AZ (football club)

Full name

Alkmaar Zaanstreek

Short name

Founded

May 10, 1967

Ground

DSB Stadion
Alkmaar
(Capacity: 17,023)

Chairman

Dirk Scheringa

Manager

Louis van Gaal

League

Eredivisie

2007-08

Eredivisie, 11th

Website

Club home page




Home colours




Away colours




Third colours

AZ, an acronym for Alkmaar Zaanstreek, is a football club from Alkmaar, the Netherlands. It was founded on May 10, 1967 as AZ '67, the result of a merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek. The name was changed into AZ in July 1986; internationally, Alkmaar is often added.

Owing to the commitment of businessmen Cees and Klaas Molenaar, AZ '67 was successful in the late seventies and early eighties. In 1981 they became Dutch champions and UEFA Cup finalists. Things went downhill after the Molenaar brothers left the club. In 1988 AZ were relegated from the Eredivisie.

The involvement of businessman Dirk Scheringa in the mid-nineties marked the revival of the club. AZ returned to the Eredivisie in 1998. In 2004-05 they reappeared in the UEFA Cup tournament, advancing to the semi-finals. They also finished third in the Eredivisie that season, again qualifying for the UEFA Cup, after spending most of the season in the top two spots. A remarkable achievement, since AZ is financially not a big club and it does not have a similar fanbase like their Eredivisie rivals: AZ's home ground in the 2005-06 season, the Alkmaarderhout, had a spectator capacity of 8,390.

AZ were undefeated in all 32 of their home matches in European competitions, a sequence which ran from 1977 until Dec 20, 2007, when they finally lost to Everton FC of England, by a score of 2-3.

In the summer of 2006, the club moved to a new 17,000 capacity stadium, the DSB Stadion. The club's chairman, Dirk Scheringa, is on record as stating that he wishes to expand the stadium to 40,000 by 2010.^[1]

The club manager is Louis van Gaal, who succeeded Co Adriaanse after the 2004-05 season. In April 2007 Louis van Gaal signed an extension of his contract to 2010, which included clauses related to possible jobs as a national coach in future.

1 Current squad
- 1.1 Out on loan
- 1.2 Reserve squad
2 Achievements
3 Notable players
4 Former managers
5 See also
6 Notes and references
7 External links

Current squad

[1]

No.	Position	Player
1	GK	Joey Didulica
2	DF	Kew Jaliens
3	DF	Gijs Luirink
4	DF	Héctor Moreno
5	DF	Sébastien Pocognoli
6	MF	David Mendes da Silva
7	FW	Jermain Lens
8	MF	Stijn Schaars (captain)
9	FW	Ari
10	FW	Mounir El Hamdaoui
11	MF	Maarten Martens
12	DF	Milano Koenders

No.	Position	Player
15	MF	Simon Poulsen
16	MF	Toni Kolehmainen
18	FW	Moussa Dembélé
19	MF	Kees Luyckx
20	MF	Demy de Zeeuw
22	GK	Sergio Romero
23	MF	Nick van der Velden
25	DF	Niklas Moisander
26	MF	Marko Vejinović
27	FW	Brett Holman
28	DF	Gill Swerts
29	FW	Graziano Pellè

Out on loan

No.	Position	Player
10	MF	Simon Cziommer (on loan to FC Utrecht)
14	DF	Ryan Donk (on loan to West Bromwich Albion)
17	MF	Kemy Agustien (on loan to Birmingham City F.C.)

No.		Position	Player
21		GK	Boy Waterman (on loan to ADO Den Haag)
		MF	Furdjel Narsingh (on loan to FC Volendam)

Reserve squad

No.		Position	Player
		GK	Raymond Breebaart
		GK	Jordy Deckers
		GK	Kevin Rijnvis
		GK	Albert-Jan de Vries
		DF	Mike Boelee
		DF	Mettin Copier
		DF	Ilias Haddad
		DF	Toine van Huizen
		DF	Mohammed Madmar
		DF	Guido Moelee
		DF	Estefan Pattinasarany
		DF	Gaston Salasiwa
		DF	Erik Schouten
		DF	Ramon Rodriquez da Silva
		DF	Robert Schutz
		DF	Jeroen Tesselaar
		DF	Giliano Wijnaldum

No.	Position	Player
	MF	Roland Alberg
	MF	Wouter de Vogel
	MF	Vincent Monster
	MF	Ben Rienstra
	MF	Mikhael Rosheuvel
	FW	Olafur Karl Finsen
	FW	Jonathas
	FW	Edwin Gyasi
	FW	Clive Keus
	FW	Ali Messaoud
33	FW	Gregory Nelson
	FW	Chevello de Rijp
	FW	Kolbeinn Sigthórsson
	FW	Mitchell te Vrede

Achievements

Standings of AZ from 1976 to 2005

Eredivisie
- Winners (1): 1981
- Runners-up (2): 1980, 2006
Eerste Divisie
- Winners (2): 1996, 1998
KNVB Cup
- Winners (3): 1978, 1981, 1982
- Runners-up (1): 2007
UEFA Cup
- Runners-up (1): 1981
- Semifinalists (1): 2005
Trofeo Santiago Bernabéu
- Runners-up (1): 1981

Notable players

Kees Kist (1972-1981)
Kristen Nygaard (1972-1982)
Jan Peters (1977-1982)
Hans de Koning (1978-1988)
Eddy Treijtel (1979-1985)
Hugo Hovenkamp
Bert van Marwijk (1975-1979)
Willem van Hanegem (1976-1979)
Martin Haar (1983-1986)
Louis van Gaal (1986-1987))
Phillip Cocu (1988-1990)
Sigi Lens
Fred Patrick
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (1990-1993)
Michael Buskermolen (1990-2006)
Barry Opdam (1996-2008)
Barry van Galen (1997-2006)
John Bosman (1999-2002)
Jan Kromkamp (2000-2005)
Henk Timmer (2000-2006)
Ron Vlaar (2002-2006)
Tim de Cler (2002-2007)
Denny Landzaat (2003-2006)
Kiki Musampa (2007–2008)
Kew Jaliens (2004-present)
Joris Mathijsen (2004-2006)
Shota Arveladze (2005–2007)

Former managers

Co Adriaanse
Hans van Doorneveld
Hans Eijkenbroek

Willem van Hanegem
Hans de Koning
Gerard van der Lem

Piet Schrijvers
Henk van Stee
Piet de Visser

Theo Vonk
Henk Wullems
Georg Kessler

Notes and references

↑ ""We want to win trophies"". AZ (2007-08-09). Retrieved on 2007-09-11.

External links

AZ.nl - Official website (Dutch) / (English)
AZ TV (Dutch)
Forza-AZ (Dutch)
AZ Fanpage (Dutch)
AZ news & fanpage (Polish)
AZ news at ePitch (English)
AZ formations at football-lineups.com (English)

Eredivisie 2008-09

Division 1/Eredivisie Seasons

1956–57 | 1957–58 | 1958–59 | 1959–60
1960–61 | 1961–62 | 1962–63 | 1963–64 | 1964–65 | 1965–66 | 1966–67 | 1967–68 | 1968–69 | 1969–70
1970–71 | 1971–72 | 1972–73 | 1973–74 | 1974–75 | 1975–76 | 1976–77 | 1977–78 | 1978–79 | 1979–80
1980–81 | 1981–82 | 1982–83 | 1983–84 | 1984–85 | 1985–86 | 1986–87 | 1987–88 | 1988–89 | 1989–90
001990–91 | 1991–92 | 1992–93 | 1993–94 | 1994–95 | 1995–96 | 1996–97 | 1997–98 | 1998–99 | 1999–2000
2000–01 | 2001–02 | 2002–03 | 2003–04 | 2004–05 | 2005–06 | 2006–07 | 2007–08 | 2008–09 | 2009–10

Football competitions in the Netherlands

Royal Netherlands Football Association