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Van der Lem signs as Saudi-Arabia technical director

08 September: Less than two months after Gerard van der Lem's first day as coach of Young Ajax, the Amsterdam club will have to start searching for his successor. Van der Lem signed a lucrative contract with the football association of Saudi-Arabia.

Officially, Van der Lem will start his new job on 01 July of 2003, after season's end. However, the Saudis requested Ajax to release the born and raised Amsterdammer as early as 01 October. Ajax is taking this request into consideration, but has not decided yet. Van der Lem will be working for Saudi-Arabia's national team until the World Cup of 2006.

Gerard van der Lem joined Ajax as a youth coach in 1990, but he soon moved on to become Louis van Gaal's coach-assistant. In this capacity he won all trophies one can think of in the glorious year 1995 and 1996: several Dutch championships, national cups and Super Cups, the UEFA Cup (19932), the Champions League (1995), the European Super Cup (1995) and the Intercontinental or World Cup (1995).

Van der Lem was the head coach of Eredivisie side AZ last season, after which he surprisingly chose to move back to his beloved Ajax. He signed on 29 May of this year, to replace tremendously succesful Young Ajax coach Jan Olde Riekerink, who moved on to coach AA Ghent in Belgium's highest division.

With Young Ajax, Van der Lem started the season in style, beating the reserves of his former club AZ 9-0 and making it through the group stage of the Amstel Cup, in which the first team of AZ was kept down to a 2-2 draw. (MP)

(Source: Ajax.nl)