Adelaide United have announced that PSV Eindhoven legend and former Netherlands international Ernest Faber has joined the Isuzu UTE A-League club as technical director.
Faber is affectionately known as “Mr PSV” having spent a significant portion of both his playing career and his days post-retirement at the Dutch powerhouse; he made 248 appearances in the Dutch Eredivisie as a player – 175 for PSV – and worked as assistant manager of the Netherlands national team in 2011 under former Socceroos boss Bert van Marwijk.
Faber has been the head of PSV’s youth academy since 2013 and will depart his role at the end of June to join the Reds. The announcement of his new job as Adelaide United technical director comes after the club announced a strategic partnership with PSV in April.
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“I am truly honoured and excited to be starting this new challenge and cannot wait to get started.” Faber said.
“When I came to visit Adelaide in January, I was very impressed with the culture of the club.
“There are a number of really good young players in South Australia, and I am really excited to work with Marius (head of football Marius Zanin) and the entire Football Department to help elevate the club to the standards it strives for.”
Adelaide United chairman Ned Morris said the appointment further strengthened Adelaide’s ties with PSV and will lead to opportunities for the A-Leagues club to work with PSV’s rich pool of emerging talent in their youth system.
“Today is a monumental day for our great club and we are absolutely thrilled that Ernest has committed to Adelaide United,” Morris said.
“Our goal is to become the most successful club in Australia, and having Ernest’s wealth of experience on and off the field is incredibly valuable to us.
“Having Ernest within our ranks strengthens our ties with PSV Eindhoven and will give us opportunities to work with the next generation of great young prospects in their Youth System.
“We look forward to the positive influence Ernest will have in our Football Department and the organisation as a whole.”
Adelaide CEO Nathan Kosmina confirmed Faber would relocate to South Australia in July.
“Ernest will relocate in July to Adelaide full-time,” Kosmina said. “That’s important for us, and I think for Ernest as well. To really immerse yourself in that technical director role you need to be at training every day, speaking with coaches speaking with players.
“Ernest had 40-odd years at PSV, was looking for change, a new challenge and opportunity and part of the relationship between our two clubs, this was a really good fit for him.
“We’ve made no secret that this year, we didn’t achieve what we wanted to, albeit that we were close to finals. But finals are really the benchmark of acceptability for us in terms of performance.
“So this has been playing out behind the scenes for a little bit of time now. Obviously we’re a month away from our last game of the season, so planning has well and truly been underway for next season.
“That said, the boys have still got another five weeks before they’re back from leave. So the next month will really be into the detail around football. And as I said, obviously the ultimate priority there in the short term is recruitment, which is well and truly underway and there’ll be further announcements in the coming weeks.”
