Ruud Kaiser (born 26 December 1960) is a Dutch

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and former player, who played as a

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 ...

Playing career

Born 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 ...

, Kaiser began his career with his hometown club,

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 ...

, before leaving in 1980 to join

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

. He would later play for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...

and

OGC Nice Olympique Gymnaste Club Nice Côte d'Azur (), commonly referred to as OGC Nice or simply Nice, is a French professional football club based in Nice. The club was founded in 1904 and currently plays in Ligue 1, the top tier of French football. ...

before returning to the Netherlands with

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadium is called 'De Vliert', an 8,500 all-seater. R ...

and SVV. He ended his career in Belgium with

KFC Dessel Sport Koninklijke Football Club Dessel Sport, or KFC Dessel Sport, is a Belgian association football club based in Dessel in the province of Antwerp. Current squad ''Updated 11 August, 2022''TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

, working in a variety of sporting development roles, before taking on his first managerial responsibilities at RBC, whom he managed from 1997 to 1999. He then moved to the

Royal Dutch Football Association 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 men's and women ...

, where he initially served as assistant manager to the

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

team A team is a group of individuals (human or non-human) working together to achieve their goal. As defined by Professor Leigh Thompson (academic), Leigh Thompson of the Kellogg School of Management, " team is a group of people who are interde ...

, who were unable to qualify for the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

. In 2001, he took over as head coach of the Netherlands under-17 team, where he had his greatest successes. Working with future stars such as

Rafael van der Vaart Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (born 11 February 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and is currently the assistant manager of Danish 2nd Division club Esbjerg fB. Van der Vaart began his c ...

Robin van Persie Robin van Persie (; born 6 August 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer who played as a striker. Regarded as one of the best strikers of his generation, Van Persie was known for his excellent technique and ball co ...

Nigel de Jong Nigel de Jong (born 30 November 1984) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He is currently the technical director of the KNVB, the national Dutch soccer federation. he has also worked as an English lang ...

Arjen Robben Arjen Robben (; born 23 January 1984) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Winger (football), winger. He was known for his Dribbling#Association football, dribbling skills, speed, ball control and long ...

and

Wesley Sneijder Wesley Sneijder (; born 9 June 1984) is a Dutch retired professional footballer. Due to his elite playmaking ability, Sneijder was considered one of the best midfielders in the world during his prime. A product of the Ajax Youth Academy, he sta ...

, he led the team to runner-up spot in the 2005 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship and third place in the

2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship The 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship, the eleventh edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Lima, Trujillo, Chiclayo, Piura and Iquitos in Peru between 16 September and 2 October 2005. Players born after 1 January 1988 could participa ...

. During this time he also headed up international scouting for the Dutch FA. From 2006 to 2007 Kaiser was coach of the

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

, and was appointed as

Dynamo Dresden Sportgemeinschaft Dynamo Dresden e.V., commonly known as SG Dynamo Dresden or Dynamo Dresden, are a German association football club based in Dresden, Saxony.Grüne, Hardy (2001). Enzyklopädie des deutschen Ligafußballs 7. Vereinslexikon. Kasse ...

manager in July 2008, replacing

Eduard Geyer Eduard "Ede" Geyer (born 7 October 1944) is a German former professional football player and manager. He was the last manager of the East German national team. Playing career Geyer was born in Bielsko (Bielitz), during the German occupation ...

who was fired on 4 October 2009. Dynamo struggled for the first half of Kaiser's first season in charge, with the team generally performing well, but unable to convert this into goals. Things picked up in the second half of the season, though, and the team finished in a respectable position in the top half of the 3. Liga table. However, the following season also started badly, and in October, with six defeats in the first twelve games, Dynamo found themselves in the relegation zone, and Kaiser was sacked. In April 2010 Kaiser signed a two-year contract with

Regionalliga Nord The Regionalliga Nord ( en, Regional League North) is the fourth tier of the German football league system in the states of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein, Bremen and Hamburg. It is one of five leagues at this level, together with the Regional ...

side 1. FC Magdeburg, taking over managing duties on 1 July 2010. He is the first foreign manager at the club and is tasked with building a squad that is capable of winning promotion in the 2011–12 season. However, after a string of bad results brought the side dangerously close to relegation, Kaiser was let go on 17 March 2011, to be succeeded by Wolfgang Sandhowe. After being technical director of

Lierse SK Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six ...

for two years, Kaiser returned to a managerial role by signing with

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 ...

side

from July 2013.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaiser, Ruud 1960 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers AFC Ajax players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players OGC Nice players FC Den Bosch players SV SVV players K.F.C. Dessel Sport players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players English Football League players Ligue 2 players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in France Dutch football managers Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff RBC Roosendaal managers FC Den Bosch managers Dynamo Dresden managers Footballers from Amsterdam 1. FC Magdeburg managers Achilles '29 managers 3. Liga managers