Jürgen Arnoldus Wilhelmus Dirkx (born 15 August 1975), known as Jürgen Dirkx, is a Dutch former professional footballer. During his career, he played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for PSV and Fortuna Sittard. After retiring at the age of 27, he became a manager. Currently he is assistant manager of Jong PSV.

Club career

Dirkx started his footballing career at local club Reusel Sport, and also played in the youth teams of FC Eindhoven before moving to PSV. He made his first team debut in the

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 ...

against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

in September 1994. After one season, in which he made 19

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 ...

appearances and scored one goal, he was loaned to fellow Eredivisie side Fortuna Sittard. One year later, Fortuna signed him on a permanent basis. In November 1998, Dirkx made an immediate return to PSV, where he was a regular for the rest of the season. As a result of injuries and strong competition for his position, Dirkx appeared more sparingly in the next two seasons. In the 1999–2000 season, he contributed 13 appearances (two goals) as PSV became Eredivisie champions. In the 2000–01 season, he made five appearances (no goals), with PSV once again winning the title. In August 2001, Dirkx again moved to Fortuna Sittard on loan. He made 23 appearances in a season which ended in relegation to the Eerste Divisie. Dirkx then returned to PSV, making two appearances during the 2002–03 season. At the end of the season, Dirkx was not offered a new contract by PSV, which caused his retirement from professional football at the age of 27.

International career

Dirkx won 17 caps (no goals) for the Netherlands national under-18 football team, and nine caps (no goals) for the under-21 team. He was part of the Netherlands squad which appeared at the final stages of the

1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, which spanned two years (1996–98), had 46 entrants. Before the quarter-finals stage, Romania national under-21 football team, Romania were chosen as the hosts of the final stages, consisting of four ...

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, playing in all three matches as the Netherlands finished in fourth place.

Managerial career

In 2006, Dirkx started his managerial career at PSV, as youth coach and assistant manager of Jong PSV. In 2009, he was appointed manager of amateur club RKVV Dommelen, who were competing in the Vierde Klasse. He resigned his position in January 2010, and later that year became manager of Eerste Klasse side VV Geldrop. From March 2012, he was also assistant manager at FC Eindhoven. Dirkx left Geldrop at the end of the 2011–12 season. During the 2012–13 season, he managed Topklasse club VV UNA, while continuing to serve as assistant manager of FC Eindhoven. At the end of the season, Dirkx left both UNA and FC Eindhoven to return to PSV, where he was appointed youth coach. Since 2014, he is assistant manager of Jong PSV.

Honours

PSV *

: 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2002–03 * Johan Cruijff Schaal:

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dirkx, Jurgen 1975 births Living people People from Reusel-De Mierden Dutch men's footballers Footballers from North Brabant Men's association football central defenders Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Eredivisie players PSV Eindhoven players Fortuna Sittard players Dutch football managers VV UNA managers PSV Eindhoven non-playing staff FC Eindhoven non-playing staff