Jan de Boer (29 August 1898 – 1 July 1988) was a Dutch

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player, who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

for

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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

and the Netherlands national team.

Club career

Growing up in Amsterdam, De Boer signed up with local club Ajax in 1911, joining the club's youth ranks at 13 years of age. Nine years later, under coach Jack Reynolds, De Boer was able to replace former first team goalkeeper Jan Smit in goal. He would become the club's first-choice goalkeeper for the next thirteen years until 1933, amassing a total of 195 caps for Ajax, making him a member of the club's illustrious Club van 100 of most capped players in the club's history. He made his first appearance for Ajax on 19 September 1920, in the 4–1 away loss to De Spartaan, while his final match for Ajax was contested on 26 March 1933 in the 4–3 away win over

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

. After 1933 De Boer remained active at Ajax, playing as an outfield player for Ajax 6, one of the club's amateur teams playing in the lower leagues of the Netherlands. In 1942 he was made an Honorary member of the club, and from 1963 to 1973 was a member of the club's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

International career

De Boer received several call-ups for the Dutch national team, but was only capped a total of five times between 1923 and 1924. He was a part of the Dutch Olympic football team at both the

1924 Summer Olympics The 1924 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the VIII Olympiad () and officially branded as Paris 1924, were an international multi-sport event held in Paris, France. The opening ceremony was held on 5 July, but some competitions had al ...

and the

1928 Summer Olympics The 1928 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the IX Olympiad (), was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated from 28 July to 12 August 1928 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam had previously bid for ...

but did not make any appearances for the team at either of the games. He was the back-up goalkeeper for the Netherlands national team behind Gejus van der Meulen until his retirement from the national team in 1932.

Business career

Outside of his football career, De Boer was responsible for the Ajax brand of

fire extinguishers A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which h ...

, which he helped develop that were later marketed and sold worldwide.

Honours

;

Dutch championship (2): 1930–31, 1931–32

References

External links

Jan de Boer statistics
at Voetbalstats.nl {{DEFAULTSORT:Boer, Jan de (footballer) 1898 births 1988 deaths Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Footballers at the 1924 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1928 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for the Netherlands Netherlands men's international footballers AFC Ajax players 20th-century Dutch sportsmen