Stanley Purl Menzo (born 15 October 1963) is a Dutch

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former professional player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. He is currently the manager of the Suriname national team. He spent ten full seasons at

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 ...

, appearing in more than 300 official matches with the club and winning nine major titles. He represented the Netherlands national team in one

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

and one European Championship. Menzo has previously managed AGOVV, AFC,

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

, Cambuur, Lierse, Ajax Cape Town,

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

and

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

Club career

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 ...

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 ...

, Menzo arrived at

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 ...

giants

at the age of 19, from amateurs AVV Zeeburgia. Menzo deputised for Hans Galjé during the 1983–84 and 1984–85 seasons, in which he played only a few matches. After a loan to fellow league side

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 ...

from September 1983 to March 1984, he became the starter for the 1985–86 campaign. Newly appointed manager

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

believed that Menzo was one of the first goalkeepers who could also make his mark as a field player. Throughout the 1980s, Menzo was subjected to racist abuse from fans. Menzo then proceeded to remain an undisputed starter for seven full seasons, helping Ajax to the 1989–90 national title, as well as the

1986–87 European Cup Winners' Cup The 1986–87 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by Ajax in the final against Lokomotive Leipzig. The young Ajax side, which included the likes of Marco van Basten, Frank Rijkaard and Dennis Bergkamp, was guided to victory by its coa ...

and the 1991–92 UEFA Cup. However, after a game in the latter competition the following season, a 4–2 loss at

Auxerre Auxerre ( , , Burgundian language (Oïl), Burgundian: ''Auchoirre'') is the capital (Prefectures in France, prefecture) of the Yonne Departments of France, department and the fourth-largest city in the Burgundy historical region southeast of Par ...

, during which he scored an

own goal An own goal occurs in sports when a player performs actions that result in scoring points for the opposition, such as when a Association football, footballer puts a ball into their own net. In some parts of the world, the term has become a met ...

, he lost his place to youth graduate

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch association football, football executive and former professional player who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He was most recently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, A ...

, and never regained it. In the summer of 1994, Menzo signed with

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 ...

, where he backed up Ronald Waterreus for two seasons. The 33-year-old managed to revive his career in Belgium with Lierse, which he helped win one league and one

cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

, eventually amassing nearly 100 official appearances. For a brief period of time, he also played in France for

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

, arriving in August 1997 to replace Gilbert Bodart. However, having lost his place to Ulrich Ramé (who would be the club's first-choice for the next decade), he returned to Lierse in January 1998. In the summer of 2001, after a second spell at Ajax, Menzo joined amateur club AGOVV, helping it to the amateur title. He retired from football at the end of the season.

International career

Menzo gained six

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

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 ...

, the first arriving in 1989. He then spent nearly three years without any further appearances, but was summoned for the squads present at both the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

and

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

, as third-choice. After legendary

Hans van Breukelen Johannes Franciscus "Hans" van Breukelen (; born 4 October 1956) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was the technical director of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) from 2017 until 2018. Van Breuk ...

retired from international play following the latter competition, Menzo was named the starter for the qualification stages of the 1994 World Cup; following two unassuming performances, the 1–2 loss in

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 a 2–2 home draw against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, he was benched, and ultimately did not even make the squad at all ( Ed de Goey, Theo Snelders and Van der Sar would be the goalkeepers listed as starter, reserve and third respectively).

Managerial career

In the summer of 2004, after former Ajax teammate

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" Van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch former football manager and player who played as a striker for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

became head coach of the national team, Menzo was named its goalkeeping coach, remained there for two years. When coach

Peter Bosz Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He is currently the head coach of Dutch Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven. He had previously ...

left in June 2002, Menzo became AGOVV's manager, remaining in the position for only one season: AGOVV became a professional club in the second division, but he did not have the qualifications to exercise in that category, subsequently moving to Amsterdam-based amateur club AFC. In February 2005, Menzo received the necessary diploma to coach professional clubs. That summer, he returned as head manager of AGOVV. A year later, he joined

, lasting two seasons (incomplete) and signing with Cambuur, which he led to the second position in the second level in 2009–10, even though the team ultimately failed in the playoffs. In October 2010, Menzo resigned from his position at Cambuur in order to join Vitesse as assistant to new head coach Albert Ferrer. In May 2013, he became the head coach of Lierse, where he stayed until his sacking at the end of August 2014. On 28 October 2016, Menzo was appointed head coach of South African Premier Soccer League team, Ajax Cape Town. He left just before Christmas 2017. On 14 January 2019, Menzo was appointed as the manager of the reserve team of Beijing Sinobo Guoan in China. On 29 August 2022, Menzo was appointed as the manager for Beijing Guoan's first team. His appointment was terminated less than a year later on 11 June 2023 after a mediocre start to the team's 2023 season saw the team settle in mid-table positions.

Honours

Ajax *

UEFA 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 ...

: 1986–87 *

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 ...

: 1991–92 *

: 1984–85, 1989–90, 1993–94 *

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 ...

: 1985–86, 1986–87, 1992–93, 1995–96 Lierse *

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

: 1996–97 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1998–99

References

External links

Beijen profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Menzo, Stanley 1963 births Living people Footballers from Paramaribo Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Surinamese men's footballers Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Men's association football goalkeepers Eredivisie players AFC Ajax players HFC Haarlem players PSV Eindhoven players Belgian Pro League players Lierse S.K. players Ligue 1 players FC Girondins de Bordeaux players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Dutch football managers AGOVV managers Amsterdamsche FC managers FC Volendam managers SC Cambuur managers Lierse S.K. managers Ajax Cape Town F.C. managers Beijing Guoan F.C. managers UEFA Europa League–winning players Association football goalkeeping coaches Beijing Guoan F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century Dutch sportsmen 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup managers