Hagenaal-Maurice-Stein appointed as new Ajax manager

Hagenaar-Maurice-Stein has been appointed as Ajax’s new manager. The 49-year-old trainer has played professional football for ADO Den Haag and NAC Breda. He was promoted to the Eredivisie in 2000 with NAC Breda. Stein started his career as a trainer at ADO Den Haag, where he was an assistant trainer from 2011 to 2014, eventually becoming head coach of the first team.

From 2014 to 2019, he was head coach at VVV Venlo and became Keuken Campioen Divisie champions at the Limburg club. In the same year, he won the Guden Stier Award for Best Trainer, as well as the Linus Michels Award.

In 2019, he moved to the United Arab Emirates to join Al Wahda FC and joined NAC Breda the following year. He signed for Sparta Rotterdam at the end of April 2022 and prevented the club from relegation in the final game of the season.

Last season, Stein finished a surprising sixth in the Eredivisie with Sparta and also reached the play-off final of European football.