Martin Jol has been appointed  as the new head coach of Dutch football club Ajax Amsterdam on a three-year contract. The 53-year-old Dutchman will succeed Marco van Basten who resigned a week before the end of the season. He joins from German club SV Hamburg, where his contract had one more year to run. Mr Jol was not the first choice for Ajax, who had already held talks with three other candidates - Co Adriaanse, Frank Rijkaard and Morten Olsen.

Ajax had a disappointing season under Marco van Basten, and finished only third in the Dutch Premier League behind two smaller clubs, AZ Alkmaar and Twente Enschede. This means that there will be no European Champions League football for Ajax next season, and Martin Jol's job will to ensure that they qualify for the lucrative competition the following season.

Ajax director Rik van der Boog said in statement that

"Martin has all qualities the new coach of Ajax should have in our opinion. He worked in the Netherlands and abroad with big clubs and average clubs and proved he can get the maximum out of players."

Career summary

Martin Jol played for Twente Enschede, Bayern Munich, West Bromwich Albion and Coventry City. He started his started his coaching career at Roda JC Kerkrade in 1996 and won the cup in his first season. He then spent six-years at RKC Waalwijk, before joining English Premier League Club Tottenham Hotspur in 2004. He took them to fifth place in the league in 2006 and 2007, but the following season he was sacked after a string of poor results

Mr Jol was without work until he took over at Hamburg in July 2008. He led the club to the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and the German Cup. They finished fifth in the Bundesliga to qualify for the new Europa League, which replaces the UEFA Cup next season. He said of his appointment that

"Ajax is offering me a bright chance, with long-term perspective. I had a great time working for Hamburg, which is a really big club, but after years working abroad I look forward to return to the Netherlands."