Aron Mohammed Winter (born 1 March 1967) is a Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player who most recently managed

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

. 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 played for

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

and

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 ...

in the Netherlands, and for Italian sides

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

. Born in Suriname, he played for the Netherlands national team.

Club career

Ajax

Winter began his career with amateur club VV Unicum in

Lelystad Lelystad () is a Dutch Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and the capital city of the province of Flevoland in the central Netherlands. The city, built on reclaimed land, was founded in 1967 and was named after Cornelis Lely, who en ...

, moved on to SV Lelystad, and the same year joined

at the age of 19. His first game for Ajax was a match against

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 ...

on 6 April 1986, which Ajax won 3–0. Winter won two

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 ...

s (1987 and 1988), 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 ...

title (1990), the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

(1987) and 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 ...

(1992).

Lazio

In 1992, he moved to the Roman team

, playing his first match against Sampdoria on 6 September, which Lazio tied 3–3.

Inter Milan

In 1996, Winter joined

, with whom he won the

in 1998. He had also played in the previous year's final, with the game going to penalties. However, Winter missed his penalty as Inter lost to

Schalke Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a Professionalism in association football, professional sports club from the Gelsenkirchen-Schalke, Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, N ...

Ajax return and Sparta Rotterdam loan

Winter left Inter for his former club Ajax in 1999. In 2001, he was loaned out to

. He played 32 games for Sparta Rotterdam and scored one goal before returning to Ajax to finish his career, and where he chose to retire in 2003.

International career

Winter was a member of the Netherlands national team that won the 1988 European Football Championship, but made no appearances during the final tournament. He played in 1990 Italy World Cup where the Netherlands lost in 1/8 finals game against Germany. In the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

, he scored a goal against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in the quarter-finals, making him the only player of Indian descent ever to score in a World Cup. He was also selected for the Netherlands national team for

Euro 96 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

, as well as the

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...

in France. Winter placed in Rijkaard's

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 was ...

squad. Having represented his national team 84 times, scoring 6 goals, Winter is currently the twelfth most capped player for the Netherlands national team.

Style of play

Normally a central or holding midfielder, Winter was a hard-working and physical, yet elegant and classy team player of both quantity and quality. Owing to his development in the Ajax youth system, which was heavily influenced by the Dutch ''

total football Total Football () is a tactical system in association football in which any outfield player can take over the role of any other player in a team. A player who moves out of his position is replaced by another from his team, thus retaining the ...

'' tactical philosophy, Winter was a versatile and well–rounded midfielder, who was capable of assisting his team both defensively and offensively, as well as creatively, courtesy of his physical, technical, and tactical qualities. Among his range of skills, he possessed significant stamina, acceleration, physicality, a good positional sense, intelligence, vision, passing, technique, and excellent striking ability from distance, as well as an ability to make late runs into the penalty box. Beyond his playing ability, he was known for his strong character, personality, consistency, composed playing style, correct behaviour, and leadership qualities, which made him a respected figure among his clubs' fans and teammates. In Italy, his best role was considered to be that of a left–sided central, offensive–minded box-to-box midfielder, known as the '' mezzala'' role in Italian football jargon, although he was also capable of playing on the right in a three–player midfield in a 4–3–3, a role in which he was often used during his time at Lazio. He would often start matches out wide before moving into the centre of the pitch. Moreover, he was also deployed on either the right or left flank, as a

wide midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, wing-back, or full-back, in particular during his time with Inter; however these were not his favoured positions, and Italian pundits did not consider him to be as well–suited to these roles due to his less convincing performances. Winter was also occasionally used to great effect as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

under manager Guus Hiddink with the Netherlands national team, with Elko Born of ''

Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...

'' even ranking him as the eight–best Dutch central defender of all time in 2014.

Managerial career

After three years as assistant coach for the Ajax first academy team, Winter signed a three-year contract with Canadian side

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

on 6 January 2011. Winter brought former colleague Bob de Klerk from Ajax to be his assistant coach, while

Paul Mariner Paul Mariner (22 May 1953 – 9 July 2021) was an English Association football, football player and Coach (sport), coach. A centre forward during his playing days, Mariner began his career with Chorley F.C., Chorley. He became a professional p ...

was also brought in the same day as Director of Player Development. After a disappointing season opener against

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March 18, ...

that ended in a 4–2 away defeat on 19 March, Winter won his first game as Toronto's head coach the following week against

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

2–0 in Toronto. Winter won his first trophy with Toronto in early July as Toronto defeated Vancouver 3–2 on aggregate to capture its third consecutive

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

, thereby earning a berth in the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League. Winter then guided Toronto to the Champions League semifinals, the first time a Canadian club had progressed that far in the competition. Toronto eventually lost 7–3 on aggregate to

Santos Laguna Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V., simply known as Santos Laguna or Santos, is a Mexican professional football club based in Torreón, Coahuila. The club competes in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. Founded in 1983 as Club Santos I ...

. However, Toronto began the 2012 MLS season with nine straight losses, the worst start to a season in the history of the MLS. Toronto won its tenth match 1–0 versus Philadelphia on 26 May 2012, but it was not enough to save Winter's job, as the club announced on 7 June 2012 that he would be replaced by the director of player development,

. On 6 September 2022, Winter was announced as the interim coach for

. Winter succeeds

Stanley Menzo Stanley Purl Menzo (born 15 October 1963) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the manager of the Suriname national team. He spent ten full seasons at Ajax, appearing in more th ...

, who was at the helm of the team for seven months before leaving to work at Beijing Guoan. Winter is set to coach Natio in a friendly against

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

and a potential second opponent.

Personal life

Winter was born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's p ...

under parents of

Indo-Surinamese Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese, or Hindustani Surinamese are nationals of Suriname who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. Their ancestors were indentured labourers brought by the Dutch and the British to the Dutch colony of S ...

descent. His cousin Ricardo Winter was also a former football player/manager who headed the

Suriname national football team The Suriname national football team (; Sranantongo: ) represents Suriname in international football. The team is controlled by the Surinaamse Voetbal Bond (), which is a member of CONCACAF. History Although the former Dutch colony is located ...

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Ajax *

: 1989–90 *

: 1986–87 *

: 1991–92 Inter Milan *UEFA Cup: 1997–98 Netherlands *

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

: 1988 Individual * Dutch Young Player of the Year: 1986

Manager

Toronto FC *

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

Ajax (as assistant manager) *Eredivisie: 2018–19 *KNVB Cup: 2018–19

Career statistics

Club

:Source:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Winter, Aron 1967 births Living people Footballers from Paramaribo Dutch men's footballers Dutch football managers Netherlands men's international footballers Surinamese men's footballers Surinamese football managers Dutch people of Indo-Surinamese descent Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Surinamese people of Indian descent Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Sportspeople of Indian descent Dutch expatriate men's footballers AFC Ajax players SS Lazio players Inter Milan players Sparta Rotterdam players Eredivisie players Serie A players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate soccer coaches in Canada Men's association football midfielders UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players 1998 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA European Championship–winning players AFC Ajax non-playing staff Jong Ajax managers Toronto FC head coaches UEFA Europa League–winning players Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Canada 20th-century Dutch sportsmen