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The Solomon Islands Football Federation announced their new head coach via the organisation Netherlands Oceania Support Foundation (NOS Foundation) on Saturday.

The new coach is the former Netherlands international Wim Rijsbergen. He has signed a three-month deal until the end of the Pacific Games.

The NOS Foundation announced the new coach at a press conference at the De Kuip Stadium, home of Eredivisie side Feyenoord, in Rotterdam on Saturday.

Rijsbergen is the former national coach of both Trinidad and Tobago and Indonesia and played in the 1974 and 1978 World Cups where the Netherlands finished second.

The former defender has also coached several clubs in the Netherlands in the ’90s before expanding his territory to count clubs in Chile, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.

Rijsbergen spoke about the ambition to win the Pacific Games in Samoa in July.

“We will try to do the best to be number one. We will try to be the champion in the Pacific Games. I am honoured to be a part of that. We will start in Holland and hopefully we will end up in Samoa with the big cup,” Rijsbergen said.

“I have seen on Wikipedia about the Solomon Islands that they speak 50 different languages so it will be impossible for me to learn,” Rijsbergen joked.

Rijsbergen was also presented with a shirt of the national team.

The Solomon Islands national team will go to the Netherlands as part of the preparation for the Pacific Games.

Moses Mosé, Ambassador of the Solomon Islands to the Netherlands, held a short speech, speaking about the Solomon Islands as a country and thanking the local media and the NOS Foundation for their support.

“Having glanced at Mr. Rijsbergen’s career, not only as a professional player, but also as a coach, I have no doubt in my mind that he is the right man to guide the Solomon Islands to take gold in the Pacific Games,” Mosé said.