Richard Knopper (born 29 August 1977) is a Dutch 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 le ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

Club career

Born in

Rijswijk Rijswijk (), formerly known as Ryswick ( ) in English, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. Its population was in , and it has an area of , of which is water. The municipality also includes th ...

, Knopper began his career with

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 ...

but, still in his youth, moved to rivals

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

, making his official debut in November 1997 against

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 ...

. In 1999, he was voted by club supporters as ''Most Talented Player'', receiving the ''

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

Trophy''; the following year he scored 15

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 ...

goals as a midfielder, but his team could only finish fifth. A regular under

Jan Wouters Jan Jacobus Wouters (born 17 July 1960) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He played as a defensive midfielder and was Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1990. Career Wouters played for several clubs including PSV, FC Utr ...

, Knopper saw his playing time reduce when

Co Adriaanse Co Adriaanse (born 21 July 1947) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career As a professional player, Adriaanse played for six seasons with (now dissolved) De Volewijckers (from 1964 until 1970) and ...

took over as head coach in 2000. He was sidelined with injury for almost the entire

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

, playing only eight matches that year and appearing slightly more in the following, which would be his last. In May 2002, Knopper had a trial with

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 Foo ...

side

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and played in that predicament in the

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

for

Niall Quinn Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player he was a striker who played top flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City and ...

with the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

on the 14th. From 2002 to 2004 he served two loans, first with Greece's

Aris Thessaloniki F.C. Aris FC ( el, ΠΑΕ Άρης), commonly known as Aris Thessaloniki FC, AFC or simply Aris, is a Greek professional football club based in the city of Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece. Created in 1914 as ''Aris Thessaloniki Football Club'', th ...

then with

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 ...

, slightly reviving his career with the latter; upon his Ajax release in summer 2004, he spent two additional campaigns with

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vites ...

, appearing regularly. After some problems with Vitesse manager

Aad de Mos Adriaan "Aad" de Mos (born 27 March 1947) is a Dutch retired professional football manager whose career spanned for almost thirty years. He has managed teams in his home country, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Japan, Saudi Arabia and Greece, as well m ...

, Knopper was forced to leave and joined

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

. In July 2007 a three-year contract was agreed, with the player netting again in double figures (ten) in 2008–09, crucial to help in a narrow escape from relegation; in the 2010 summer, aged 33, he was released. In January 2011, Knopper moved to

Liga Primer Indonesia Liga Primer Indonesia (LPI, sometimes translated to English as ''Indonesian Premier League'') was an Indonesian independent football league held in 2011. It was managed by Konsorsium Liga Premier Indonesia and PT Liga Primer Indonesia and was n ...

club

PSM Makassar Persatuan Sepakbola Makassar ( 'Football Association of Makassar'; abbreviated as PSM) is an Indonesian professional football club based in Makassar, South Sulawesi that competes in Liga 1. PSM was founded in 1915 as , making it the oldest ...

, leaving after a couple of months and signing with lowly

Haaglandia VV Haaglandia was an association football club from Rijswijk, Netherlands. The club was established on 1 July 2005 through a merger of amateur sides RVC/Rijswijk (who merged years earlier themselves) and FC Kranenburg. It later played in the Hoofd ...

back in his country, where he ended his career.

Managerial career

ADO Den Haag and KNVB

In January 2012, Knopper was hired as an account manager at his former club

. From the end of May 2013, Knopper was also coaching the club's U-18 squad. In February 2014, he left the position as account manager, but continued coaching the U-18 squad. From the 2014–15 season, Knopper took charge of ADO's U-15 squad and in the 2015–16 season, of the U-17 squad. At the end of August 2015, Knopper was also hired as assistant coach for the Dutch U-16 national team. Knopper left both the position at ADO and at the national team, in the summer 2016.

Ajax

In May 2016 it was confirmed, that Knopper would join

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 ...

ahead of the upcoming season, where he would alternate between coaching the U16 and U15 teams. In April 2017, he signed a one-year contract extension with Ajax. Ahead of the 2018–19 season, he was promoted to U-17 manager. He left Ajax in the summer 2020.

Return to ADO Den Haag

On 13 May 2020

confirmed, that Knopper would return to the club from 1 July 2020 on a two-year deal as a first team assistant coach under head coach

Aleksandar Ranković Aleksandar Ranković ( nom de guerre Marko; sr-Cyrl, Александар Ранковић Лека; 28 November 1909 – 19 August 1983) was a Yugoslav communist politician, considered to be the third most powerful man in Yugoslavia after Jo ...

. After Ranković was fired on 8 November 2020, Knopper also left the club. On 12 October 2021, Knopper returned to ADO, however, this time as a forward coach for the women's team, ADO Den Haag Vrouwen.Richard Knopper nieuwe spitsentrainer ADO Den Haag Vrouwen
adovrouwen.nl, 12 October 2021

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knopper, Richard 1977 births Living people People from Rijswijk Dutch footballers Men's association football midfielders Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Super League Greece players Indonesian Premier League players AFC Ajax players SC Heerenveen players SBV Vitesse players ADO Den Haag players VV Haaglandia players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players PSM Makassar players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Indonesia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Greece Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Indonesia Footballers from South Holland