Paul Bosvelt (, born 26 March 1970) is a Dutch football coach and former professional

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 ...

who is technical director of Go Ahead Eagles. As a player he

midfielder 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 ...

he notably played in the

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 ...

for

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

and

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), 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 bef ...

and in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

for Manchester City. He also had spells with Go Ahead Eagles and

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

. He was capped 24 times by

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 ...

. As a coach he returned to Go Ahead Eagles as assistant manager, later returning to FC Twente as under-17 manager and a spell as Netherlands U21 assistant coach.

Club career

Bosvelt went on to develop a reputation as a "hard-tackling

" at

de Kuip Stadion Feijenoord (), more commonly known by its nickname De Kuip (, the Tub), is a stadium in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was completed in 1937. The name is derived from the Feijenoord district in Rotterdam, and from the club with the same na ...

, making 167 appearances, during which he led Feyenoord to the league title in 1999 and 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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

in 2002. During the game against Manchester United at home, on 5 November 1997, for the Champions League, which United eventually won 1–3, he tackled

Denis Irwin Joseph Denis Irwin (born 31 October 1965) is an Irish former professional footballer and sports television presenter. As a player, he played as a full-back from 1983 to 2004. Irwin is best known for his long and successful stint at Manchester ...

from behind so "ferociously" that he almost broke the Irishman's leg. Irwin stayed off the field for several weeks to recover from the injury and was unable to join Ireland's national team in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

for the 1998 World Cup. A few days after the game, United made public the fact that Bosvelt sent a

fax Fax (short for facsimile), sometimes called telecopying or telefax (the latter short for telefacsimile), is the telephonic transmission of scanned printed material (both text and images), normally to a telephone number connected to a printer o ...

to Irwin at Old Trafford, soon after the incident, in which he said that he "regretted making the tackle." In 2003, Bosvelt joined Manchester City. After two seasons there, he returned to the Netherlands and finished his career playing for

. Bosvelt retired from football on 13 May 2007, after Heerenveen's 4–0 defeat by

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 Gree ...

. He had played a total number of 470 games in both

and

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 t ...

. In December 2008 it was confirmed, that Bosvelt from 1 January 2009 would become the new assistant coach of Go Ahead Eagles.

International career

Bosvelt made his debut for the

in a March 2000

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and earned a total of 24 caps, scoring no goals. He played in

Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. During Euro 2000, he reached the semi-final with Netherlands. Bosvelt missed an important penalty kick in the penalty shootout in the semi-finals, which led to a 3–1 defeat against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. After Euro 2004 he decided to retire from international football.

Coaching career

After his contract in Go Ahead Eagles, he joined

in June 2012 as an assistant coach for the club's U19s. Two years later, in June 2014, he took charge of Twente's U17s. Beside that, he was also appointed assistant coach for the Dutch U21 national team. In summer 2016, Bosvelt was named manager of Jong FC Twente next to his position as an assistant for the Dutch U-21 national team. However, he ended the season with relegation from the

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie ( en, Second Division) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and b ...

and was fired at the end of the season. In December 2017, Bosvelt returned to Go Ahead Eagles and was hired as technical advisor, still next to his position on the Dutch U-21 national team, which he, however, left at the end of August 2018. In April 2018, Bosvelt was hired in a new role at Go Ahead Eagles: he was announced as the new technical director. In November 2021, he signed a new contract with Go Ahead Eagles until June 2024.VERBINTENISSEN PAUL BOSVELT EN JAN WILLEM VAN DOP MET TWEE JAAR VERLENGD
ga-eagles.nl, 11 November 2021

Honours

Feyenoord *

: 1998–99 * Johan Cruyff Shield:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

: 2001–02

References

External links

*
Photos and stats
at sporting-heroes.net {{DEFAULTSORT:Bosvelt, Paul 1970 births Living people People from Doetinchem Footballers from Gelderland Association football midfielders Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Go Ahead Eagles players FC Twente players Feyenoord players Manchester City F.C. players SC Heerenveen players Eredivisie players Premier League players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England UEFA Cup winning players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA Euro 2004 players