{"id":31992,"date":"2025-06-11T14:20:47","date_gmt":"2025-06-11T13:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?p=31992"},"modified":"2025-07-05T22:08:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-05T21:08:18","slug":"former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 41-year-old Heitinga<\/a> returns to the club where he started his career as a player, replacing Francesco Farioli who resigned last week after Ajax<\/a>‘s spectacular title collapse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He has signed a two-year contract and will be assisted by Marcel Kaizer, who had a brief spell in charge of Ajax in 2017.
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heitinga spent the past season working under Arne Slot at Premier League champions Liverpool<\/a>. He also had a stint on David Moyes’ coaching staff at West Ham<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I am incredibly excited to start. The last years in England have done me a lot of good,” Heitinga said in a club statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’ve been able to develop further alongside David Moyes and Arne Slot, while also getting a behind-the-scenes look at two major clubs.
\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I’m ready to continue as a head coach and I’m honoured to be given that opportunity at Ajax<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajax suffered a painful end to the season after blowing a nine-point lead with five matches to play, allowing PSV Eindhoven<\/a> to snatch the league title on the final day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Farioli revived the fortunes of a team coming off a dismal fifth-place finish in the 2023-24 campaign, but he decided to leave due to “different visions” with the club board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Former Atletico Madrid<\/a>, Everton<\/a> and Fulham<\/a> centre-back Heitinga retired in 2016 after a brief second spell with boyhood club Ajax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He played 87 times for the Netherlands<\/a> but was sent off in extra time in the 1-0 loss to Spain<\/a> in the 2010 World Cup final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday. The 41-year-old Heitinga returns to the club where he started his career as a player, replacing Francesco Farioli who resigned last week after Ajax‘s spectacular title collapse. He has signed a two-year contract and will be assisted by Marcel Kaizer, who had a brief spell in charge of Ajax in 2017. Heitinga spent the past season working under Arne Slot at Premier League champions Liverpool. He also had a stint on David Moyes’ coaching staff at West Ham. “I am incredibly excited to start. The last years in England have done me a lot of good,” Heitinga said in a club statement. “I’ve been able to develop further alongside David Moyes and Arne Slot, while also getting a behind-the-scenes look at two major clubs. “I’m ready to continue as a head coach and I’m honoured to be given that opportunity at Ajax.” Ajax suffered a painful end to the season after blowing a nine-point lead with five matches to play, allowing PSV Eindhoven to snatch the league title on the final day. Farioli revived the fortunes of a team coming off a dismal fifth-place finish in the 2023-24 campaign, but he decided to leave due to “different visions” with the club board. Former Atletico Madrid, Everton and Fulham centre-back Heitinga retired in 2016 after a brief second spell with boyhood club Ajax. He played 87 times for the Netherlands but was sent off in extra time in the 1-0 loss to Spain in the 2010 World Cup final.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":32699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,159,169,531],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","category-football-news","category-news","category-news-2"],"yoast_head":"\nFormer Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss - Matchplug Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss - Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-11T13:20:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-07-05T21:08:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"700\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-11T13:20:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-05T21:08:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/\"},\"wordCount\":277,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"Football\",\"Football News\",\"News\",\"news\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/\",\"name\":\"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss - Matchplug Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-06-11T13:20:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-05T21:08:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png\",\"width\":700,\"height\":400},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"description\":\"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"width\":389,\"height\":218,\"caption\":\"Matchplug Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss - Matchplug Blog","description":"Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss - Matchplug Blog","og_description":"Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday.","og_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/","og_site_name":"Matchplug Blog","article_published_time":"2025-06-11T13:20:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-07-05T21:08:18+00:00","og_image":[{"width":700,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss","datePublished":"2025-06-11T13:20:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-05T21:08:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/"},"wordCount":277,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png","articleSection":["Football","Football News","News","news"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/","name":"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss - Matchplug Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png","datePublished":"2025-06-11T13:20:47+00:00","dateModified":"2025-07-05T21:08:18+00:00","description":"Former Netherlands defender Johnny Heitinga has been appointed as the new coach at Ajax, the Dutch club announced on Saturday.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png","width":700,"height":400},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/former-netherlands-defender-heitinga-takes-over-as-ajax-boss\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Former Netherlands defender Heitinga takes over as Ajax boss"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","name":"Matchplug Blog","description":"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Matchplug Blog","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","width":389,"height":218,"caption":"Matchplug Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/former-defender-heitinger-is-new-ajax-manager.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31992"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32987,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31992\/revisions\/32987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}