Danny_Blind

Danny Blind

Danny Blind

Dutch footballer and manager

Dirk Franciscus "Danny" Blind (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdɪr(ə)k frɑnˈsɪskʏz ˈdɛni ˈblɪnt];[lower-alpha 1] born 1 August 1961) is a Dutch former football player and coach. He played as a defender for Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax and the Netherlands national team. As coach he has managed Ajax and the Netherlands national team.

Quick Facts Personal information, Full name ...

He is one of only two Dutch players, together with Arnold Mühren, to have won all UEFA club competitions.

Playing career

Club career

Blind made his professional football debut on 29 August 1979 with Sparta Rotterdam. He stayed under contract with Sparta for seven seasons when in July 1986 he transferred to Ajax, attracted there by manager Johan Cruyff. Blind's signing, however, was much to the chagrin of Ajax superstar Marco van Basten, who was upset that his manager had brought in a relatively unknown, defensive player from a fairly small club like Sparta, instead of splashing out on a big-money, big-name transfer.[3] With Ajax, Blind amassed an impressive trophy list, winning all three European trophies (UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1987, the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 1995). He also secured the Intercontinental Cup in 1995 against Brazil's Grêmio by scoring the winning penalty in the penalty shoot-out.

Blind was again a penalty hero when he converted twice against Real Zaragoza in the European Super Cup final of 1995, which Ajax won 5–1 over the two legs. The two penalties Blind converted were in the 65th and 69th minutes of the second leg.

Domestically, with Ajax, he won five Dutch Eredivisie Championships and four national cups. He retired on 16 May 1999.

Blind was known for being a solid, dependable defender and a leader on the field. However, he was also a technically gifted and cultured player who could pass and strike the ball well for a non-attacking player. Whilst famous for being a centre back, Blind started his career as a right full-back.

International career

Blind gained 42 caps for the Netherlands over a ten-year period, scoring once against Greece in a UEFA Euro 1992 qualifier. He made his debut in 1986 against Scotland but was not capped at all in 1987 or 1988,[4] an absence which meant he missed being a part of the triumphant UEFA Euro 1988 side. He did, however, appear at the 1990 and 1994 World Cups and the 1992 and 1996 European Championships, retiring after the latter.

Management career

Blind was head coach at Ajax from 14 March 2005 (appointed as successor to Ronald Koeman) until 10 May 2006, after only 422 days in charge. He led Ajax to victory in the KNVB Cup and the Johan Cruyff Shield.

In 2007–08, Blind became director of football at his old club, Sparta Rotterdam. On 15 May 2008, he returned to Ajax to become the new director of football in Amsterdam but switched roles when Martin Jol joined the club to assistant coach. Moving to the position of technical director for Ajax at the beginning of the 2011–12 season, on 9 February 2012 it was announced that Blind would retire from his duties as technical director at Ajax, concluding a heated dispute surrounding the club's board of directors.[5]

On 1 July 2015, Blind was named Guus Hiddink's successor as head coach of the Netherlands national team.[6] He failed to lead them to Euro 2016, and he put the 2018 World Cup qualifying campaign at stake after more meagre results. He was sacked by the Dutch FA on 26 March 2017, the day after losing 2–0 away at Bulgaria, which left their chances of qualification in serious doubt.

On 4 August 2021, Blind returned to the Netherlands national team as assistant to Louis van Gaal.

Personal life

Blind is the father of professional footballer Daley Blind, who has played for Ajax and Manchester United.[7] His son is also a Dutch international, and is one of their ten most featured players of all time with over 100 caps.

Career statistics

More information Club performance, League ...

Managerial statistics

As of match played 25 March 2017[10]
More information Team, Nat ...

Honours

Player

Ajax[11]

Individual

Manager

Ajax[11]

See also

Notes

  1. Franciscus in isolation: [frɑnˈsɪskʏs].

References

  1. [1]
    "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Netherlands (NED)" (PDF). FIFA. 15 November 2022. p. 20. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  2. [2]
    "Danny Blind". IMDb.
  3. [3]
    Danny Blind returns to Ajax Archived 9 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine World Cup Blog, 7 May 2008
  4. [4]
    "Danny Blind – International Appearances". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  5. [5]
    Ajax board including Johan Cruyff and Edgar Davids step down en masse The Guardian, 9 February 2012
  6. [6]
    "Danny Blind succeeds Guus Hiddink as Netherlands coach". BBC Sport. 1 July 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  7. [7]
    "Ajax sign Daley Blind". Ajax.nl. AFC Ajax. 29 March 2007. Archived from the original on 28 February 2008. Retrieved 11 December 2008.
  8. [8]
    Danny Blind Level-K
  9. [9]
    Dirk Franciscus Blind "Danny Blind" World-Soccer.org
  10. [10]
    "Danny Blind career sheet". footballdatabase. footballdatabase. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
  11. [11]
    "Danny Blind – Career Honours". Soccerway.
  12. [12]
    "Blind wint Gouden Schoen". Ajax Life. Archived from the original on 6 May 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2014.
  13. [13]
    "Toyota Cup – Most Valuable Player of the Match Award". Archived from the original on 24 December 2008. Retrieved 30 August 2014.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Danny Blind.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Danny_Blind, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.