Rick Kruijs, commonly known as Rick Kruys, (born 9 May 1985) is a Dutch professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who is the head coach of

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 ...

club

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

. His father,

Gert Kruys Gert Kruys (born 8 May 1961 in Utrecht) is a Dutch football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of IJsselmeervogels. Career Kruys played his entire career for FC Utrecht (1978–1988), except for one short spell at RKC Waal ...

is also a former professional footballer and current manager.

Club career

Utrecht

Kruys started his professional career in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

in 2003. He played in Utrecht for five years and played over 100 league games. In 2008 Dutch media reported that Kruys would sign a -year contract with

Malmö FF Malmö Fotbollförening, commonly known as Malmö FF, Malmö, or MFF, is a professional football club and the most successful football club in Sweden in terms of trophies won. Formed in 1910 and affiliated with the Scania Football Association, ...

, and he eventually joined the team in July 2008.

Malmö FF

Due to injury problems Kruys would only play four games for his first season at the club. In 2009 Kruys played 13 games for the club in his best season this far at the club although still battling injuries. For the 2010 league winning season Kruys once again had much problems with injuries and played only four games. In early 2011 Malmö FF gave Kruys permission to look for a new club to restart his career.

FC Volendam

Kruys was eventually loaned to

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional Association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion ...

until 1 June 2011. When the loan deal expired Kruys returned to Malmö, but was not included in the squad as the club was awaiting eventual bids from clubs in the Netherlands. On 19 July it was announced that Kruys would continue to play for Volendam on loan until the end of the season.

Excelsior

Kruys signed a two year contract with

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

on 13 July 2012.

International career

Kruys has represented the Dutch under-21 side for 16 games and scored one goal.

Coaching career

During the 2013–14 season, Kruys was working as an individual coach for the academy of

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

alongside his playing career at

. He then left the position in 2014 and started working as a youth coach and assistant manager at VV De Meern, still playing for

SBV Excelsior Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known as Excelsior, is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. The club was found ...

beside. Kruys left

in 2016 and continued at VV De Meern, now also as player and he was later also hired as a youth coach at

again. Retiring from playing football at the end of 2017, Kruys became an assistant coach at

in January 2018, alongside his former coach

Marinus Dijkhuizen Marinus Dijkhuizen (born 4 January 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who manages Excelsior. As a player, he had notable spells in his native Netherlands with Excelsior, SC Cambuur and TOP Oss. He retired in 2009 a ...

and under head coach Jean-Paul de Jong. In May 2018, Kruys signed a new deal until the summer 2023 with Utrecht. After de Jong was fired in September 2018, Kruys and Dijkhuizen was appointed joint-caretaker managers. They were replaced later on the month and Kruys continued as an assistant manager.

Managerial career

On 16 June 2022,

appointed Kruys as head coach on a two-year deal, effective from 1 July 2022, replacing

Jos Luhukay Jos Luhukay (born 13 June 1963) is a Dutch football manager and former player, who was most recently head coach of VVV-Venlo. Playing career He began his career at the age of 15 at his hometown club FC VVV and he made his league debut in Januar ...

Honours

Utrecht *

Johan Cruyff Shield 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 ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Footnotes

External links

Profile
at

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but l ...

Profile
at Malmö FF * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kruys, Rick 1985 births Living people Dutch footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Association football midfielders Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Derde Divisie players FC Utrecht players Footballers from Utrecht (city) Allsvenskan players Malmö FF players FC Volendam players Excelsior Rotterdam players Expatriate footballers in Sweden USV Elinkwijk players Dutch football managers FC Utrecht non-playing staff VVV-Venlo managers Eerste Divisie managers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Sweden