Marcel Keizer (born 15 January 1969), a Dutch

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 ...

coach and former player, was most recently the manager of Saudi Pro League side Al Shabab. His playing career as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

began at

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 was mainly spent at Cambuur, and he had brief spells managing both clubs. He won a Taça da Liga and

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

in 2019 at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, and had two spells at Al Jazira, winning the UAE Pro League in 2021.

Coaching career

Keizer was technical coach of Eerste Divisie side Emmen. He was also the coach of

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

for two seasons and took the reins at Cambuur in February 2016. In June 2016, he left Cambuur and became coach of Jong Ajax. On 17 June 2017, Keizer became the new coach of

on a two-year contract, after managing the youth side in the previous season, thus replacing the

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

-bound Peter Bosz. After 17 games, Ajax were second in the Eredivisie, ranking with five points behind the leaders PSV, and Keizer was fired on 21 December 2017, after losing a cup match on penalties against Twente. He received his first foreign job on 2 June 2018, replacing retired compatriot Henk ten Cate at Al Jazira Club of the UAE Pro-League. On 8 November the same year, he was allowed to resign to take the job at

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

, with his club unbeaten and in second place at the time. Keizer signed for the

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

-based club on a contract until 2021. On his debut on 24 November, they won 4–1 against Lusitano in the fourth round of the

, and in his first

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

match on 3 December, the club won 3–1 against Rio Ave. Sporting completed a cup double in Keizer's first season, seizing both the Taça da Liga and Taça de Portugal in penalty shootout wins against

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

. He was the first foreign manager to win the latter tournament since fellow Dutchman Co Adriaanse of Porto in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

. He left Sporting on 3 September 2019. On 13 October 2019, Keizer returned to Al Jazira on a two-year contract, after compatriot Jurgen Streppel left the

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi is the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. The city is the seat of the Abu Dhabi Central Capital District, the capital city of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the UAE's List of cities in the United Arab Emirates, second-most popu ...

-based club. On 11 May 2021, he led the club to their third league title after beating Khor Fakkan 3–1; it was his first league title in his career. Keizer would enter 2022 with a successful 5–3 victory on penalty shootout against Shabab Al Ahli and clinching Al Jazira their first super cup title. On 27 July 2023, Keizer was appointed as manager of Saudi Pro League side Al Shabab. On 6 September 2023, it was announced that Keizer and Al-Shabab agreed to end his contract mutually.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 2018–19 * Taça da Liga: 2018–19 Al Jazira * UAE Pro League: 2020–21 * UAE Super Cup:

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keizer, Marcel 1969 births Living people Footballers from Haarlemmermeer Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players AFC Ajax players SC Cambuur players De Graafschap players FC Emmen players Dutch football managers SC Telstar managers FC Emmen managers SC Cambuur managers Jong Ajax managers AFC Ajax managers Eredivisie managers Dutch expatriate football managers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Portugal Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Al Jazira Club managers Sporting CP managers Al Shabab FC (Riyadh) managers UAE Pro League managers Primeira Liga managers Saudi Pro League managers VVSB managers 20th-century Dutch sportsmen