Alpine ski great Marcel Hirscher coming out of retirement to represent the Netherlands

Eight-time overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher is planning to return to ski racing next season after five years in retirement. And he's going to compete for the Netherlands — his mother's country — instead of his native Austria.

The Austrian winter sports federation announced Wednesday that it had released the 35-year-old Hirscher and endorsed his nation change.

Hirscher said in a statement from the Dutch Skiing Association that he's returning "simply because I enjoy it.

The nation change allows Hirscher to compete on Van Deer skis — the brand he helped create with Red Bull, his sponsor. Van Deer is not on the list of brands approved for use by the Austrian federation.

"We have of course tried very hard to offer Marcel the best possible and individual conditions in the event of a return to Alpine racing and were able to explain these to him in a personal exchange," the federation said. "Of course, we very much regret his decision to request a change of nation to the Dutch Ski Association but in the end we supported it."

Hirscher was born and raised in Austria to an Austrian father and a Dutch mother, Sylvia. His father, Ferdinand, coached him throughout his career.

Patrick Riml, Red Bull's ski racing director, said that Hirscher plans to enter lower-level races in New Zealand in August to get the necessary points to return to the World Cup circuit and that his main aim is to compete at next season's world championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.

"He's been training the whole season. He's been on snow pretty much every day of the winter testing his equipment," Riml said, adding that Hirscher plans to compete in both slalom and giant slalom.

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