Barcelona appointed Dutchman Frank Rijkaard as coach on a four-year contract
in place of Radomir Antic on Monday.
"This is a big chance at a
wonderful club," the 40-year-old Rijkaard said as he was presented at the Nou
Camp.
"We are in a moment when we have to work hard for the future. A
wonderful club like Barcelona deserves that."
Serb coach Antic was told
earlier on Monday that his contract would not be renewed, despite his
achievement in guiding Barca to a UEFA Cup place for next season.
Antic
replaced Louis van Gaal at the end of January when the club were three points
off the relegation zone, but four successive wins at the end of the season took
them up to sixth.
The decision to replace Antic with Rijkaard came on
the first full day in charge for Joan Laporta following his landslide win in the
club's presidential election.
Rijkaard made 73 international
appearances for the Netherlands in a brilliant playing career.
SUCCESSFUL PLAYER
He won the European Cup Winners' Cup with
Ajax Amsterdam and then had a brief spell in Spain with Real Zaragoza before
joining up with Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten at AC Milan.
He helped
the Netherlands win the European Championship in 1988 and won the European Cup
with Milan in 1989 and 1990.
Rijkaard claimed a third European Cup
success with Ajax in 1995 under Van Gaal, whose second spell in charge of
Barcelona came to a sorry end this season.
In that team, he played
alongside Patrick Kluivert, Michael Reiziger and Marc Overmars -- all members of
the Barcelona squad he has been hired to coach for the next four
years.
After his playing career ended, Rijkaard became an assistant
coach with the Dutch national team in 1998 and took over the top job from Guus
Hiddink in August that year.
His record in sole charge was modest, with
the side winning eight, drawing 12 and losing two of their 22 games but Rijkaard
won praise for the attacking style he fostered in a run to the semi-finals of
Euro 2000.
The following year he joined Sparta Rotterdam as coach,
resigning in 2002 after they were relegated.
His target at Barcelona
will be to get the club back into the Champions League and challenging for
trophies again after a fourth successive season without a major
title.
"I'm ready and willing to meet the challenge and to give
Barcelona a wonderful period," he said on Monday.
