Ex Ajax Cape Town coach gets national team job

Former Ajax Cape Town coach Stanley Menzo has been named as the new national coach of Suriname, where he was born.

Menzo has signed a two-year contract and replaces his fellow former Dutch international Aron Winter in charge of the south American country’s national team.

The 60-yeart-old former goalkeeper was born in Surinam but moved to the Netherlands as youngster. He broke through as a teenage goalkeeper with Ajax Amsterdam and won six caps for the Netherlands.

Menzo coached at Ajax Cape Town between 2016-17 before moving to China. He then became national team coach of Aruba and then Surinam from January-September 2022 before taking up a lucrative offer from Chinese club Beijing Gouan.

Menzo returns now to the Surname job as the country bids to qualify for the next World Cup in 2026. He will start later this month with a training camp in the Netherlands, where many of the Surinam players are based, and a friendly against Martinique in Almere on March 24.

Suriname’s opening World Cup qualifier is home to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in Paramaribo on June 5.