Rudolf ("Ruud" or "Rudi") Jozef Krol (; born 24 March 1949) is a Dutch former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who was capped 83 times for the Netherlands national team. Most of his career he played for his home town club, Ajax, and he became a coach after retirement. Regarded as one of the best defenders of all time, Krol mainly played as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

or left-back, however he could play anywhere across the back line, or in midfield as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundari ...

, due to his range of passing with both feet, temperament, tactical intelligence, and ability to start attacking plays after winning back the ball.

Playing career

Club

He began his career at Ajax under manager Rinus Michels. In his first season at the club he did not play much. After the departure of left-back

Theo van Duivenbode Theo van Duivenbode (born 1 November 1943) is a Dutch former footballer who played for Ajax and Feyenoord and was part of their European and Intercontinental Cup victory in 1970. Club career Born in Amsterdam, van Duivenbode made his senior deb ...

in the summer of 1969 to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after i ...

, Krol became a regular player. When Ajax reached the

UEFA European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...

, and won, Krol did not play because of a broken leg. Krol did play in the European Cup finals of 1972 and 1973. While others such as

Johan Cruijff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a p ...

and

Johan Neeskens RCH may stand for: * Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization * Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways * The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian F ...

left for new pastures, Krol, captain since the departure of Piet Keizer in October 1974, stayed at Ajax until June 1980. He moved to the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league ba ...

to play for the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

for one season. He then joined

S.S.C. Napoli Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli has ...

where he played for the next four seasons. His last club before he retired in 1986 was the French club AS Cannes, at the time in

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue ...

(the French 2nd division).

International

Internationally, Krol made his debut for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in 1969 against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, retiring from international football in 1983. He was a crucial component in the '' Total Football'' side of the 1970s. A versatile defender, he could play in any position along the back four or midfield. In the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the tenth FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the first time that the ...

, in which the Netherlands reached the final, Krol primarily played at left-back. He created Cruijff's goal against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and scored a 25-yard screamer against

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

. By the time the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial international football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It was held in Argentina between 1 and 25 June. The Cup was won by ...

came about, Krol had switched to playing as a sweeper and had earned the captain's armband after the retirement of Cruijff. Krol played for the Netherlands as captain at the 1980 European Championship. He played for part of the qualifying for Euro 84, and played his last international in 1983.

Managerial career

In his managerial career, he has been head coach of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

, and has been assistant manager of the Netherlands (under

Frank Rijkaard Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (; born 30 September 1962) is a Dutch former footballer and former manager who played as a defensive midfielder. Rijkaard played for Ajax, Real Zaragoza and AC Milan and represented the Netherlands national team side ...

and

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spe ...

) and Ajax (under

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was capab ...

). He became interim manager of Ajax after the resignation of Koeman. He was manager of AC Ajaccio in France

from 2006 to 2007. He returned as manager of

ian giants

Zamalek Zamalek ( ar, الزمالك , ''al zamalek'') is an affluent district of western Cairo encompassing the northern portion of Gezira Island in the Nile River. The island is connected with the river banks through three bridges each on the east a ...

in August 2007. He had previously managed them from 1994 to 1999, winning the Egyptian Cup in 1999, the

African Cup of Champions Clubs The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and cont ...

in 1996 and the Afro-Asian Club Championship 1997, the last two being the biggest club level prizes available to CAF clubs. Krol's return to Zamalek was meant to be a stabilizing presence, the club having gone through several managers in the preceding two seasons. His stay however would be a short one. He ended his sole season by winning one Egyptian Cup with Zamalek, within one season he would leave and sign a three-year contract with the South African giants Orlando Pirates. In the three years with the Orlando Pirates he won two South African cups (and a finalist once) and won the national league, all in his last year in charge of the team. Those cups include MTN8 and Nedbank Cup. Despite that success his contract was not renewed. He won the Tunisian championship with CS Sfaxien in 2012–2013, after a fierce battle with the other 3 of the Tunisian big 4. After that success, he was contacted to lead the Tunisian national team in the play off qualifying to the 2014 world cup against Cameroon. He accepted that role and simultaneously became manager of CS Sfaxien and Tunisia in September 2013. He won the 2013 CAF Confederation Cup with Sfaxien. He resigned from his duties as Sfaxien coach after the second leg of the final against TP Mazembe on 30 November 2013. He quit as the national team interim coach following Tunisia's loss in the World Cup play-off. In January 2014, he was appointed new head coach of Tunisian side ES Tunis.

Personal life

On 6 July 1972, Krol married Yvonne van Ingen. The couple have a daughter. On 26 September 1974, together with teammate Arie Haan, he opened a snack bar on Reguliersbreestraat in Amsterdam.

Honours

Player

Ajax *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

: 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1978–79 *

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

: 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

: 1972, 1973 * Intercontinental Cup: 1972 Netherlands *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

runner-up: 1974, 1978 *

UEFA Euro The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition is conte ...

third place: 1976 Individual * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team:

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

* UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 1976 * FIFA XI: 1979FIFA XI´s Matches - Full Info
/ref> *

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine '' France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (f ...

– third place: 1979 *

Guerin d'Oro The Guerin d'Oro ''(Golden Guerin)'' was an annual award which was handed out by the Italian magazine '' Guerin Sportivo'' to the best Serie A football player. The first winner of the award was Claudio Sala, while the last was Carlos Tevez. His ...

(Serie A Footballer of the Year): 1981

Coach

Ajaccio *

third place: 2007 Zamalek * Afro-Asian Club Championship:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League ( ar, الدوري المصري الممتاز), also known as WE Egyptian Premier League (WE EPL) after the addition of title sponsor WE, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the top level of t ...

: runner-up 1998, 2008 * Egypt Cup: 2008 Orlando Pirates * Premier Soccer League: 2011; runner-up 2009 * Nedbank Cup: 2011; runner-up 2010 * Telkom charity cup: 2010, 2011 * MTN 8: 2010 CS Sfaxien * Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2013 *

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Tunisian Cup The Tunisian Cup , officially named the President's Cup, is the official competition of the Cup in Tunisian football and is considered the second most important local title after the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1. The first cup competition was ...

: runner-up 2012 Esperance * Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1: 2014 Raja Casablanca *

UNAF Club Cup The UNAF Club Cup ( ar, كأس إتحاد شمال إفريقيا للأندية) is a tournament designed by the Union of North African Football Federations (UNAF) that puts together the top three best finishers of the domestic leagues and the tw ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

Kuwait SC *

Kuwait Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as STC Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Al-Arabi, Qadsia and Kuwait both hold the best record in the competition, having won ...

: 2019–20 Egyptian Olympic Team (U23) *

All African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (AN ...

: gold medal 1995 Egypt *

1996 African Cup of Nations The 1996 African Cup of Nations was the 20th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by South Africa, who replaced original hosts Kenya. The field expanded for the first time to 16 teams, s ...

: second round Netherlands (assistant coach under Frank Rijkard) *

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament wa ...

: semi-final Individual *

PSL Coach of the Season The Premier Soccer League, PSL Manager (association football), Coach of the season in South African Association football, football References

Premier Soccer League Association football manager of the year awards, South Africa South Afric ...

: 2010–11

References

External links