ADO Den Haag has proudly appointed Dick Advocaat as new head coach. The 75-year-old coach from The Hague, who was previously linked to the club as a player and a technical advisor, will sign a contract until the end of the season. Advocaat will take over from Dirk Kuijt in this role, and he will be joined by assistant coach Said Bakkati. Bakkati, a former player of ADO Den Haag, was assistant coach to Advocaat during his time at Feyenoord as well.
Born and raised in The Hague, Dick Advocaat entered the youth academy of ADO Den Haag in 1957. On May 21, 1967, he made his debut for ADO at nineteen years old in the home match against GVAV. Advocaat would go on to play for ADO (and later FC Den Haag) for seven seasons, mainly as a midfielder. His playing career took him to Roda JC, VVV-Venlo, Chicago Sting, FC Den Haag again, Sparta Rotterdam, Berchem Sport, FC Utrecht, and Duindorp SV. At the end of his playing career, Advocaat became a coach.
It has been 41 years since his first appointment as head coach, and in that time Advocaat has managed to build an impressive CV. He has coached many different renowned clubs, both in the Netherlands and abroad, and he has also coached the national teams of the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Iraq, South Korea, and the United Arab Emirates. Throughout his coaching career, Advocaat has won many prizes. He won the Dutch national championship, the Super Cup, and the KNVB Cup with PSV. As head coach of Glasgow Rangers, Advocaat, nicknamed “The Little General”, won all of the national prizes. One of the highlights of his coaching career must have been winning the UEFA Cup and the European Super Cup with Zenit Saint Petersburg, in addition to winning the national Super Cup and the national championship.
Now, with Advocaat being appointed as head coach of ADO Den Haag, he has come full circle. “I admit that it is very special to return to ADO Den Haag. This move may come as a surprise to some, but I could not let this opportunity pass me by: to coach the club that holds so many memories for me. We are all aware of the club’s current situation, and our objective is very clear. At the moment, ADO Den Haag needs better results. I will give my all until the end of the season to work our way up again.”
General director Edwin Reijntjes: “Dick Advocaat is a big name in the world of coaching here in the Netherlands. Given his background, he is neither a stranger to the club nor the city of The Hague. We are convinced that Dick, who is a coach with a wealth of experience, is the right man to turn things around. The objective that we established at the beginning of the season remains the same, which is promotion to the Eredivisie.
Said Bakkati
Alongside Dick Advocaat, Said Bakkati will take on the role of assistant coach until the end of the season. Bakkati was previously assistant coach to Advocaat at Feyenoord during the 2019-2020 season. The 40-year-old Bakkati was active as a professional football player until 2015, and during his playing career he played for ADO Den Haag for a year and a half. In 2014, Bakkati began his coaching career at FC Emmen as the coach of their youth squad, and he became assistant coach at Jong Ajax the following year. Afterwards, Bakkati became Jaap Stam’s assistant coach at Reading, PEC Zwolle, Feyenoord, and Cincinnati. Bakkati will now return to ADO Den Haag, but this time in a different role.