Ajax confirmed on Thursday the appointment of Francesco Farioli as new coach on a three-year contract.
Farioli will officially replace John van 't Schip on June 11 following his departure from Nice.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (US)
The Eredivisie team has agreed a fee of 1 million euros ($1.08 million) with Nice for Farioli to be released from his contract, which was due to end in June 2025.
“I am delighted to be here in Amsterdam and, together with the other staff members, we will dedicate ourselves wholeheartedly,” Farioli said in the team statement. “We want to reconnect with the DNA of the club, with the aim of providing new energy with a positive way of working and thinking.
“I am aware that there is a lot of work to do, but we have already started preparing. We do not want to waste time preparing for the new season and return Ajax to where it belongs.”
The Italian coach, who is Ajax's first foreign coach since Dane Morten Olsen in 1999, recently completed his first full season at Nice and guided the team to a fifth-place finish in Ligue 1.
Farioli had previously worked at Turkish clubs Fatih Karagumruk and Alanyaspor before joining Nice at the start of the 2023-24 season.
He inherits an Ajax team that finished fifth in the Eredivisie, its lowest finish since the 1999-2000 season.
“Francesco is a coach who is passionately dedicated to his profession, thinks about everything down to the smallest detail and can effectively convey his thoughts to his team,” said Ajax head coach Alex Kroes. “We were very excited by the conversations we had with him, but also by the information we had gathered about him beforehand.
“Everything indicates that Francesco is an intelligent man who knows how to relate well with people, which is also a very important part of the job. In short, we are convinced that he will fit well at Ajax.”
