The interim departure of head coach Maarten Martens’ assistants is striking. Van Aart has been associated with AZ 1 as a goalkeeper coach for almost fifteen seasons. Goudmijn is a former player of the club and was on the bench with the first team as an assistant coach for almost five years. He was previously also active in the youth academy and was a trainer of Jong AZ.
Contracts extended this year
In May of this year, AZ extended the contracts of the technical staff until mid-2028. This applied not only to Martens, Goudmijn and Van Aart, but also to the other assistants Jan Sierksma and Robert Franssen and Niels Kok (head of physical). In addition, Bart Heuvingh has been a permanent member of the A-selection staff since this season as head of top sports coach.
AZ reports that discussions are being held with Goudmijn and Van Aart to see whether they can remain active for the Alkmaar club in a different role.
The A-selection will meet again on Friday, January 2, after a short holiday. The second half of the season will resume on Saturday, January 10, with the home match against FC Volendam, after which Ajax will be the opponent in the KNVB Cup on Wednesday, January 14.
Disappointing series of matches
AZ ended the first half of the season with a disappointing series of matches. The competition has not won five times in a row, causing Martens’ team to drop to sixth place in the Premier League.
At European level, AZ failed to qualify directly for the knockout phase of the Conference League. The Alkmaarders must first get through an intermediate round. In the KNVB Cup, AZ won with some effort against PEC Zwolle.
