Maarten Jan-Willem Stekelenburg (born 13 December 1972 in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

) 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, currently working as an assistant manager for

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 ...

. He previously managed

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

club

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and ...

and Almere City. He was also the head coach of the Netherlands under-17 national team from July 2013 until June 2015, when he replaced

Fred Grim Johann Georg Friedrich "Fred" Grim (born 17 August 1965) is a Dutch football coach and former player who most recently worked as head coach of Willem II. A former goalkeeper, Grim represented Ajax and Cambuur during his playing career. Playin ...

at Almere City.

Coaching career

Stekelenburg left his position as youth coordinator at the amateur club AFC in 1999 to move to Ajax where he trained and coached various youth teams, including the U17s, for a full decade. In the late 1990s, he was offered an internship with the Ajax D2 junior team by the then head of youth teams Hans Westerhof and after six months, Stekelenburg got his first contract as youth coach. The former gymnastics and sports economics student then took the second Ajax team under his wing and moved up to the position of coordinator of the senior teams. In 2005, he became interim head of youth development at the Amsterdam club after

Danny Blind Dirk Franciscus "Danny" Blind (; born 1 August 1961) is a Dutch former football player and coach. He played as a defender for Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax and the Netherlands national team. As coach he has managed Ajax and the Netherlands national te ...

was appointed head coach. From 2007, Stekelenburg stewarded the B2 junior team before moving to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

to become head of youth development at Ajax Cape Town, the satellite club of Ajax. In June 2011, he succeeded

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch association football, football coach. He is known for his long association with Friesland, Frisian club SC Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national football team during 2011 ...

as Ajax Cape Town head coach. Stekelenburg left the club in October 2012. During the final stages of the 2012-13 season, Stekelenburg was at the helm at AFC in the Dutch Topklasse, the third tier of football in the country. This season, he obtained practical coaching experience with Frank de Boer at Ajax as part of the KNVB’s Professional Football Coaching course. Maarten Stekelenburg currently holds several positions at the Royal Netherlands Football Association (

KNVB The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch Netherlands nati ...

). Apart from managing the national Under-17s (as the successor to Albert Stuivenberg who moved to the Netherlands Under-21 team), Stekelenburg is also KNVB youth football coach and teacher at the KNVB Academy. In addition, he assists the other representative teams, coordinates scouting activities at professional clubs and creates tools for talent development and recognition. After three and a half years as manager for Netherlands U-19, it was confirmed in December 2019, that Stekelenburg had been added to

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

's backroom staff as an assistant manager together with

Ruud Van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (anglicised to Van Nistelrooy; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He is currently the coach of PSV Eindhoven. A former footballer, Van Nistelrooy is often consi ...

ahead of the

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

, after

Kees van Wonderen Cornelis "Kees" Hendricus van Wonderen (; born 4 January 1969) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, who is the current head coach of Eredivisie club Heerenveen. During his playing career, he was mostly utilised as a centre ...

recently had left the position.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stekelenburg, Maarten 1972 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch footballers Dutch football managers Ajax Cape Town F.C. managers Almere City FC managers AFC Ajax non-playing staff SV Huizen players Association footballers not categorized by position Dutch expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in South Africa