AMSTERDAM: Bert Van Marwijk has quit as manager of the national team in the wake of the surprise early exit from the European Championship finals in Poland and Ukraine.

The former Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund boss had a contract with the KNVB until after Euro 2016 and it had been indicated that no decision would be made until early next month. But a statement from the Dutch federation, the KNVB, confirmed the 60-year-old’s departure.

Holland, one of the favoured outsiders at the finals after being World Cup runners-up in 2010, lost all three games to Denmark, Germany and Portugal.

KNVB director Bert van Oostveen had expressed publicly his surprise at what he considered the team’s poor fitness level.

He said, in Algemeen Dagblad: “I would really like to know why the other teams were on a higher fitness level. Not just as a director, but also as a football enthusiast. The difference with the other teams was clear to see. That has really surprised me.”

= = = =