Suzanne Bakker (born 9 July 1986) 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 footballer who manages

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

Career

Bakker started her

managerial 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 ...

career with Dutch side . In 2017, she was appointed as an assistant manager of Dutch side

Excelsior Rotterdam Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known as Excelsior, is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024– ...

, before being appointed as manager of the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

of Dutch side

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

in 2022. Two years later, she was promoted to manager of the club's first team, helping them win the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

and 2023–24 KNVB Women's Cup. Despite this, she left them at the end of the 2023–24 season because of communication problems. Ahead of the 2024–25 season, she was appointed manager of Italian side

. While managing the club, she was regarded to have preferred the 4–3–3 formation.

Controversy

While coaching in Milan

Nadia Nadim Nadia Nadim (; born 2 January 1988) is a professional association football, footballer who plays as a striker (association football), striker for the Damallsvenskan club Hammarby Fotboll (women), Hammarby, on loan from Italian Serie A (women's f ...

a Danish player from Afganistan, who played football in a refugee camp, felt like "training in the refugee camp was better" than working under Bakker.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bakker, Suzanne 1986 births Living people Dutch women's footballers 21st-century Dutch sportswomen Women's association football midfielders AFC Ajax (women) managers FC Utrecht (women) players Eredivisie (women) players Serie A (women's football) managers Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy