Geert Meijer (born 15 March 1951) 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 and former professional player.

Playing career

Born in

Sellingen Sellingen (; Gronings: ''Zèlng'' ) is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is a part of the municipality of Westerwolde, and lies about northeast of Emmen. In 2021, statistical area "Sellingen", which also includes the surrounding ...

, Meijer played as a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, and began his professional career in 1972 with

FC Amsterdam FC Amsterdam was a Dutch football club which was founded on 20 June 1972, from the merger of the Amsterdam football clubs Blauw Wit and DWS. The club Volewijckers joined the side for the 1973–1974 season, in which season FC Amsterdam finished ...

. After moving to city rivals

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 ...

three years later, where he spent four seasons, Meijer spent a year in England with

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, making 15 appearances in the First Division. Upon his return to the Netherlands, Meijer played for

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

, DS'79 and

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

, before retiring in 1986.

Coaching career

While still a professional player, Meijer began his coaching career. He managed the amateur teams VV Strijen, DCV and

Hermes DVS Hermes DVS is a Dutch omnisport club based in Schiedam. The club has football, cricket, squash and rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league * ...

. After 3 consecutive league titles with VV Strijen, he became assistant coach at

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

. Between 1990 and 1999 Meijer was the assistant of 7 different Feyenoord managers:

Gunder Bengtsson Gunder Bengtsson (2 February 1946 – 2 August 2019) was a Swedish football coach. Career Bengtsson started his career as assistant coach under Sven-Göran Eriksson at IFK Göteborg. In 1982, after Eriksson won the UEFA Cup 1981–82 and ...

Pim Verbeek Peter Tim Dirk "Pim" Verbeek (12 March 1956 – 28 November 2019) was a Dutch football manager who last coached the Oman national football team. Playing career As a player, Verbeek was a defender or a midfielder and spent his entire career at S ...

Hans Dorjee Hans Dorjee (26 July 1941 – 25 July 2002) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. Playing career Dorjee came through the youth system of hometown club DHC to make his senior debut for the club aged only 17.Wim Jansen Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius Jansen (; 28 October 1946 – 25 January 2022) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a midfielder or defender, he spent most of his career at Feyenoord, winning honours including the European Cup ...

Willem van Hanegem Willem "Wim" van Hanegem (; born 20 February 1944) is a Dutch former football player and coach who played as a midfielder. In a playing career spanning over 20 years, he won several domestic honours in the Netherlands, as well as a European Cu ...

Arie Haan Arend "Arie" Haan (; born 16 November 1948) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He scored 6 goals in 35 matches for the Netherlands national team of the 1970s. At club level, he enjoyed a successful career ...

and

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...

. When Willem van Hanegem was sacked in 1995, Meijer was caretaker manager. In 1997, after Arie Haan was sacked, Meijer was also caretaker manager (together with

John Metgod Johannes Anthonius Bernardus Metgod (born 27 February 1958) is a Dutch former professional footballer who works as assistant manager of United Arab Emirates. Club career Playing as a centre-back, Metgod started his professional career in the 19 ...

). Meijer would then work as a youth coach, for 4 years at Feyenoord and for 2 years in

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

. In 2005 he became Head Coach at FC Hämeenlinna, which played in the

Ykkönen ''Ykkönen'' (Finnish for 'Number One'; sv, Ettan) is the second highest level of the Finnish football league system (after the Veikkausliiga), although it is the highest league managed by the Football Association of Finland. The teams also play ...

, the second level in Finland. As the Finnish football season takes place between April and October, the team avoided relegation in autumn and in December Meijer became assistant of

Henk Wisman Henk Wisman (born 19 May 1957) is a Dutch football manager. He who was the coach of the Armenia national football team for about a year. Club career Wisman was born in Amsterdam. He began his career at AFC Ajax, having played in their youth sy ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

, at both the National Team and

FC Pyunik Football Club Pyunik Yerevan ( hy, Ֆուտբոլային Ակումբ Փյունիկ Երևան, Futbolayin Akumb P’yunik Yerevan), commonly known as Pyunik ("Phoenix (mythology), Phoenix"), is an Armenian professional sports club based in the ...

In 2007,

's manager Gert Aandewie was sacked. Sparta's under−23 coach

Adri van Tiggelen Adrianus Andreas "Adri" van Tiggelen (born 16 June 1957) is a retired Dutch footballer who played as a left back. His career in football was intimately connected to Sparta Rotterdam, in which he began as a professional footballer, going on to ...

became caretaker manager in November and December 2007, while Meijer assisted him. This meant that Meijer took over Sparta's under−23 team from van Tiggelen for the next three-and-a-half years. Meijer would stay a few more years at Sparta as a scout, and as assistant of

Jos van Eck Jos van Eck (born 2 May 1963) is a Dutch former football manager and player. He is team manager of Jong Sparta, the under-21 team of Sparta Rotterdam. Playing career Van Eck played for De Graafschap, FC Zwolle, FC Den Bosch, Sparta Rotterd ...

when he was Sparta's caretaker manager in the 2nd division. This was from February 2011 until the end of the season. Meijer always combined his work at Sparta with coaching amateur teams SV Bolnes and VV Strijen.). Meijer's last season at VV Strijen was 2021–22, when he finalised his third spell (each spell lasting seven years) years as head coach at VV Strijen.

References

;General
Voetbal International
;Specific {{DEFAULTSORT:Meijer, Geert 1951 births Living people Dutch footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Eredivisie players English Football League players FC Amsterdam players AFC Ajax players Bristol City F.C. players Sparta Rotterdam players FC Dordrecht players NAC Breda players Feyenoord managers Dutch football managers Dutch expatriate football managers Hermes DVS managers People from Westerwolde (municipality) Expatriate footballers in England Association football wingers Feyenoord non-playing staff Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Finland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Armenia Expatriate football managers in Finland Sparta Rotterdam non-playing staff Footballers from Groningen (province)