Hiddink: No chance of Turkey job share
ISTANBUL - Guus Hiddink has vowed to focus fully on his new role as Turkey coach, ruling out a similar job share to the one he experienced with Russia and Chelsea last year.
"I'm fully committed to Turkish football and to the Turkish Federation," the Dutchman told a news conference on Monday.
"Regarding your question that I could do another job with another club together with the federation, there is no way to do so."
Hiddink spent a short spell in charge of Chelsea in 2009 but always stressed that his involvement with the English Premier League club would only be brief because of his full-time commitment to the Russian Federation.
The Dutchman said Turkey's future was bright even though they failed to qualify for the World Cup in South Africa which starts in June.
"I think the future of Turkish football will be very healthy," said Hiddink before adding his first task was to qualify for Euro 2012.
Russia failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup under Hiddink and his last game in charge was a 1-1 friendly draw in Hungary earlier this month.
Turkish Football Federation chairman Mahmut Ozgener said the Dutchman was the right man for the job.
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ENDLESS CONFIDENCE
"We will work for stable success in the new period, hand in hand with the new technical director (coach). Our confidence in him is endless," said Ozgener.
"Our restructuring process has been completed. The people who we believe can best realise this new model are now in place."
Turkey's performances have been varied in recent years.
They reached the semi-finals of the 2002 World Cup and Euro 2008 but also failed to qualify for finals in 2004, 2006 and again this year.
Hiddink is one of the most respected coaches in world soccer.
He led Russia to the semi-finals at Euro 2008 and took Netherlands to the World Cup semi-finals in 1998 before repeating the feat with co-hosts South Korea in the 2002 edition.
Hiddink also helped an unfancied Australia to reach the knockout stage in 2006 and had a brief spell in Turkey in 1990 coaching Fenerbahce.