Adrianus Cornelis "Adrie" Koster (; born 18 November 1954) is a Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager who was most recently the manager of Willem II. He is a former winger and former manager of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

and the Netherlands U21 team.

Career

He played for

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisi ...

(1977–79) and

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

(1979–83). He played his last match in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

on 2 October 1982, replacing

Jurrie Koolhof Jurjen Jacob (Jurrie) Koolhof (10 January 1960 – 28 January 2019) was a Dutch international football striker and manager. As a player, Koolhof had a long and productive career, with 190 league goals. He played for a number of clubs in the Net ...

. In the following season 1983/1984 he retired from professional football as a player.

International

Koster obtained three caps (no goals) for the

Netherlands national football team The Netherlands national football team ( nl, Nederlands voetbalelftal or simply ''Het Nederlands elftal'') has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The men's national team is controlled by the Royal Du ...

in 1978.

Managerial career

Three years after the end of his playing career, Koster began his managerial career. His first job was the second-tier

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one bei ...

, where he worked as an assistant coach for a year. He then went to the

club Willem II, where he worked alongside Piet de Visser. After the club had found itself in a relegation battle under his leadership for two seasons, Koster took over the reigns as head coach. This did not bring a change, which meant that he was dismissed after barely a year in charge, and he was again replaced by De Visser in 1991. In 1991, Koster took over as head coach for

, where he had been active as a player. Two years later,

Huub Stevens Hubertus Jozef Margaretha "Huub" Stevens (; born 29 November 1953) is a Dutch former professional football manager and player. Playing career Stevens was born in Sittard. While active, he played for Fortuna Sittard and PSV. During his time at P ...

took over as head coach and Koster returned to the Eerste Divisie to coach first

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, as ...

and since

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

, before moving to

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

in 1997. Koster had his longest employment there and in 2002, he won promotion to the Eredivisie with the club. He could, however, not avoid relegation the following season, and Koster was dismissed after six years in charge. In the following season, he led

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

to the Eerste Divisie promotion play-offs, but did not manage to achieve promotion with the club. His next coaching job was

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

, where Koster was dismissed after a year due to poor results in 2006. He became head of the youth academy of

, and was appointed manager of the club's main squad on 9 October 2007, when

Henk ten Cate Hendrik Willem ten Cate (born 9 December 1954) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. In the 2005–06 season, he was assistant to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona when the team won the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles. ...

went to Chelsea. On 8 April 2009, Koster replaced

Jacky Mathijssen Jacky Mathijssen () (born 20 July 1963 in Dilsen-Stokkem) is a Belgian former football (soccer), football player and manager who is currently managing the Belgium national under-21 football team, Belgium U21 squad. Managerial statistics ''As of 1 ...

manager, with him signing a contract until the end of the season with an option for an extra season. On 25 February 2010, Koster's contract with Club Brugge was extended until the summer of 2011. He joined Beerschot following the 2011–12 season. In June 2013, Koster signed a contract with

Club Africain Club Africain ( ar, النادي الإفريقي) is a Tunisian football club based in Tunis that competes in the Tunisian Championship. It fields several sports teams, including football, handball, basketball, swimming and volleyball. The foot ...

. Although the club was first in the league, Koster was sacked in January 2014. In March 2014, Koster was named head coach of the Netherlands U21 team, after successfully managing the Netherlands U20 team in 2012. On 25 November 2014, Koster started to work for

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB Stu ...

as field coach of

. On 26 August 2015, Koster was appointed assistant national team coach of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

, where he came to work under the national coach, fellow Dutchman

Bert van Marwijk Lambertus van Marwijk (; born 19 May 1952) is a Dutch football manager who was recently the head coach of the United Arab Emirates national team. As a player, he played for the Go Ahead Eagles, AZ, MVV and Fortuna Sittard amongst other club ...

. On 1 July 2018, Koster was appointed head coach of Willem II for the second time in his career. He managed to qualify the team for the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

final for the fourth time in club history, in which Ajax, however, proved too strong and won 0–4. Because they made the final, Willem II qualified for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

for the first time since 2005. Willem II also avoided relegation in the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koster, Adrie 1954 births Living people Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Dutch football managers Dutch expatriate football managers Association football wingers PSV Eindhoven players Roda JC Kerkrade players Eredivisie players Willem II (football club) managers Roda JC Kerkrade managers Helmond Sport managers TOP Oss managers Excelsior Rotterdam managers VVV-Venlo managers RKC Waalwijk managers AFC Ajax managers Jong Ajax managers Club Brugge KV head coaches Eredivisie managers AFC Ajax non-playing staff UEFA Euro 1980 players Footballers from Zierikzee Club Africain football managers Beerschot A.C. managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in Tunisia Expatriate football managers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Willem II (football club) non-playing staff