HONG KONG - Former Netherlands international midfielder Jean-Paul van Gastel has been named head coach of Chinese Super League side Guangzhou City, the club said on Tuesday.
The Dutchman, who played five times for his country, returns to the club having worked last season with Guangzhou – then known as Guangzhou R&F - as an assistant to Giovanni van Bronckhorst.
Van Gastel was appointed after Guangzhou’s first choice for coach, Goran Tomic, was unable to join the club after failing to be granted a visa to work in China.
Guangzhou finished 11th in last year’s Chinese Super League, when the competition was played in a revised format due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Michael Church, Editing by Kim Coghill)
