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. Van der Lem in duel met van Tiggelen

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

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{{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