Rudolf ("Ruud" or "Rudi") Jozef Krol (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈkrɔl]; born 24 March 1949) is a Dutch former professional footballer who was capped 83 times for the Netherlands national team. Most of his career he played for his home town club, Ajax. He became a coach after retirement.^[5] Regarded as one of the best defenders of all time, Krol mainly played as a sweeper or left-back, though he could play anywhere across the back line, or in midfield as a defensive midfielder, due to his range of passing with both feet, temperament, tactical intelligence, and his ability to start attacking plays after winning back the ball.^[6][7]

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Ruud Krol

Krol in 2005
Personal information
Full name	Rudolf Jozef Krol
Date of birth	(1949-03-24) 24 March 1949 (age 75)
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Height	1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Left-back, sweeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1968–1980	Ajax	339	(23)
1980	Vancouver Whitecaps	14	(0)
1980–1984	Napoli	107	(1)
1984–1986	Cannes	63	(0)
Total		523	(24)
International career
1969–1983	Netherlands[1][2]	83	(4)
Managerial career
1989–1990	Mechelen
1990	Servette
1991–1993	Netherlands U21 (assistant)
1994–1995	Egypt U23
1995–1996	Egypt[3]
1997–1999	Zamalek
1999	Al-Wahda
1999–2001	Netherlands (assistant)
2002–2005	Ajax (assistant)
2006–2007	Ajaccio
2007–2008	Zamalek
2008–2011	Orlando Pirates
2012–2013	Sfaxien
2013	Tunisia
2014	Espérance
2014	Al-Ahli
2015	Raja Casablanca
2016	Club Africain
2018–2019	Sfaxien
2020	Kuwait SC[4]
Medal record Men's football Representing  Netherlands (as player) FIFA World Cup Runner-up 1974 West Germany Runner-up 1978 Argentina European Championship 1976 Yugoslavia Representing  Egypt (as manager) African Games 1995 Harare
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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In his managerial career, he has been head coach of Egypt, and has been assistant manager of the Netherlands (under Frank Rijkaard and Louis van Gaal) and Ajax (under Ronald Koeman). He became the interim manager of Ajax after the resignation of Koeman. He was manager of Ajaccio in France Ligue 2 from 2006 to 2007. He returned as manager of Egyptian giants Zamalek in August 2007. He had previously managed them from 1994 to 1999, winning the Egyptian Cup in 1999, the African Cup of Champions Clubs in 1996 and the Afro-Asian Club Championship 1997, the last two being the biggest club level prizes available to CAF clubs. Krol's return to Zamalek was meant to be a stabilizing presence, the club having gone through several managers in the preceding two seasons. His stay however would be a short one. He ended his sole season by winning one Egyptian Cup with Zamalek, within one season he would leave and sign a three-year contract with the South African giants Orlando Pirates.

In his three years with the Orlando Pirates, he won two South African cups (and a finalist once) and won the national league, all in his last year in charge of the team. Those cups include MTN8 and Nedbank Cup. Despite that success his contract was not renewed.

He won the Tunisian championship with Sfaxien in 2012–13, after a fierce battle with the other three of the Tunisian big four.

After that success, he was contacted to lead the Tunisia national team in the play off qualifying to the 2014 world cup against Cameroon. He accepted that role and simultaneously became manager of Sfaxien and Tunisia in September 2013.^[9] He won the 2013 CAF Confederation Cup with Sfaxien. He resigned from his duties as Sfaxien coach after the second leg of the final against TP Mazembe on 30 November 2013. He quit as the national team interim coach following Tunisia's loss in the World Cup play-off.

In January 2014, he was appointed new head coach of Tunisian side ES Tunis.^[10]

On 6 July 1972, Krol married Yvonne van Ingen.^[11] The couple have a daughter.^[12] On 26 September 1974, together with teammate Arie Haan, he opened a snack bar on Reguliersbreestraat in Amsterdam.^[13]