, the AFBN have signed former national team head coach Winston Ronde to lead the team for the upcoming European Championship qualifying games.
Ronde is said to have signed an agreement with the AFBN yesterday and apparently is already working hard to put together a coaching staff for the first round games in the IFAF 2020 European Championship qualifying tournament against Finland and Denmark.
With this, the football future of the Netherlands seems to be saved for the time being. The federation did everything it could to attract a new national team coach last week, after former head coach Michael Williams and his entire staff left the federation.
Since Williams departure last week, the Dutch federation has been turned down twice writes Gridiron.nl. One time because a former national coach did not want to step in again, another because the powerhouse club team, the Amsterdam Crusaders, after long deliberation, decided to refrain from taking the place of the Dutch Lions.
Ronde previously served as coach of the Dutch Lions, but handed the reins to Reyhan Agaoglu in 2015. His last coaching gig was with the Amsterdam Crusaders, with whom he undertook a European adventure. He was also responsible for the fact that the Cru won the Tulip Bowl for the first time in four seasons.
Gridiron.nl writes that the return of Ronde is good for football, because it will also trigger the interest of a number of former players to return to international football. Many players gave up when the national team was suddenly dissolved by the policymakers at the time in 2017/2018.