Ab Fafié (4 March 1941 – 27 November 2012) was a Dutch professional

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 manager.

Playing career

Club

Fafié made his debut for hometown club

Feijenoord Feijenoord (), not to be confused with the Feijenoord (neighbourhood), Feijenoord neighbourhood (which is located in the Feijenoord district), is a district in Rotterdam and is located south of the Nieuwe Maas. As of 1 January 2004 there were 72,3 ...

against

Fortuna '54 Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger o ...

in 1959 and also played for Rotterdam club Xerxes as well as for PSV. During an injury-hit spell he only played 13 games for the ''Eindhovenaren''.

Managerial career

Fafié became assistant to

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 ...

manager Hans Kraay in 1981 and was named caretaker after Kraay's dismissal in 1983. He took charge in 1984 after

Thijs Libregts Thijs Libregts (, born 4 January 1941) is a Dutch football coach and former player, who played professionally as a defender in the 1950s. His daughter Patricia was one of the Netherlands' leading water polo players in the 1980s and 1990s. Clu ...

was sacked and ended up third in the

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 ...

in both his seasons at the helm. He later managed a number of teams throughout Europe, including

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club based in Nea ...

AA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

where he had succeeded the dismissed

Henk Ten Cate Hendrik Willem ten Cate (born 9 December 1954) is a Dutch football manager and former professional player. In the 2005–06 season, he was assistant to Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona when the team won the UEFA Champions League and La Liga titles. ...

FC Utrecht

At Utrecht, he earned the nickname ''King Ab'' after steering them to European football with a fourth-placed finish in his first season. The club crashed out of next year's

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

to Spanish giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

and after some less successful seasons, Fafié was given the sack in 1994. He also had spells in charge at two Indonesian clubs and coached the final years of his life at amateur sides CVV, Overmaas, WSE and NBSVV.Oud-Feyenoorder Ab Fafié overleden
- Feyenoord

Personal life

Fafié died in November 2012, aged 71.
- NU

References

1941 births 2012 deaths Footballers from Rotterdam Association football fullbacks Dutch footballers Feyenoord players XerxesDZB players PSV Eindhoven players Eredivisie players Dutch football managers Feyenoord managers AEK Athens F.C. managers PAS Giannina F.C. managers K.A.A. Gent managers FC Utrecht managers AEK Larnaca FC managers Go Ahead Eagles managers Persija Jakarta managers Eredivisie managers Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Greece Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Indonesia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Greece Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Dutch expatriates in Indonesia {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub