The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) has appointed Dutch Siegfried Ekman as the head coach for its senior and junior teams till 2026.
Ekman has already left with the senior team for Bangladesh for the Asian Champions Trophy as an observer and will take over the reins of the team after the tournament.
“Aikman will be the observer and official in the Asian competition where Khawaja Junaid will be the head coach. But later on his return he will take over the responsibility of coaching for the national senior team and will also assist the junior players and the academy,” said PHF general secretary Asif Bajwa.
— Pakistan Hockey (PHF) (@PHFOofficial) December 10, 2021
Aikman, 62, a qualified FIH coach, was also in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, to watch the Pakistani junior players, where they finished 11th in the recent FIH Junior World Cup.
Aikman said in a statement that he does not know much about Pakistan’s players at the moment and has had brief discussions with them, but he will work out a long-term and short-term plan for Pakistan hockey.
“While it is necessary to start building a strong body of players for major events like Olympics and World Cup, at this point of time Pakistan hockey also needs some victories to promote the sport,” he said.
Bajwa said that the government has taken the responsibility of paying the contract fee of Ekman.
“We have brought in a foreign coach because earlier he has given good results with our players and now we are preparing for next year’s Asian Games,” Bajwa said.
Ekman was the coach of the Japanese hockey team during the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Pakistan had foreign coaches in the past, but profile wise they were in a higher league than Ackman.
Under the leadership of Dutch coach Hans Zorrisma, Pakistan won the World Cup and Champions Trophy in 1994. Roelant Oltmans also guided the team.
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