AZ (football club)

Alkmaar

Full name	Alkmaar Zaanstreek
Short name	AZ
Founded	10 May 1967
Ground	AZ Stadion Alkmaar (Capacity: 17,023)
Chairman	René Neelissen
Manager	Gertjan Verbeek
League	Eredivisie
2009–10	Eredivisie, 5th
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

AZ, an acronym for Alkmaar Zaanstreek, is an association football club from the city of Alkmaar, Netherlands. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest football league in the Netherlands. AZ was founded in 1967 as AZ '67, but is most commonly known as AZ Alkmaar.

History

It was founded on 10 May 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 tautologically added.

Owing to the commitment of businessmen Cees and Klaas Molenaar, AZ '67 were 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-'90s 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 20 December 2007, when they finally lost to Everton of England by a score of 3–2.

In the summer of 2006, the club moved to a new 17,000 capacity stadium AZ Stadion. Club's chairman Dirk Scheringa stated in 2007 that he wished to expand the stadium capacity to 40,000 by 2010.^[1] Ultimately, the club began plans to expand the stadium to at least 30,000 seats by 2011–12.

AZ had a very good 2006–07 season, which ended, however, in disaster. Going into the last game of the 2006–07 season, AZ led PSV and Ajax by goal-differential for the Eredivisie championship, but ended up third after losing this last match against bottom-dweller Excelsior, playing with 10 men for 80 minutes. Further setbacks followed when AZ lost the KNVB Cup finals to Ajax, 8–7 in penalty kicks after a drawn game, and also lost to Ajax over two playoff games for the Champions League. After the season, key players like Tim de Cler, Danny Koevermans, and Shota Arveladze left the team.

AZ versus Larissa in a 2007–08 UEFA Cup match.

In the 2007–08 season, AZ performed so badly (first round loss in the KNVB Cup, elimination from the UEFA Cup before winter break and a final 11th position in the Eredivisie), that team manager Louis van Gaal felt obliged to hand in his resignation in March 2008. However, after protests from the players and direction, van Gaal withdrew his resignation to finish his contractual obligations.

The 2008–09 season had an unpromising start with two defeats against NAC Breda and ADO Den Haag. However, starting with a 1–0 victory over defending league champions PSV, the team didn't lose in the next 28 matches, including a stretch of 11 matches in which the opposing teams did not score a single goal. Three weeks before the end of the season, despite their second home defeat of the season (against Vitesse), AZ became Eredivisie champions when nearest rivals Twente and Ajax both lost their matches.^[2][3] AZ's second championship was the first Eredivisie title in 28 years, and the first time since then that the Eredivisie was won by a team other than the "big three" (Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord). AZ therefore qualified for the Champions League for the first time in their history, but only took three points from six matches and finished bottom of their group.

Ronald Koeman, succeeded Louis van Gaal after the 2008–09 season. Van Gaal had already left for Bayern Munich after becoming league champions with AZ. Koeman became the manager for AZ on 17 May 2009.^[4] On December 5, 2009 AZ announced that Koeman no longer was in charge of AZ, after losing 7 of the first 16 games in the Dutch competition.^[5] Former Zenit St. Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat took over for the rest of the season. Under his lead, some good results were achieved and European football was secured. For the 2010–2011 season, Gertjan Verbeek, coming from Heracles Almelo, will be the new manager.

Satellite clubs

On 22 May 2009, Dirk Scheringa has announced a cooperation with Bayern Munich;^[6] the club has first-option rights for the AZ contracted players.^[7]

• Bayern Munich

Dutch First Division club Telstar is an official satellite club of AZ. Youth players are stalled at Telstar to gain experience. Since 10 May 2009, former youth coach of AZ Marcel Bout will be responsible for the technical coordination.^[8]

Current squad

As of 29 July 2010, according to the official website ^[9]

For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers summer 2010 and List of Dutch football transfers winter 2009-10.

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 1 GK Joey Didulica 2 DF Kew Jaliens 3 DF Dirk Marcellis 4 DF Héctor Moreno 5 DF Nick Viergever 7 MF Erik Falkenburg 8 MF Stijn Schaars (captain) 9 FW Jonathas 11 MF Maarten Martens 14 DF Ragnar Klavan 15 DF Simon Poulsen 16 MF Pontus Wernbloom 17 FW Johann Berg Gudmundsson

No. Position Player 19 FW Kolbeinn Sigthórsson 20 MF Rasmus Elm 21 GK Erik Heijblok 22 GK Sergio Romero 23 MF Nick van der Velden 25 DF Niklas Moisander 26 MF Celso Ortiz 27 MF Brett Holman 28 DF Gill Swerts 29 FW Graziano Pellè 30 MF James Holland 34 GK Esteban Alvarado 35 FW Charlison Benschop

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player DF Mike Boelee (at Telstar) (until July 2011) FW Kevin Brands (at Telstar) (until July 2011) FW Edwin Gyasi (at Telstar) (until July 2011) MF Ilias Haddad (at Telstar) (until July 2011) MF Milan Hoek (at Telstar) (until July 2011) DF Toine van Huizen (at Telstar) (until July 2011) DF Marek Kaljumaë (at Telstar) (until July 2011) DF Milano Koenders (at NAC Breda) (until July 2011) FW Zlatan Krizanovic (at Telstar) (until July 2011) FW Furdjel Narsingh (at Telstar) (until July 2011) DF Jeroen Tesselaar (at Telstar) (until July 2011) FW Wouter de Vogel (at Telstar) (until July 2011) GK Boy Waterman (at De Graafschap) (until July 2011)

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 24 DF Erik Schouten 32 MF Giliano Wijnaldum 33 DF Gijs Luirink 36 FW Ali Messaoud 37 GK Hobie Verhulst 38 MF Adam Maher 39 FW Mitchell te Vrede 40 MF Roland Alberg GK Raymond Breebaart GK Albert-Jan de Vries

No. Position Player DF Koen Bosma DF Mohammed Madmar DF Guido Moelee DF Estefan Pattinasarany DF Ramón Rodríquez da Silva MF Abdullahi Lawal FW Clive Keus MF Vincent Monster FW Morten Nielsen

Stadium and sponsor

DSB Stadion, AZ's home venue in Alkmaar

AZ play their home games at the AZ Stadion, located in the southern part of the city of Alkmaar. The stadium, which is owned directly by the club, was inaugurated in 2006 and replaced the old Alkmaarderhout venue. The stadium currently has a capacity of 17,023.

In order to further grow the club's budget, the AZ board of directors decided to extend the capacity of the new stadium to a minimum of 30,000 seated spectators. The extension will be realised to construct a second tier to three of the four stands. The main stand with all technical areas, VIP and sponsor and media facilities will remain in place. The club plans to start construction in the third quarter of 2010 in order for the stadium to be commissioned in time for the 2011–12 season.

In October 2009 sponsor DSB Bank was declared bankrupt.^[10][11][12] The stadiumname changed from DSB Stadion to AZ Stadion, as it was considered undesirable that the stadium was linked with a non-existent bank. In February 2010 a new main sponsor was found: construction works service provider BUKO from Beverwijk.^[13]

Honours

AZ Eredivisie Results 1976 to 2009

• Eredivisie
  • Winners (2): 1981, 2009
  • Runners-up (2): 1980, 2006
• Eerste Divisie
  • Winners (3): 1960¹, 1996, 1998
  • Runners-up (3): 1957¹, 1968, 1972
• Tweede Divisie
  • Runners-up (1): 1964¹
• KNVB Cup (Dutch National Cup)
  • Winners (3): 1978, 1981, 1982
  • Runners-up (1): 2007
• Johan Cruijff Shield (Dutch Super Cup)
  • Winners (1): 2009
• ETL Domcup
  • Winners (1): 2010
• UEFA Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 1981
  • Semifinalists (1): 2005

¹ As Alkmaar '54

AZ in Europe

Below is a table with AZ's international results in the past seasons.

Year(s)	Tournament	Result	Opponents (home result, away result)
1977–78	UEFA Cup	second round	Red Boys Differdange (11–1, 5–0); Barcelona (1–1, 1–1p)
1978–79	Cup Winners' Cup	first round	Ipswich Town (0–0, 0–2)
1980–81	UEFA Cup	final	Red Boys Differdange (6–0, 4–0); Levski Sofia (5–0, 1–1); Radnički Niš (5–0, 2–2); Lokeren (2–0, 0–1); Sochaux (3–2, 1–1); Ipswich Town (4–2, 0–3)
1981–82	European Cup	round of 16	Start (1–0, 3–1); Liverpool (2–2, 2–3)
1982–83	Cup Winners' Cup	round of 16	Limerick (1–0, 1–1); Internazionale (1–0, 0–2)
2004–05	UEFA Cup	semi-final	PAOK (2–1, 3–2); Group F with Auxerre (home: 2–0), Amica Wronki (away: 3–1), Rangers (home: 1–0), Grazer (away: 0–2), result: group winner; Alemannia Aachen (2–1, 0–0); Shakhtar Donetsk (2–1, 3–1); Villarreal (1–1, 2–1); Sporting CP (3–2, 1–2a)
2005–06	UEFA Cup	round of 32	Krylya Sovetov Samara (3–1, a3–5); Group D with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (away: 2–1), Middlesbrough (home: 0–0), Litex Lovech (away: 2–0), Grasshopper (home: 1–0), result: group runners-up; Real Betis (2–1aet, 0–2)
2006–07	UEFA Cup	quarter-final	Kayserispor (3–2, 1–1); Group C with Braga (home: 3–0), Grasshopper (away: 5–2), Slovan Liberec (home: 2–2), Sevilla (away: 2–1), result: group winner; Fenerbahçe (a2–2, 3–3); Newcastle United (a2–0, 2–4); Werder Bremen (0–0, 1–4)
2007–08	UEFA Cup	group stage	Paços de Ferreira (0–0, 1–0); Group A with Zenit St. Petersburg (away: 1–1), Larissa (home: 1–0), Nuremberg (away: 1–2), Everton (home: 2–3), result: 4th place in group
2009–10	Champions League	group stage	Group H with Olympiacos (0–0, 0–1), Standard Liège (1–1, 1–1), Arsenal (1–1, 1–4), result: 4th place in group
2010–11	Europa League		IFK Goteborg (2-0, 1-2), FC Aktobe (2-0, 1-2), BATE (-), FC Sheriff (-), Dinamo Kiev (-)

Domestic results

Below is a table with AZ's domestic results since the introduction of professional football in 1956.

Notable players

See also Category:AZ Alkmaar players.

Managers

See also

• Dutch football league teams

Notes and references

External links

• AZ.nl – Official website (Dutch), (English)
• AZ TV (Dutch)