Gerard van der Lem (born 15 November 1952) is a retired
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 ...
winger from the
Netherlands
, 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 ...
, who made his professional debut for
FC Amsterdam
FC Amsterdam was a Dutch football club which was founded on 20 June 1972, from the merger of the Amsterdam football clubs Blauw Wit and DWS.
History
The club Volewijckers joined the side for the 1973–1974 season, in which season FC Amsterdam ...
on 12 August 1973 against
PSV Eindhoven
Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...
. He later played for
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
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
Utrecht
Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...
.
After his professional playing career, van der Lem started his coaching career as assistant coach to world-famous coaches like Piet de Visser, Dick Advocaat and Louis van Gaal.
In his first engagement at
AZS, he was responsible coach for the amateur teams (and became Holland Champion in 1985) as well as assistant coach to Piet de Visser with the senior team. From 1986 to 1989, he was employed with
Haarlem
Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...
starting out as assistant coach to Advocaat, and then following him into the position of head coach during the last year.

Having always given great emphasis to youth development, van der Lem joined
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 ...
in 1990 as Head of the Youth Development Department. After a successful year, and many new impressions, he was chosen to be co-coach to
Louis van Gaal
Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former association football, football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for AFC Ajax, Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of AFC Ajax, Aj ...
with the great and famous Champions League team. During this period, from 1991 to 1997, one title followed the next:
3 x Dutch Champion
2 x Dutch Cup Winner
1 x Winner of the European Champions League
1 x UEFA Cup Winner
1 x Winner of the FIFA World Cup for Clubs
2 x Winner of the Dutch Super Cup
These successes did not go unseen. The next engagement of van Gaal and van der Lem followed suit at equally famous Spanish Premier League club
Barcelona
Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...
. In the two seasons there, van der Lem was able to achieve the following titles:
2 x Spanish Premier League Champion
1 x Spanish Cup Winner
1 x Winner of the Spanish Super Cup
After his time in Spain, van der Lem returned to his native Netherlands to become the head coach of
FC Alkmaar again, followed by one season in Japan at
Oita Trinita
is a Japanese football club located in Ōita, Capital of Ōita Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football.
Name origin
The club's name, ''Trinita'', is the Italian translation of the word ' ...
of the J-League.
Another memorable and highly successful period followed in Saudi Arabia in his first engagement as coach of the national team. He and his team won:
1 x Winner of the Gulf Cup /
1 x Winner of the Arab Cup /
Qualification to the Asian Cup
Furthermore, he was awarded "Best Coach of the Middle East".
After some time back home with Ajax, where he worked in several positions (2002-2003, 2004–2006), he returned to the Middle East for an engagement with United Arab Emirates 1st League club Al Sharjah in the 2007-2008 season.
In 2008, van der Lem joined his fellow manager Henk ten Cate in an appointment at the famous Greek club Panathinaikos.
At present, van der Lem is technical director at Kayserispor in Turkey.
Career statistics
References
*
Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lem, Gerard Van Der
1952 births
Living people
AZ Alkmaar managers
Dutch men's footballers
Dutch expatriate football managers
Dutch football managers
Men's association football wingers
Eredivisie players
Roda JC Kerkrade players
FC Amsterdam players
Sparta Rotterdam players
FC Utrecht players
Feyenoord players
Footballers from Amsterdam
AFC Ajax non-playing staff
Apollon Limassol FC managers
Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Greece
Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia
Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates
Expatriate football managers in Cyprus
Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus
AVV Zeeburgia players
Panathinaikos F.C. non-playing staff
Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia
Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates
Saudi Arabia national football team managers
Sharjah FC managers
AZ Alkmaar non-playing staff
20th-century Dutch sportsmen