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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...
player and manager.
Playing career
Club
Fafié made his debut for hometown club
Feijenoord
Feijenoord () is a borough of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, south of the Nieuwe Maas. Feyenoord football club was formed there, but now play in the neighbouring township of IJsselmonde.
It was a centre of shipbuilding in the nineteenth century, ...
against
Fortuna '54 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 Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...
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.
Club ...
was sacked and ended up third in the
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...
in both his seasons at the helm.
[ He later managed a number of teams throughout Europe, including ]AEK Athens
A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens.
Establishe ...
, AA Gent, FC Utrecht
Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...
and Go Ahead Eagles
The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...
where he had succeeded the dismissed Henk Ten Cate
Hendrik Willem ten Cate (born 9 December 1954) is a Dutch football coach and former 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. He then serve ...
.
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
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
to Spanish giants Real Madrid
Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...
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
Men's association football fullbacks
Dutch men's 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
20th-century Dutch sportsmen
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