Phillip Cocu

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Phillip Cocu
Personal information
Date of birth	October 29, 1970
Place of birth	Eindhoven, Netherlands
Height	1.82m
Position	Midfielder
Club information
Current club	PSV Eindhoven
Number	8
Youth clubs
1988-90	AZ Alkmaar
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1988-1990 1990-1995 1995-1998 1998-2004 2004-present	AZ Alkmaar Vitesse Arnhem PSV Eindhoven FC Barcelona PSV Eindhoven	50 (7) 137 (25) 95 (31) 205 (31) 75 (18)
National team**
1996-2006	Netherlands	101 (10)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 5, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of June 28, 2006.

Phillip John William Cocu (born October 29, 1970 in Eindhoven, Noord-Brabant) is a Dutch football midfielder currently playing for PSV Eindhoven.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Early career / AZ 1.2 Vitesse 1.3 PSV 1.4 FC Barcelona 1.5 Return to PSV 1.6 International career 2 Career Stats 3 Honours 4 External links

[edit] Career

[edit] Early career / AZ

He first started out playing football at amateur level with clubs like AFC '34 and DCS Zevenaar. He signed his first professional contract with AZ Alkmaar in the 1988/1989 season when he was 17 years old. After an encouraging start at the club, he signed on at Vitesse Arnhem in 1990.

[edit] Vitesse

His career at Vitesse was blighted by him breaking his right leg in his first game against Sparta Rotterdam. After fully recovering in 1992 he assisted his club into gaining promotion into the UEFA Cup competition as well as a top five finish in the Eredivisie. Ajax Amsterdam tried to sign him twice when he was at Vitesse but it was Dick Advocaat who signed him for PSV Eindhoven in 1995. Dick Advocaat himself was appointed the coach of Netherlands in the previous year for the World Cup 1994 where the Dutch national team lost at the quarter-final stage to eventual winners Brazil.

[edit] PSV

During his tenure at PSV, he won one Eredivisie league title. His international team colleagues such as Jaap Stam, Arthur Numan, Boudewijn Zenden, and Wim Jonk all formed the core of the PSV squad and he was also teammate of Ronaldo and Luc Nilis.

[edit] FC Barcelona

Having played some of his finest football at PSV, Cocu moved to Primera Liga giants FC Barcelona after the World Cup in 1998. Louis van Gaal who coached Barcelona at that time also signed many Dutch World Cup players such as Frank de Boer, Ronald de Boer, Patrick Kluivert, Boudewijn Zenden, Ruud Hesp, Michael Reiziger, Winston Bogarde as well as Marc Overmars in 2000 and the Spanish team was soon nicknamed 'Oranje Barcelona' or 'Ajax Barcelona' because of the heavy influence of former Ajax players as well as a former Ajax coach. Barcelona won the Primera Liga in seasons' 1997-1998 and 1998-1999.

In the following seasons, while most of the Dutch contingent at Barcelona, like the De Boer brothers and Boudewijn Zenden, were transferred, Cocu managed to stay on for six seasons as a defensive midfield player. By the start of the 2003-2004 season, Kluivert, Reiziger, Overmars, Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Cocu were the remaining Dutch players plus Edgar Davids who joined halway during the season on loan from Juventus. The man in charge now was not Louis van Gaal anymore, but another compatriot - Frank Rijkaard.

In February 2005, Cocu was honoured by FC Barcelona and the Camp Nou faithful with a hearty ovation before the start of a match and president Joan Laporta presented the player with a plaque to commemorate his career, highlighting his dedication and loyalty to the club.

[edit] Return to PSV

Although he was proposed a new contract, Cocu left FC Barcelona before the start of Euro 2004 for his old club, PSV to finish his career.

[edit] International career

It was at PSV that Cocu got called-up to the national squad and he was handed his debut in a friendly on 24 April 1996 against Germany and was then selected in the final squad for Euro 96.

By 1998, Cocu was a permanent fixture in the national side and was selected by Guus Hiddink for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France where he scored two goals in the group stage. Cocu was used in a variety of different positions in that tournament. An example would be in the semi-final against Brazil where he filled in at left-back as incumbent Arthur Numan was suspended and substitute Winston Bogarde suffered a serious knee injury during a training session prior to the match.

Cocu represented his country in Euro 2000 on home ground and also played in Euro 2004 in Portugal.

Cocu was captain of the Dutch side during Euro 2004, but after the tournament new coach Marco van Basten handed the captain's armband over to Edgar Davids, and later to Edwin van der Sar.

With Cocu in a pivotal role in midfield, in 2004-2005 the Netherlands won 10 out of their 12 qualifying games enroute to qualifying for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

Cocu retired from the national team after the 2006 World Cup. During the World Cup he played in all four of the Netherlands' games.

[edit] Career Stats

Season	Club	Country	Competition	Matches	Goals
1988/1989	AZ	Netherlands	Eerste Divisie	15	4
1989/1990	AZ	Netherlands	Eerste Divisie	35	4
1990/1991	Vitesse	Netherlands	Eredivisie	8	0
1991/1992	Vitesse	Netherlands	Eredivisie	33	3
1992/1993	Vitesse	Netherlands	Eredivisie	34	6
1993/1994	Vitesse	Netherlands	Eredivisie	33	11
1994/1995	Vitesse	Netherlands	Eredivisie	29	5
1995/1996	PSV	Netherlands	Eredivisie	29	12
1996/1997	PSV	Netherlands	Eredivisie	34	8
1997/1998	PSV	Netherlands	Eredivisie	32	11
1998/1999	FC Barcelona	Spain	La Liga	36	12
1999/2000	FC Barcelona	Spain	La Liga	35	6
2000/2001	FC Barcelona	Spain	La Liga	35	3
2001/2002	FC Barcelona	Spain	La Liga	34	2
2002/2003	FC Barcelona	Spain	La Liga	29	3
2003/2004	FC Barcelona	Spain	La Liga	36	5
2004/2005	PSV	Netherlands	Eredivisie	29	6
2005/2006	PSV	Netherlands	Eredivisie	33	10
2006/2007	PSV	Netherlands	Eredivisie	12	2
			Total	561	113

[edit] Honours

• Champion of Netherlands: 1997, 2005, 2006
• Champions of Spain: 1999
• Dutch Cup: 1996, 2005
• Dutch Super Cup: 1996, 1997
• European Super Cup: 1998

[edit] External links

• Phillip Cocu Official Personal Website at icons.com

	Netherlands squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place
1 van der Sar | 2 Reiziger | 3 Stam | 4 F. de Boer | 5 Numan | 6 Jonk | 7 R. de Boer | 8 Bergkamp | 9 Kluivert | 10 Seedorf | 11 Cocu | 12 Zenden | 13 Ooijer | 14 Overmars | 15 Bogarde | 16 Davids | 17 van Hooijdonk | 18 de Goeij | 19 van Bronckhorst | 20 Winter | 21 Hasselbaink | 22 Hesp | Coach: Hiddink

	Netherlands squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 van der Sar | 2 Jaliens | 3 Boulahrouz | 4 Mathijsen | 5 van Bronckhorst | 6 Landzaat | 7 Kuyt | 8 Cocu | 9 van Nistelrooy | 10 van der Vaart | 11 Robben | 12 Kromkamp | 13 Ooijer | 14 Heitinga | 15 de Cler | 16 Maduro | 17 van Persie | 18 van Bommel | 19 Vennegoor of Hesselink | 20 Sneijder | 21 Babel | 22 Timmer | 23 Stekelenburg | Coach: van Basten

PSV Eindhoven - Current Squad
1 Gomes | 2 Kromkamp | 3 Reiziger | 4 Alex | 5 Ball | 6 Simons | 7 Väyrynen | 8 Cocu | 9 Kluivert | 10 Koné | 11 Méndez | 14 da Costa | 15 Čulina | 16 Aissati | 17 Farfán | 18 Addo | 19 Lamey | 20 Afellay | 21 Moens | 22 Fehér | 23 Salcido | 24 Nguyen | 25 de Jong | 26 Tardelli | 30 Plá | 31 Coe | 33 Beerens | Manager: Koeman