Antoine "Spitz" Kohn (1 November 1933 – 24 November 2012) was a Luxembourg

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and football manager.

Club career

Kohn played as a striker, and spent most of his career plying his trade abroad, in Germany,

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, and finally Netherlands, where he later became a successful manager. During his playing days, he earned the nickname "Spitz" for his ferocity and goal-scoring instinct.

International career

Kohn made his debut for Luxembourg in a September 1953 World Cup qualification match against France, in which he immediately scored a goal. He went on to earn 7 caps, scoring one goal, all of them in

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

matches. He won a total of 16 caps (6 goals) including unofficial matches. He played his final international game in September 1965, a 2–5 defeat by Yugoslavia.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Luxembourg's goal tally first.''

Manager career

After retiring as a player, Kohn became manager at FC Twente in July 1972 and clinched runner-up spot in the 1973–74 season, in the 1972–73 season FC Twente finished 3rd in the Dutch competition, in the 1974–75, 1975–76 and 1977–78 seasons, FC Twente finished as 4th club in the Dutch competition. In May 1975 they reached the

UEFA Cup Final The UEFA Europa League, formerly the UEFA Cup, is an association football competition established in 1971 by UEFA. It is considered the second most important international competition for European clubs, after the UEFA Champions League. Clubs qu ...

, losing 1–5 on aggregate to German side

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

. The Dutch Cup was won in the 1976–77 season (FC Twente-PEC Zwolle 3–0), in the 1978–79 season the Cup final was lost (Ajax-FC Twente 1-1, 3–0). Kohn moved on to

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

in 1980 and

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

in 1981 before rejoining Twente in the 1982/1983 season, but he could not save them from relegation that year. Between June 1984 and June 1990 he was assistant-coach at Ajax Amsterdam. After the firing of coach Aad de Mos, Kohn was the responsible manager, the last 5 rounds of the 1984/1985-season, coaching Ajax to the Dutch championship, with players like

Hans Galjé Hans Galjé (born 21 February 1957) is a Dutch football coach and former professional player. During his playing career, he played as a goalkeeper for ADO Den Haag, Ajax, FC Utrecht, KV Kortrijk, KSV Waregem and Club Brugge. He was manager ...

, Stanley Menzo, Sonny Silooy, Frank Rijkaard, Ronald Koeman,

Gerald Vanenburg Gerald Mervin Vanenburg (born 5 March 1964) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger. He amassed Eredivisie totals of 372 games and 112 goals for Ajax and PSV combined, winning fifteen major titles between the two ...

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 ...

, Rob de Wit,

John van 't Schip Johannes Nicolaas van 't Schip (; born 30 December 1963) is a Dutch Canadian and former Dutch international footballer, who played as a winger. He spent his club career with Ajax, where they won four Eredivisie titles, a UEFA Cup and a Europea ...

and

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. After 5 rounds in the 1988/1989 season Kohn became the responsible manager at Ajax, his assistant being Louis van Gaal.Spitz Kohn, Louis van Gaal
- Ajax He finished his career as a scout for Udinese and SC Heerenveen.

Honours (as a player)

* Luxembourg National Division: 2 :: 1951, 1954 *

Luxembourg Cup The Luxembourg Cup () is the national knockout cup competition in Luxembourgian football. It was first held in 1922, and has been held annually since, with the exception of the four seasons during the German occupation during Second World War. W ...

: 1 :: 1954 *

German Cup The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

: 2 :: 1955, 1956

Club career

International career

International goals

Manager career

Honours (as a player)

References

External links