THE HAGUE (AFP) — The Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) on Tuesday denied that Guus Hiddink had declared his candidacy to replace Marco Van Basten as Dutch coach after this summer's Euro 2008 finals.
Press reports had cited the head of the Dutch Football Federation Henk Kesler as saying that the 61-year-old Hiddink, formerly in charge of the national side from 1995-1998, had made an official approach for the job.
But specialist football website www.voetbal.nl reported that Hiddink had not thrown his hat into the ring for a second stint in charge of his national side.
It quoted Kesler as saying that while Hiddink would be an ideal choice, it would be difficult to negotiate terms with him.
Prior to qualifying Russia for Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland, Hiddink was in charge of both South Korea at the 2002 World Cup and Australia at the 2006 World Cup.
In Moscow, the chairman of the Russian National Football Academy Sergei Kapkov said that talks with Hiddink to extend his contract as Russian coach past Euro 2008 were in trouble for taxation reasons.
But the head of the Russian Football Federation Vitaly Mutko said he was confident that a new deal could be reached with the Dutchman.
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