Erik ten Hag not a candidate in FC Twente coaching search | OneFootball

Former Bayer 04 Leverkusen coach Erik Ten Hag may not be returning home to the Netherlands for the 2025/26 season, as FC Twente have not added him to their coaching shortlist. De Telegraaf reports that Mark van Bommel, who used to coach Royal Antwerp FC and recently rejected NEC, was made the primary option instead.

Twente are searching for a replacement for Joseph Oosting, after sacking the 53-year-old from Emmen following a 1-0-3 start to the season. In the most recent match against Excelsior, a team that has lost two of their four matches by three or more goals so far, Twente outshot the hosts 27-8 and 8-3 on target with 70% possession, but lost on a Mike van Duinen goal in the eighty-third minute.

Ten Hag used to play for Twente in three different spells: 1989-1990, 1992-1994, and 1996-2002; in 221 appearances with the Enschede club, he scored 3 goals. However, despite coaching the U17 and U19 Twente academies at one point, he has never been a head coach for Twente, coaching three different clubs in the Eredivisie in his managerial career: Go Ahead Eagles, FC Utrecht, and AFC Ajax.

Ten Hag also said last year when Manchester United FC were drawn with FC Twente in the UEFA Europa League that he “would have preferred to play someone else” and that “it is not nice to hurt something you love”.

Ten Hag was sacked by Leverkusen after two Bundesliga matches in charge and an 0-0-2 record, reportedly for a variety of reasons according to Bild: there was no specific style of play that he wanted to implement; an irregular training regiment where push-ups were just as important as on-the-ball movement; and pushing to sign players from the agency that he works with, SEG, among others.

Managing director of sport at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Simon Rolfes, said following Ten Hag's firing: “We simply had the feeling that things were headed in the wrong direction. Before we arrive at the wrong destination, we have decided to make our decision now — during the international break, at an early stage.”