Twente FC officially announce Eric ten Hag to be the new Technical Director from next season after brutal Bayer Leverkusen sacking.
Erik ten Hag (55) will join FC Twente on 1 February. He signs a contract until mid-2028. Ten Hag will succeed current technical director Jan Streuer starting from the 2026-2027 season, who recently indicated that he will step down after this season. Towards the new season, Ten Hag is already working in the football organization of FC Twente.
Ten Hag returns to the club where he started his professional career. He experienced great successes as a player at FC Twente and had his first coaching positions there.
Erik ten Hag: "I think it's very nice and special to return to FC Twente, where I came to Het Diekman as a supporter from an early age. My football and coaching career started here. With my experience in the field of youth development, team building and top sports culture, I want to strengthen the technical foundation of FC Twente together with the Supervisory Board, management and staff, so that the club can sustainably realize its potential as a regional signboard."
"We are very happy to welcome Erik ten Hag to FC Twente," says general manager Dominique Scholten. "From the new season, Erik will succeed Jan Streuer, who has made a very big contribution to where FC Twente is now again. We owe Jan a lot of thanks for that."
Scholten explains why Erik ten Hag was chosen: "Erik has an incredible track record in football and his bond with FC Twente has always remained very strong. At FC Twente he was a youth coach, head of training and assistant coach and then he was head coach and technical manager at renowned clubs, nationally and internationally. We have been in regular contact in the past period and the conversations quickly showed that there is a lot of ambition to take FC Twente further. This ambition is in line with the course we recently presented. In this we raise the bar and further professionalize the football organization. We already took a first step in this last year with the arrival of Tim Gilissen."
Erik ten Hag's playing and coaching career
Erik ten Hag (Haaksbergen, 2 February 1970) started playing football at a young age at SV Bon Boys in Haaksbergen and made the switch to FC Twente's highest youth team in 1985. In October 1989, the former midfielder/defender made his debut in the first team of FC Twente during the away match against RKC Waalwijk. Over different periods, Erik ten Hag played 258 official matches in the red of FC Twente from 1989 to 2002. In 2001, Erik ten Hag won the KNVB Cup as captain with FC Twente. During his professional career, Ten Hag also played for De Graafschap (1990-1992), RKC Waalwijk (1994-1995) and FC Utrecht (1995-1996).
In 2002, Ten Hag put an end to his playing career and became head of the youth academy and youth coach at FC Twente. From 2006 to 2009, Ten Hag was an assistant coach on the coaching staff of FC Twente's first selection and then left for PSV. After three seasons as an assistant in Eindhoven, Ten Hag moved to Go Ahead Eagles in 2012 as technical manager/head coach. He then worked as a trainer at FC Bayern München II (2013-2015) and FC Utrecht (2015-2017) as technical manager/head coach. From the beginning of 2018, Ten Hag was Ajax's coach for five seasons. He won the national title three times with Ajax, the national cup twice and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. In 2016, 2019 and 2021, Ten Hag received the Rinus Michels Award for coach of the year.
From 2022 to 2024, Erik ten Hag was coach of Manchester United FC and won the League Cup and the FA Cup with the English superpower. At the beginning of this season, Ten Hag was coach of Bayer 04 Leverkusen.