Picture : The Goal of the year 1988 at the Euro final in München between Netherlands and Soviet Union – Marco Van Basten’s spectacular volley from an acute angle.

IFFHS – THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYER 1988 and 1989

Ruud Gullit (left) and Paul Breitner (middle) with Marco Van Basten.

Marco Van Basten , the first BEST WORLD FOOTBALLER

PRESENTATION : MARCO VAN BASTEN (NETHERLANDS)

Marco Van Basten, born on 31 October 1964 in Utrecht (Netherlands), began his career with EDO with six years old. He moved to UVV Utrecht and USV Elinkwijk before joining in 1981 the great dutch club Ajax Amsterdam.

Van Basten played there 133 matches from 1981 to 1987 and scored 128 goals ! He became the top goal scorer of the league four seasons (1983/84, 1984/85, 1985/86,1986/87) and won the European Golden Boot with 37 goals in the season 1985/86. He won the UEFA CUP Winners Cup with Ajax Amsterdam in 1987 and scored the winning goal against Leipzig. Ajax and Van Basten won 3 times the Eredivisie Championship (81/82, 82/83, 84/85) and 3 times the KNVB Cup (82/83, 85/86, 86/87).

He joined the AC Milan in 1987 and played there 147 matches, scoring 90 goals until 1995. With Milan, Van Basten won 3 times the Serie A (1987/88, 1991/92, 1992/93), 2 times the Supercoppa italia (1988, 1992), one time the European Super Cup (1989), 2 times the Intercontinental Cup (1989, 1990) and two times the EUROPEAN CUP/UEFA Champions League (1988/89, 1989/90) !

In 1988, 1989 and 1992 , Marco won 3 times the BALLON D’OR as Europe’s Best footballer and was crowned by IFFHS , THE WORLD’S BEST PLAYER 1988 and 1989 (this ranking was created by IFFHS and continued by FIFA at 1991 with the agreement of IFFHS). He won also then the FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992 and the Serie A Golden Boot 1989/90 and 1991/92. He announced in 1995 his retirement as a player after two whole years on sidelines because of series of injuries.

Marco Van Basten made his debut for the Netherlands national team in 1983 and played 58 matches with the team with 24 goals. He won the UEFA Euro 1988 with the Netherlands and finished Top Scorer with 5 goals , also Best Player of the Tournament. It was his greatest success with the national team during his period from 1983 to 1992.

As Player, Marco Van Basten is regarded as one of the greatest and most complete strikers in football. He was nominated by IFFHS as the 10th Best Player of the Century in Europe and the 12th best Century Player in the World !

Manager VAN BASTEN

He retired from football in 1995 and began a career as coach, first with the second team of Ajax Amsterdam (2003/04). On July 2004, he was named new manager of the Netherlands National team ! Under his guidance, the holland team was qualified for the World Cup 2006 but was eliminated in the round of 16 at the World Cup in Germany. He was also manager of the team at the EURO 2008, where he was eliminated in the quarter finals. He finished his career as Netherlands manager with 35 wins in 52 matches.

Marco Van Basten returned to Ajax Amsterdam where he became manager of the club for one season (2008/09) before going to Heerenveen (2012 – 2014) and to AZ Alkmaar (2014-2015). He decided then to take the post of assistant coach of the Netherlands national team with Danny Blind (2015/2016). Since 2016, he took up a position as FIFA technical director .