Erik Meijer (born 2 August 1969) is a retired Dutch

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He played as a striker, he was known as a header specialist. He last worked as director of sports for

Alemannia Aachen Alemannia Aachen () or ATSV Alemannia 1900 is a football in Germany, German football club from the western city of Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia. A long term fixture of the country's 2. Bundesliga, second division, ''Alemannia'' enjoyed a three- ...

Career

Born in

Meerssen Meerssen (; li, Meersje ) is a town and a municipality in southeastern Netherlands. History The Treaty of Meerssen was signed in Meerssen in 870. The Treaty of Meerssen was an agreement of the division of the Carolingian Empire by the surviving ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

, Meijer started his career at

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

(1987–89). He broke through in the early 1990s at Dutch

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 ...

club

MVV Maastricht Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eerst ...

and was transferred to

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 ...

in 1994, where he did not play much due to competition by team mates

Ronaldo Ronaldo is a Portuguese given name equivalent to the English Ronald. It became a common name in all Portuguese-speaking countries, being also prevalent in Italy and Spanish-speaking countries. People Notable people known as Ronaldo include: As ...

Luc Nilis Luc Gilbert Cyrille Nilis (born 25 May 1967) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Belgian Division 2 club Belisia Bilzen. He enjoyed a successful career in his native Belgium and, in particular, ...

and

Wim Kieft Willem Cornelis Nicolaas "Wim" Kieft (born 12 November 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a centre forward. Kieft went into punditry in 2001, occasionally appearing on football talk show ''Voetbal Inside'' A prolific ...

. He then moved to German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

struggler

KFC Uerdingen 05 KFC Uerdingen 05 is a German football club in the Uerdingen district of the city of Krefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. The former Bundesliga side enjoyed its greatest successes in the 1980s but now plays in the fifth-level Oberliga. History Th ...

in 1995, where he was one of the few bright spots in a hapless squad, and was picked up by

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

. There, he was paired up with

Ulf Kirsten Ulf Kirsten (born 4 December 1965) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. Nicknamed ''Der Schwatte'' (dialect for ''Der Schwarze'', 'The Black One'), he is the first player in history to reach a total 100 caps play ...

and formed one of the most intimidating striker duos of the Bundesliga. After successful years, Meijer moved to

Liverpool F.C. Liverpool Football Club is a professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Founded in 1892, the club joined the Football League the following year and has p ...

in 1999, where he failed to make an impression next to

Michael Owen Michael James Owen (born 14 December 1979) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker for Liverpool, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Manchester United and Stoke City, as well as for the England national team. Since r ...

and

Robbie Fowler Robert Bernard Fowler (born 9 April 1975) is an English football manager and former player, who most recently managed East Bengal in the Indian Super League. As a player, he was a striker, and is the eighth-highest goalscorer in the history ...

. He was therefore loaned out to Preston North End for one season. He returned to the Bundesliga and joined

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its football section. Though the current HSV was founded in June 1919 from a merger of three ...

in December 2000. Meijer scored two goals in his time at Anfield, both coming in a League Cup tie against Hull City. He joined

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

fans in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

prior to the 2000–01 UEFA Cup, where he drank and sang with Reds fans. Despite playing a limited number of games for Liverpool, Meijer was voted 99th in the fan-based poll,

100 Players Who Shook The Kop Liverpool Football Club is an English professional association football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside, who currently play in the Premier League. They have played at their current home ground, Anfield, since their foundation in 1892. Liv ...

. But it was only after moving to 2. Bundesliga club

, in 2003, where he finally regained success. In the autumn of his career, his strong play and dressing room presence propelled Aachen into the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

finals in 2003–04, losing to

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen (), Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen, Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, they are best known for the ...

, but earning a ticket into the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

(as Bremen were German champions) and rejuvenating Alemannia financially. He was also named captain for the first time in his career. Meijer also was essential for Aachen's promotion into the

after 36 years, in 2005–06. Meijer ended his career that summer, stating he wanted to finish in style after this last big success.

International career

Meijer earned his sole cap for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

during a 6–0 win against

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

in 1993.

Coaching career

He took on a post in the management of Alemannia Aachen. But after a very short time he was appointed assistant coach of the newly arrived Bundesliga team, working with

Michael Frontzeck Michael Frontzeck (born 26 March 1964) is a German professional football coach and former player who is assistant coach of VfL Wolfsburg. As a player he was a left back who notably played in the Bundesliga across three spells for Borussia Mö ...

, who succeeded

Dieter Hecking Dieter-Klaus Hecking (; born 12 September 1964) is a German football manager for 1. FC Nürnberg and former professional player. He played for Hannover 96 and Eintracht Braunschweig. He returned to manage Hannover despite the long-standing and bi ...

in September 2006. On 14 December 2009 was named as the new director of sport by his former club

and signed a contract between 30 June 2011. He is a patron of

A.F.C. Liverpool Affordable Football Club Liverpool is a semi-professional football club based in Liverpool, England. The club were formed in 2008 by 1,000 supporters of Liverpool Football Club; a not-for-profit organisation, it is run on a one-member, one-vote ...

, a club run by the fans of

References

External links

Erik Meijer
at LFChistory.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Meijer, Erik 1969 births Living people People from Meerssen Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Association football forwards Alemannia Aachen players Bayer 04 Leverkusen players Hamburger SV players Liverpool F.C. players MVV Maastricht players FC Eindhoven players PSV Eindhoven players Fortuna Sittard players Premier League players KFC Uerdingen 05 players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Footballers from Limburg (Netherlands) Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany