Slot has resurfaced in European football without taking a dugout. The Dutchman has been named in UEFA’s Technical Observer Group for the 2026/27 continental season, a panel that monitors the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League and files detailed reports back to coaches across the game.
It is a role designed for a manager between jobs. UEFA said the observers will track the three club competitions “with stats and video assistance enabling them to deliver detailed reports on the latest developments in coaching which are shared among the footballing community.”
Benitez, Southgate, Ten Hag on the panel
The company Slot keeps is the headline. UEFA’s observer list of more than 30 names includes Benitez, Hodgson, Southgate, Ten Hag, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Roberto Martinez, Ange Postecoglou, Thomas Frank, Sean Dyche, Ryan Giggs and Claude Makelele. Former Liverpool goalkeeper David James is on the panel too, as is Kasper Hjulmand and ex-Ipswich manager Kieran McKenna.
The job will send Slot to the biggest fixtures in Europe, including Champions League nights where Liverpool and his successor Andoni Iraola face off against the continent’s best. It also drops him into regular contact with UEFA’s technical staff and coach-development team, the part of European football’s governing body that interacts most closely with elite managers.
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Netherlands job turned down
The observer role lands in the gap Slot deliberately opened for himself. In August he rejected the vacant Netherlands national team job after talks with the KNVB, telling Voetbal International that he wanted to stay in day-to-day club work. Goal reported his explanation in full.
“At this stage in my career, I prefer to see myself on the training pitch with my players every day,” Slot said. “Something that is simply not possible in the same way with a national team.”
He added that the door was not closed forever.
“It would be a great honour to represent my country as national coach one day. However, this was not the right moment for me.”
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Four months on from Anfield
Liverpool parted ways with Slot on 30 May 2026, a year after he had won the Premier League in his first season at Anfield. The second campaign fell apart: Liverpool finished fifth, 25 points behind Arsenal, failed to win a domestic cup and lost Mohamed Salah to a public falling-out that ended with the forward leaving the club on a free transfer.
In his farewell letter at the time, Slot told supporters the connection ran deeper than results.
“The connection we share goes beyond football, beyond European nights under the Anfield lights or the sound of You’ll Never Walk Alone being sung from The Kop.”
Andoni Iraola took the Anfield job on 4 June 2026. The Netherlands post Slot turned down has since gone to Xavi Hernandez, who has signed a contract with the KNVB running until the end of the 2030 World Cup.
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