Muscat: Oman’s Football Association are in talks to appoint Erwin Koeman the new manager of the country’s national football team.
A senior official at the OFA told Times of Oman that the Dutchman had arrived in Muscat late on Monday night, and was scheduled to meet the organisation’s chairman on Wednesday afternoon to take part in the negotiations for his role.
“Yes, Erwin Koeman arrived in Muscat on Monday night, and this afternoon, we will have a board meeting to discuss this,” said the official. “Once that is done, tomorrow, Erwin will meet the Chairman of the Oman Football Association, so that we can negotiate his role with the national team. We will most likely be making a decision on his appointment by next week, and we will announce it to the public then.”
He added, “Right now, Erwin is the only candidate we are looking at to fill the role, and we are going to enter negotiations with only him. We are confident that he will agree to sign with us, and we are sure that the negotiations will go well.”
57-year-old Koeman is the elder brother of Ronald Koeman, and served as his assistant while he was formerly manager of English Premier League side Southampton FC.
Fenerbahce SK
He is currently employed as caretaker manager of Turkish Super Lig side Fenerbahce SK, stepping into the role after fellow Dutchman Philip Cocu left the club, having previously been employed as his assistant.
A former midfielder, Koeman played for a number of famed Dutch sides, including FC Groningen and PSV Eindhoven, in addition to a five-year spell in Belgium with KV Mechelen. He’s managed a number of club sides, including RKC Waalwijk, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Utrecht and FC Eindhoven in his native Netherlands.
He was also manager of the Hungary national football team for two years. In addition to his two-year stint as assistant manager of Southampton and his time in Istanbul, Koeman also worked as Everton’s assistant manager for a year, alongside his brother Ronald.
Koeman, should he agree terms with the OFA, would succeed fellow Dutchman Pim Verbeek, who decided to step away from management after leading Oman to their first-ever knockout stage of an Asian Cup, doing so in the recently-concluded 2019 version.
A year before, he’d led Oman to their second Arab Gulf Cup triumph, when the Sultanate beat the United Arab Emirates 6-5 on penalties.