Johannes Nicolaas "John" van 't Schip (; born 30 December 1963) is a Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former

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who played as a winger. He is the current manager of

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. Born in Canada, he played for the Netherlands national team for nine years. He spent his club career with

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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

, where they won four

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

titles, a

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and a

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renamed the UEFA Cup Winne ...

, as well as

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. He was also a member of the Dutch side which won the 1988 European Championships. Van 't Schip started his managerial career at the

Ajax Youth Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

, and his first senior managerial gig was with

Twente Twente ( , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germanic people ...

. He previously was the manager of

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

in his native Netherlands and Melbourne City in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

among others. He managed

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

from 2019 to 2021. He was then appointed as the interim manager of Ajax in 2023 until 2024. A year later he was appointed as the new manager of

Early life

Van 't Schip was born in

Fort St. John, British Columbia Fort St. John is a city located in northeastern British Columbia, Canada. The most populous municipality in the Peace River Regional District, the city encompasses a total area of about with 21,465 residents recorded in the 2021 Census. Located ...

, and was raised in

Powell River, British Columbia Powell River is a city on the northern Sunshine Coast (British Columbia), Sunshine Coast of southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Most of its population lives near the eastern shores of Malaspina Strait, which is part of the larger Georgia Strai ...

, where he grew up playing youth

in the small community before his family moved back to the Netherlands in 1972.

Club career

Van 't Schip began his football journey at NFC where he played for four years. He then began his professional career at

in its youth academy. Debuting for the first team on the sixth of December 1981 in a 4–1 win against

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

, he spent the next eleven seasons with the club. During this period, he won the

in 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1990, as well as the KNVB Beker in 1983, 1986 and 1987. He also helped Ajax win the 1987 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 1992 UEFA Cup. After Ajax's UEFA Cup victory, he was transferred to Italian team

, where he played four seasons before ending his career. He helped the club to lift the 1996 Anglo-Italian Cup.

International career

On the international level, Van 't Schip, a member of the Dutch squad at the

1983 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fourth edition FIFA World Youth Championship tournament, hosted from 2 June to 19 June 1983 in seven venues in Mexico — Guadalajara, Irapuato, León, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla and Toluca — w ...

, was capped 41 times and scored two goals for the Dutch national team. His debut came against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in April 1986, and his final match was a Euro qualifying match against

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

in June 1995. Van 't Schip featured in the victorious Euro 1988 squad, as well as

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

and

Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

tournaments.

Coaching career

After retiring, Van 't Schip became a youth coach for Ajax and manager for

. From August 2004 he assisted

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" Van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch former football manager and player who played as a striker for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

in coaching the Dutch national team, until Van Basten left the position of head coach following Euro 2008. Van 't Schip followed Van Basten to Ajax, becoming assistant coach with Rob Witschge, for the 2008–09 season. On 6 May 2009, after

's resignation, he was named as the interim head coach of Ajax, and coached the club till the end of the season.

Melbourne Heart

He was signed by Australian A-League club Melbourne Heart on 12 October 2009, to be their inaugural coach for the 2010–11 season. On 1 February 2012, Van 't Schip announced that he would be leaving the Melbourne Heart at the end of the 2011–12 season, citing personal reasons for his decision. Van't Schip took Heart to their first finals appearance in their second season. Van 't Schip had a major role in the development of Melbourne Heart.

Guadalajara

In April 2012,

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

announced, through its Twitter account, that Van 't Schip would be the new coach of the club. Van 't Schip was recommended by his fellow countryman

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. Regarded as one of the greatest ...

, who was working at that moment on a project with the club. Van 't Schip's first competitive game was against

Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...

, in which the Chivas lost 2–1. Van 't Schip was relieved of his duties as coach of Chivas a few days before the start of the Clausura 2013 Season. He was replaced by former Chivas coach Benjamin Galindo.

Return to Melbourne City

On 30 December 2013, following 17 winless games by Melbourne Heart and the early termination of John Aloisi's contract, Melbourne Heart re-appointed Van 't Schip as head coach until the end of the season. On 19 March 2014, after eleven matches coaching the club, including a seven-match unbeaten run, Van 't Schip signed a three-year contract with the club (who would be renamed Melbourne City in June 2014), through to the end of the 2016–17 season. On 3 January 2017, Van 't Schip resigned as Melbourne City manager to return to the Netherlands to help care for his terminally ill father.

Greece

In July 2019, he was hired as coach of

. On 26 November 2021, Van 't Schip resigned.

Return to Ajax

On 30 October 2023, Van 't Schip was appointed as head coach of Ajax until the end of the 2023–24 season.

Personal life

In addition to his native Dutch, Van 't Schip can also speak English, Spanish and Italian. His mother-in-law is Dutch singer and actress Willeke Alberti.

Coaching record

*1.Includes League, Liguilla, Copa MX and CONCACAF Champions League.

Honours

Player

Club

Ajax *

: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90 *

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

: 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

: 1991–92 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1986–87 Genoa *

Anglo-Italian Cup The Anglo-Italian Cup (, also known as the Anglo-Italian Inter-League Clubs Competition and from 1976 to 1986 as the Alitalia Challenge Cup, Talbot Challenge Cup or Gigi Peronace Memorial) was a European football competition. The competition was ...

: 1995–96

International

Netherlands *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro or Euros, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). The competition ...

: 1988

Manager

Melbourne City * FFA Cup:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

knvb.nl

ajax.nl
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Schip, John van 't 1963 births Living people Sportspeople from Fort St. John, British Columbia Dutch men's footballers Dutch football managers Netherlands men's international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Canadian men's soccer players Canadian soccer coaches Canadian emigrants to the Netherlands Canadian people of Dutch descent 1990 FIFA World Cup players AFC Ajax players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Eredivisie players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Van 'T Schip, John Serie A players Serie B players UEFA Euro 1988 players UEFA Euro 1992 players UEFA European Championship–winning players Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy FC Twente managers Jong Ajax managers Eredivisie managers Van 'T Schip, John C.D. Guadalajara managers Greece national football team managers Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Mexico AFC Ajax managers AFC Ajax non-playing staff Melbourne City FC managers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Australia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Men's association football wingers UEFA Europa League–winning players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen 20th-century Dutch sportsmen Armenia national football team managers