Eduard Laurens "Eddy" Pieters Graafland (5 January 193428 April 2020) was a Dutch professional football

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 ...

and

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

. As a player, he was the

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

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 Gree ...

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), 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 bef ...

and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In 1970, his last season as a professional, he won the Europa Cup with Feijenoord. In total, he was capped for the national team 47 times. His nickname was, after his abbreviated surname, ''Eddy PG''. He was a renowned penalty stopper, and kept a notebook with potential penalty takers' favorite side.

Career

At the age of eleven he became a member of

. Twelve was the minimum age, but his father was a board member, which gave him priority. At the age of seventeen, in 1951, he made his debut in Ajax's first team. In the mid-1950s, Pieters Graafland fulfilled his military service in Arnhem. From that moment on he practiced for a year with the first team of Vitesse. After his military service he returned to Amsterdam. On 28 April 1957, Pieters Graafland made his international debut for the

against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

(1–1). In 1958, Pieters Graafland left for Feijenoord for the, at that time, record sum of 134,000 guilders. He experienced his greatest success in 1970; his final year as a player. That season, he was initially benched by Feijenoord coach

Ernst Happel Ernst Franz Hermann Happel (29 November 1925 – 14 November 1992) was an Austrian football player and manager. Happel is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, winning both league and domestic cup titles in the Netherlands, Belg ...

as first goalkeeper and replaced by Eddy Treijtel. Happel made him the starter for the Europa Cup final against Celtic. Initially, Pieters Graafland did not want to play this match: "You haven't seen me all season. I'm not doing it," was his initial reaction, allegedly. He changed his decision later and partly thanks to his goalkeeping work, Feyenoord won the final 2–1. It was his last official game in professional football.

Outside football

After his playing career he started a trade in promotional and business gifts. Pieters Graafland's hobby was making amateur film images. Parts of the films he made during his sporting career were regularly broadcast in various sports programs on television. He shot the images of

Jan Janssen Johannes Adrianus "Jan" Janssen (; born 19 May 1940) is a Dutch former professional cyclist (1962–1972). He was world champion and winner of the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España, the first Dutch rider to win either. He rode the Tour de ...

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage bicycle race primarily held in France, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries. Like the other Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España), it consists ...

victory in 1968. In 1999, he was voted the third Dutch goalkeeper, after

Hans van Breukelen Johannes Franciscus "Hans" van Breukelen (; born 4 October 1956) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was the technical director of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) from 2017 until 2018. Van Breuke ...

and

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...

, in the election of European goalkeeper of the twentieth century organized by the

International Federation of Football History & Statistics The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

(IFFHS). Pieters Graafland was a knight in the Order of Oranje-Nassau. In 2017, he and his wife Teddy celebrated their diamond wedding.

Death

He died on 28 April 2020, at the age of 86.

Honours

Ajax *

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 ...

: 1956–57 Feyenoord *

: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1964–65, 1968–69 * KNVB Cup: 1964–65, 1968–69 * European Cup: 1969–70

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pieters Graafland, Eddy 1934 births 2020 deaths Association football goalkeepers Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers AFC Ajax players Feyenoord players Footballers from Amsterdam Eredivisie players UEFA Champions League winning players