Former hockey international Ton de Nooijer, who has 453 caps for the Netherlands and retired in May, is moving into football.

De Nooijer, 37 and three times voted best hockey player in the world, has been appointed new team manager at Eredivisie football club AZ of Alkmaar.

‘It will be a great challenge to work for a professional organisation like AZ,’ De Nooijer says on the club’s website. ‘I’ve always liked all ball games and as a child I used to play hockey, tennis and football in the street.’

De Nooijer will join AZ in March after first taking part in the second edition of the lucrative Hockey India League