Jürgen Arnoldus Wilhelmus Dirkx (born 15 August 1975), known as Jürgen Dirkx, is a Dutch former

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 le ...

. During his career, he played as a defender for PSV and

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 ...

. After retiring at the age of 27, he became a manager. Currently he is assistant manager of Jong PSV.

Club career

Dirkx started his footballing career at local club Reusel Sport, and also played in the youth teams of

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 ...

before moving to PSV. He made his first team debut in 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 ...

against

Bayer 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, th ...

in September 1994. After one season, in which he made 19

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 ...

appearances and scored one goal, he was loaned to fellow Eredivisie side

. One year later, Fortuna signed him on a permanent basis. In November 1998, Dirkx made an immediate return to PSV, where he was a regular for the rest of the season. As a result of injuries and strong competition for his position, Dirkx appeared more sparingly in the next two seasons. In the 1999–2000 season, he contributed 13 appearances (two goals) as PSV became Eredivisie champions. In the 2000–01 season, he made five appearances (no goals), with PSV once again winning the title. In August 2001, Dirkx again moved to Fortuna Sittard on loan. He made 23 appearances in a season which ended in relegation to the

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 ...

. Dirkx then returned to PSV, making two appearances during the 2002–03 season. At the end of the season, Dirkx was not offered a new contract by PSV, which caused his retirement from professional football at the age of 27.

International career

Dirkx won 17 caps (no goals) for the Netherlands national under-18 football team, and nine caps (no goals) for the under-21 team. He was part of the Netherlands squad which appeared at the final stages of the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

, playing in all three matches as the Netherlands finished in fourth place.

Managerial career

In 2006, Dirkx started his managerial career at PSV, as youth coach and assistant manager of Jong PSV. In 2009, he was appointed manager of amateur club RKVV Dommelen, who were competing in the

Vierde Klasse The Vierde Klasse ( en, Fourth Class) is the ninth tier of football in the Netherlands and the seventh tier of Dutch amateur football. This is the lowest league in the West II region. The league is divided into 64 divisions, 32 played on Saturday a ...

. He resigned his position in January 2010, and later that year became manager of

Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse ( en, First Class) started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into eleven divisions, six for Saturday clubs and five for Sunday clubs. These divisions correspond to the s ...

side VV Geldrop. From March 2012, he was also assistant manager at

. Dirkx left Geldrop at the end of the 2011–12 season. During the 2012–13 season, he managed

Topklasse The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

club

VV UNA Voetbalvereniging UNA ("Uitspanning Na Arbeid") is a football club from Zeelst, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of ...

, while continuing to serve as assistant manager of FC Eindhoven. At the end of the season, Dirkx left both UNA and FC Eindhoven to return to PSV, where he was appointed youth coach. Since 2014, he is assistant manager of Jong PSV.

Honours

;PSV *

: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03 *

Johan Cruijff Schaal The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirkx, Jurgen 1975 births Living people People from Reusel-De Mierden Association football central defenders Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers PSV Eindhoven players Fortuna Sittard players Eredivisie players VV UNA managers Dutch football managers PSV Eindhoven non-playing staff Footballers from North Brabant