Arjan van der Laan (born 10 November 1969) 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, rugby lea ...

, who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the current

head coach A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional responsible for training and developing athletes within a sports team. This role often has a higher public profile and salary than other coaching positions. In some sports, such as associat ...

of the seventh-tier

Tweede Klasse The Tweede Klasse () is the seventh tier of football in the Netherlands and the fifth tier of Dutch amateur football. The league is divided into 21 divisions, 12 played on Saturday and nine on Sunday. Each division consists of 14 teams. The ch ...

club RKSV Altior from Langeraar.

Early life

Van der Laan was born in

Nieuwkoop Nieuwkoop () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality was enlarged on 1 January 2007, through the amalgamation of Liemeer and Ter Aar. The municipality now covers an area of of whi ...

and started playing football at the age of six, at local club SV Nieuwkoop. After advancing to the senior team, he wanted to play at a higher level, and applied to ARC from

Alphen aan den Rijn Alphen aan den Rijn (; or "Alphen on the Rhine") is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The city is situated on the banks of the river Oude Rijn (Utrecht and South Holland), Oude Rijn (Old Rhine ...

, who were competing at the highest amateur level.

Playing career

Sparta Rotterdam

While playing at ARC, Van der Laan was scouted by

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

, and at the age of 22, he made the switch to professional football. In his first season, he was used sporadically, but from the 1993–94 season on, he was a regular in the midfield of the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

side. In 1996, Van der Laan reached the final of the

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

with Sparta, which they lost 5–2 against PSV.

Twente

In the summer of 1999, Van der Laan was transferred to

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

. He immediately became an important player for the team, and achieved the biggest honour of his playing career by winning the 2000–01 KNVB Cup. As a result, FC Twente played in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

in the next season, where they were knocked out in the second round by

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

, losing 5–6 on aggregate despite two goals from Van der Laan. Nevertheless, he considers playing in these European matches "a great experience."

ADO Den Haag

In July 2002, Van der Laan moved to

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

side

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

. His first season was a success, as ADO became champions and achieved promotion to the Eredivisie. In the following Eredivisie season, however, Van der Laan experienced internal strife within the club and expressed a desire to leave ADO.

Dordrecht

On 25 January 2004, it was announced that Van der Laan would be loaned to Eerste Divisie club

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

for the remainder of the season, with the intention of joining them on a free transfer after the summer break. At the end of the 2005–06 season, he retired from professional football.

Managerial career

Early managerial career

Van der Laan started his managerial career in his last years of playing for

, coaching various youth teams of ARC. After retiring as a player, he took up a job as youth couth at

. He also had a one-year internship at

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

, after which he qualified for his coaching licence. Eventually, he became assistant manager of Sparta's first team. He served as interim manager twice: first in April 2013 after the dismissal of

Michel Vonk Michel Vonk (born 28 October 1968) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a centre-back from 1986 to 2001, notably playing in the Premier League for Manchester City. He also played in England for Oldham ...

, and for a second time in December 2013 after Adrie Bogers was sacked. In total, he managed Sparta for four games. In the summer of 2014, he left Sparta to become a youth coach at

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

Lisse

In December 2014, it was announced that Van der Laan would become the new manager of

Topklasse The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede Div ...

side

FC Lisse FC Lisse is a Dutch football club from Lisse, founded in 1981. It currently plays in the Derde Divisie. History The history of FC Lisse is linked to its Catholic religion, the first version of a football club being formed in 1911 by a local Cat ...

, starting from the 2015–16 season.

Netherlands Women

After only two months in charge of FC Lisse, on 24 September 2015, it was announced that Van der Laan would succeed

Roger Reijners Roger Reijners (born 10 February 1964) is a Dutch football coach and former player. Playing career Reijners turned professional with Fortuna Sittard and played in the 1–0 KNVB Cup Final defeat to Feyenoord in his first season, 1983–84. He al ...

as head coach of the

Netherlands women's national football team The Netherlands women's national football team () represents the Netherlands in international Women's association football, women's football, and is directed by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB), which is a member of UEFA and FIFA. ...

. He said it was "an honour" to become the national women's coach and that it was "fantastic to contribute" to the development of the team. His first major tournament in charge of the Netherlands was the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament, where the Netherlands competed with

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

for a place at the football tournament of the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. The Netherlands finished in second place, with group winner Sweden taking the Olympic ticket. On 23 December 2016, Van der Laan was sacked by the

KNVB The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and women ...

, having been in charge of the Netherlands for fifteen months. According to the KNVB, they had "insufficient confidence" Van der Laan would achieve good results with the team at the Women's Euro 2017.

Later managerial career

In 2019, Van der Laan was appointed head coach of TEC alongside Gery Vink. He left the position after one season. Ahead of the 2020–21 season, he has signed a one-year contract as head coach for Sunday

club RKSV Altior from Langeraar.

Honours

; FC Twente *

: 2000–01 ; ADO Den Haag *

: 2002–03

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laan, Arjan van der 1969 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Sparta Rotterdam players FC Twente players ADO Den Haag players FC Dordrecht players Dutch football managers Netherlands women's national football team managers People from Nieuwkoop Men's association football midfielders SV TEC managers SV ARC players Footballers from South Holland 20th-century Dutch sportsmen