Edwin de Graaf (; born 30 April 1980) 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 Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player.

Career

Club career

De Graaf is a midfielder who was born in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

and made his debut in professional football, being part of the

RBC Roosendaal RBC, previously known as RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the fifth-tier Vierde Divisie after bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in the tenth tier Vijfde Klasse. History 1912– ...

squad in the 2001–02 season. He also played for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

and

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 ...

before joining

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

. On 15 June 2010, he signed a two-year deal with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

. De Graaf made an "impressive" performance in his home debut for Hibs, scoring two goals in a 3–2 defeat by

NK Maribor Nogometni klub Maribor () is a Slovenian professional Association football, football club based in Maribor, Slovenia. It competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top tier of the Football in Slovenia#League system, Slovenian football league system ...

. His later performances were not as productive, however, as he missed clear goalscoring chances in games against

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Inverness Inverness (; ; from the , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness") is a city in the Scottish Highlands, having been granted city status in 2000. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highland ...

and

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

. De Graaf struggled to hold down a place under Hughes' successor,

Colin Calderwood Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. As a player, he was a centre-back who played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa and in the Football League for Mansfi ...

, and was loaned to

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

for the remainder of the 2010–11 season. Calderwood stated in April 2011 that he had received good reports about De Graaf's performances for Excelsior and confirmed that he would return to

Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-largest ...

for the 2011–12 season. His contract with Hibernian was terminated and he signed for

on 1 September 2011.

International career

De Graaf has represented the

Netherlands B national football team , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

five times.

Coaching career

Feyenoord

Retiring in the summer 2013, De Graaf was hired as head coach of

's U14s.

Drunk driving

In March 2015, De Graaf was arrested after he was

driving under the influence Driving under the influence (DUI) is the crime of driving, operating, or being in control of a vehicle while one is impaired from doing so safely by the effect of either alcohol (drug), alcohol (see drunk driving) or some other drug, whether re ...

of alcohol, causing an accident on the highway half past three in the night. De Graaf drove into his predecessor on the highway near

Zoetermeer Zoetermeer () is a city in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2023 this had grown to 126.998 ...

with his

Opel Opel Automobile GmbH (), usually shortened to Opel, is a German automobile manufacturer which has been a subsidiary of Stellantis since 16 January 2021. It was owned by the American automaker General Motors from 1929 until 2017 and the PSA Gr ...

. The victim's car would be a total loss. De Graaf decided not to stop, but shortly afterwards he was put aside by the police. An investigation by Feyenoord later showed that De Graaf had 'slightly exceeded the maximum permitted alcohol level at the time of the incident. For that reason, he only received a 'strong warning' from the club and was not fired. He continued in his position as head coach of the club's U16s. However, shortly before the start of the 2017–18 season, De Graaf decided to leave the club to seek for a new challenge.

ADO Den Haag

A few hours after leaving Feyenoord, it was confirmed that de Graaf had been appointed assistant manager to

Alfons Groenendijk Alfons Groenendijk (; born 17 May 1964) Dutch professional football manager and former player who has been the head coach of club Jong PSV since 2024. Club career During his career, Groenendijk played for ADO Den Haag, Roda JC, Ajax, Mancheste ...

. In December 2019, an heated conflict took place between ADO-player,

Donny Gorter Donny Gorter (born 15 June 1988) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left back for amateur side RKSV Halsteren. He formerly played for NAC Breda, AZ, AaB, Viborg FF and ADO Den Haag. He is the son of former footballer Edwin Gor ...

, and de Graaf. A brawl allegedly started, after which technical manager Jeffrey van As decided to send De Graaf home. On 9 January 2020, the club confirmed that de Graaf's contract had been terminated.

Roda

On 24 January 2023, de Graaf was hired by

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

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 ...

until the end of the 2022–23 season. In April 2023, it was announced that his contract would not be extended, and that he would leave at the end of the season.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graaf, Edwin De 1980 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Derde Divisie players Scottish Premier League players RBC Roosendaal players Feyenoord players ADO Den Haag players NAC Breda players Hibernian F.C. players Footballers from The Hague Excelsior Rotterdam players FC Lisse players Men's association football midfielders Dutch football managers NAC Breda managers Eerste Divisie managers Roda JC Kerkrade managers