Sjaak Polak (born 18 February 1976 in The Hague) is a Dutch former footballer and current manager.

Club career

An outspoken wingback and freekick specialist, Polak previously played for Excelsior Rotterdam, FC Twente, and

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 May 2008, Sparta announced that they would not extend his contract. He joined Twente in January 2001 and went on to pick up a winner's medal when Twente won the 2001

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

after a penalty shoot-out (in which he scored). After that, Sjaak had several trials, in Austria for example with Austria Vienna and with Swiss club St. Gallen, but without success. He ended up in Israel on trial with Maccabi Tel Aviv. Maccabi was interested in Polak's services because of Jewish descent ), and would not count as a foreigner for the club, thanks to the Israeli Law of Return. Polak had trouble getting the necessary documentation proving his family's Jewish origins and when he was told that he would be asked to give up his Dutch citizenship, he decided to sign for BV Veendam back in his native the Netherlands.

Coaching career

After ending his career in 2012, Polak started his coaching career and was appointed as manager for four-division team RSV Hoekpolder. In April 2014, Polak was appointed as manager for the reserve team of Quick Boys for the upcoming season. He stayed at the club for two seasons, before he was appointed at RKSV GDA. In November 2016, he was appointed manager of

VV SJC VV SJC is a football club from Noordwijk, Netherlands. VV SJC plays in the 2017–18 Sunday Hoofdklasse A. In the 2021–22 season, VV SJC qualified for the promotion playoffs, but lost 7-0 on aggregate in the first round vs. OJC Rosmalen ...

for the 2017/18 season which meant, that he would continue at RKSV GDA until the end of the season. Due to disappointing results, Polak was fired on 23 April 2019.Sjaak Polak op non-actief gesteld als trainer van SJC
omroepwest.nl, 23 April 2019

Honours

;FC Twente *

Winner 2000–01

External links

Player profile
– Sparta Rotterdam

– Voetbal International

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Polak, Sjaak 1976 births Living people Dutch footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch football managers Dutch Jews Jewish Dutch sportspeople Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Derde Divisie players Association football defenders ADO Den Haag players Excelsior Rotterdam players FC Twente players Sparta Rotterdam players SC Veendam players RBC Roosendaal players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United States Footballers from The Hague SVV Scheveningen players