Ronald Koeman stepped down as Netherlands head coach following his team’s round of 32 exit from the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Monday.

This brought an end to Ronald Koeman‘s second coaching stint with Netherlands, after having previously led the team from 2018 to 2020. And after the departure of Louis van Gaal following Netherlands’ quarter-final exit at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Koeman took over as the head coach once again.

He guided Netherlands to a semi-final finish at Euro 2024, eventually losing to England. That was Netherlands’ first appearance at the semi-finals of a major tournament since the 2014 FIFA World Cup, when they had lost to Argentina via penalties.

Netherlands’ disappointing FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign

Coming back to the ongoing tournament, the Dutch endured a disappointing FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign where they lost to Morocco 3-2 on penalties, after the scores were level at 1-1 after extra time. Netherlands had topped their group with seven points from three games.

They played out a 2-2 draw against Japan before thumping Sweden 5-1 and beating Tunisia 3-1.

Ronald Koeman’s statement after exit

Koeman announced his decision to resign as Netherlands head coach on Instagram.

“Last night I took the decision to end my stint as head coach of the Dutch national team. We all dreamed of a World Cup in which we would write history. That didn’t work out. No one is more disappointed about that than me,” he wrote.

“Saying goodbye to mixed feelings. Of course I would have liked to end my time at Oranje with a world title. Unfortunately, that dream was left unfulfilled. But above all pride prevails.

“My wife Bartina has supported and encouraged me every day to finish my work as a national coach, despite her own illness process. That is a testimony to incredible strength. I appreciate her more than I’ll ever be able to put into words,” he explained via his statement.

Koeman has received criticism for making a Netherlands team in a somewhat defensive fashion. He, however, defended the defensive approach by his team despite the criticism.

“With this defensive ⁠approach, we gave away much less than we did during the (group) matches,” he added after his team’s round of 32 exit.

“That was positive, but ​also we were less offensive. You ‌can think of the tactics whatever you like, but we gave away much less against a team much stronger than Sweden and Tunisia. And if I had to do it again, I ‌would do it the same way again,” he said.

“I also know that ​if Morocco hadn’t equalised with that late goal, there would be all sorts of compliments for me as the ⁠Dutch coach, but now, probably, I’m going to be scolded for the fact that I chose five defenders, but once again, I believe ‌it was necessary,” he explained.