Wim Jansen

Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius Jansen[1] ([ʋɪmˈjɑn.sə(n)]; 28 October 1946 – 25 January 2022) was a Dutch professional football player and manager.

Wim Jansen
Jansen in 1978
Personal information
Full name Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius Jansen[1]
Date of birth (1946-10-28)28 October 1946
Place of birth Rotterdam, Netherlands
Date of death 25 January 2022(2022-01-25) (aged 75)
Place of death Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Midfielder, defender
Youth career
0000–1965 Feyenoord
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1965–1980 Feyenoord 415 (33)
1980 Washington Diplomats 27 (0)
1980–1982 Ajax 49 (0)
Total 491 (33)
International career
1967–1980 Netherlands 65 (1)
Managerial career
1987–1988 SC Lokeren
1990–1993 Feyenoord
1995–1996 Sanfrecce Hiroshima
1997–1998 Celtic
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Netherlands
FIFA World Cup
Runner-up1974
Runner-up1978
UEFA European Championship
Third place1976
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

As a midfielder or defender, he spent most of his career at Feyenoord, winning honours including the European Cup in 1970. He earned 65 international caps with the Dutch national team and played in the teams that reached the 1974 and 1978 FIFA World Cup finals.

Jansen served in several roles at Feyenoord, including winning the KNVB Cup in consecutive seasons as manager in the early 1990s. He also won the Scottish Premier Division at Celtic in 1997–98.

Club career
Jansen in 1974

He spent most of his playing career with his hometown team, Feyenoord, between 1965 and 1980. At Feyenoord, Jansen won four League Championships, one Dutch Cup, one UEFA Cup in 1974, and the European Cup in 1970 when Feyenoord defeated Celtic 2–1 in Milan.[2] He scored once in the 1969–70 European Cup campaign, opening a 2–0 home win over A.C. Milan in the second leg of the second round, as Feyenoord overturned a 1–0 loss from the first game.[3] He was the captain of their 1974 team which defeated Tottenham Hotspur 4–2 on aggregate.[4]

After a brief spell in the North American Soccer League with the Washington Diplomats, he moved to Feyenoord's rivals Ajax, where he won a league title in 1981–82.[2] His debut for Ajax was against his former club in De Kuip in December 1980; a fan of Feyenoord threw an icy snowball at Jansen's eye during warming-up which finally resulted in Jansen being substituted within 20 minutes into the game.[4][5]

Dutch teammate Johan Cruyff considered Jansen to be one of only four men worth paying attention to when they spoke about football.[4]

International career

Jansen earned his first of 65 caps for the Netherlands on 4 October 1967, in a 2–1 loss away to Denmark in UEFA Euro 1968 qualifying. He scored his only international goal in his eighth game on 4 September 1968, a 2–0 win over Luxembourg in his hometown for 1970 FIFA World Cup qualification.[6]

Jansen played all seven games as the Dutch finished runners-up to hosts West Germany at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, and repeated the feat in 1978 as they lost to hosts Argentina.[6] He committed the foul on Bernd Hölzenbein in 1974 which allowed Paul Breitner to equalise with a penalty as the Germans came from behind to beat the Dutch.[4] He also played both games of their bronze-medal finish at UEFA Euro 1976 in Yugoslavia.[6]

Managerial career

Jansen began his managerial career at his old club Feyenoord, where he worked as a coach, and then as assistant manager, between 1983 and 1987. He also had a season as manager of Belgian club SC Lokeren.[7] In 1991, he returned to Feyenoord as manager, winning the KNVB Cup in 1991. The result was a surprise as the club had been near bankruptcy in the preceding years.[8]

The team also won the cup in 1992 and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991–92.[7] He became Technical Director in 1992, and his old teammate, Willem van Hanegem coached the team to the league in 1993 and the Dutch Cup again the following season. Jansen disagreed with van Hanegem's physical tactics, and argued with chairman Jorien van den Herik when the coach was given a contract extension. He left to work as assistant manager of Saudi Arabia alongside compatriot Leo Beenhakker, and also managed Japanese side Sanfrecce Hiroshima, where he struggled with the language.[9]

On 3 July 1997, Wim Jansen was appointed head coach of Celtic, replacing the sacked Tommy Burns.[10] He was their first manager from outside Great Britain and Ireland,[2] and only the second to have never played for the club.[11] He went on to guide them to their first Scottish league championship in ten years, ending the hopes of rival Rangers to win a tenth consecutive championship.[10] Despite winning the league and the Scottish League Cup during his only season in charge, Jansen left the club less than 48 hours after the title was secured as he was unable to work with general manager Jock Brown.[12] His most notable transfer was the signing of Henrik Larsson from Feyenoord.[13]

At the beginning of the 2008–09 season, Jansen took up the position of assistant to the head coach of the Feyenoord first team, Gertjan Verbeek.[14] He resigned in solidarity when the coach was fired in 2009.[9]

Personal life and death
Jansen in 2013

Jansen was given a Latin name, as is the custom for Dutch Catholics, because his family lived with Catholics in the first year of his life. He and his family were not religious, and he would practice kicking a ball at a pole on Sundays while all his neighbours were at church.[1] As a child, he lived on the same street (Bloklandstraat) as Feyenoord teammate Coen Moulijn.[1]

Jansen lived in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht from the 1970s. In late 2021, he released the biography Meesterbrein ("Mastermind"), written alongside Yoeri van den Busken.[8][9]

Jansen died of complications from dementia on 25 January 2022 at the age of 75.[15] His funeral was held four days later at Feyenoord's De Kuip stadium.[16]

Career statistics

Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[17][18][19][20]
Club Season League Cup Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Feyenoord[lower-alpha 1] 1965–66 Eredivisie 20––
1966–67 342––
1967–68 346––
1968–69 33320
1969–70 34891
1970–71 3421141
1971–72 34260
1972–73 27342
1973–74 300120
1974–75 28340
1975–76 26120
1976–77 21161
1977–78 320––
1978–79 301––
1979–80 16150
Total 41533525
Washington Diplomats 1980 NASL 270––––270
Ajax 1980–81 Eredivisie 170––
1981–82 3202020360
Total 49020
Career total 49133545
  1. "Feijenoord" until 1974

International
Jansen (centre), Dutch teammates and manager Rinus Michels (second from left) before the 1974 World Cup
Appearances and goals by national team and year[6]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Netherlands 196730
196851
196930
197050
197150
197210
197310
1974110
197540
197650
197740
1978120
197950
198010
Total651

Honours

Player
From left to right: Jansen, manager Kurt Linder and Jesper Olsen ahead of Ajax's winning 1981–82 season

Feyenoord[2][7]

Ajax[2][7]

Netherlands[2][7]

Manager

Feyenoord[8][7]

Celtic[2][7]

References
  1. van der Busken, Yoeri (16 October 2021). "Als oer-Feyenoorder Wim Jansen zijn auto parkeert, doet hij dat het liefst bij het portret van Coen Moulijn". de Stentor (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  2. "Wim Jansen: Former Celtic manager dies at 75, announce Feyenoord". BBC Sport. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  3. "EC 50 jaar: Feyenoord speelt tegen AC Milan beste wedstrijd ooit" (in Dutch). Rijnmond. 26 November 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  4. "Former Netherlands midfielder Wim Jansen dies at 75". Associated Press. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  5. "Feyenoord-Ajax en de ijsbal van Wim Jansen: "Huilbui Coby staat me bij"" (in Dutch). NOS. 27 January 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
  6. "Wim Jansen – International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  7. "Décès de l'ancien international néerlandais Wim Jansen, icône de Feyenoord". Le Soir (in French). 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  8. Vissers, Willem (25 January 2022). "Wim Jansen (1946-2022) was als stille kracht onmisbaar in de topelftallen van de jaren zeventig". de Volkskrant (in Dutch). Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  9. Bloembergen, Jaap (25 January 2022). "Wim Jansen, het Feyenoord-icoon dat niet graag op de voorgrond trad". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch).
  10. Watt, Martin (1 June 2020). "When Celtic stopped Rangers' 10-in-a-row title bid". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  11. English, Tom (26 January 2022). "Wim Jansen: Tribute to Celtic manager who stopped Rangers' 10 in a row". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  12. "Celtic fans cry foul as Jansen quits". The Herald. Glasgow. 11 May 1998.
  13. "On this day… Celtic sign Henrik Larsson". The Irish Post. 25 July 2015.
  14. "Feyenoord-icoon en oud-international Wim Jansen (74) lijdt aan dementie" (in Dutch). NU.nl. 23 October 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  15. "Former Celtic manager Wim Jansen dies aged 75". Planet Radio. 25 January 2022. Retrieved 25 January 2022.
  16. "Grote groep supporters bewijst voor de Kuip laatste eer aan clubicoon Wim Jansen". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 29 January 2022. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
  17. Wim Jansen at National-Football-Teams.com
  18. "Wim JANSEN". Football Database. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  19. "Wim Jansen" (in Dutch). Voetbal.com. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  20. "1980 Washington Diplomats Statistics". Stats Crew. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
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