72-year-old Van Gaal back at Ajax as technical adviser

Former Ajax coach Louis van Gaal has accepted a role as adviser on “football technical matters” for the supervisory board of Ajax, the Amsterdam-based football club announced on Tuesday.

Ajax are currently facing a major crisis, both on and off the pitch. The four-time winner of the Europa Cup I/Champions League now sits in the 15th position in the Dutch Eredivisie. Among other developments, the club’s director of football, Sven Mislintat, was dismissed on September 24.

The 72-year-old Van Gaal, who has been undergoing treatment for prostate cancer since the end of 2020, guided the Netherlands to the quarterfinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in December last year. In 1995, he steered Ajax to victory in the Champions League.

“I want to help Ajax,” Van Gaal stated in a press release. “I currently spend a big part of my life in Portugal, and this can be well combined with my role as an external adviser. I am willing to offer my football knowledge to the supervisory board. We must find our sportive way back up to the top, and we all have to contribute to that.”