Wim Suurbier

Wim Suurbier

Suurbier in 1978
Personal information
Full name	Wilhelmus Lourens Johannes Suurbier
Date of birth	(1945-01-16)16 January 1945
Place of birth	Eindhoven, Netherlands
Date of death	12 July 2020(2020-07-12) (aged 75)
Place of death	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position	Right back
Youth career
	Ajax
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1964–1977	Ajax	392	(16)
1977–1978	Schalke 04	12	(0)
1978–1979	Metz	24	(0)
1979–1981	Los Angeles Aztecs	73	(3)
1980–1981	→ Sparta Rotterdam (loan)	11	(1)
1982	San Jose Earthquakes	23	(0)
1982	Tung Sing	4	(0)
1982–1983	Golden Bay Earthquakes (indoor)	28	(0)
1986–1987	Tampa Bay Rowdies (indoor)	10	(0)
Total		577	(20)
International career
1966–1978[1]	Netherlands	60	(3)
Managerial career
1983	Golden Bay Earthquakes (assistant)
1984	Tulsa Roughnecks
1986	Los Angeles Heat
1986–1987	Tampa Bay Rowdies
1988	Fort Lauderdale Strikers
1989	Miami Sharks
1994	St. Petersburg Kickers
2017	Kerala Blasters (assistant)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Netherlands FIFA World Cup Runner-up 1974 West Germany Runner-up 1978 Argentina European Championship 1976 Yugoslavia
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Wilhelmus Lourens Johannes Suurbier (Dutch pronunciation: [ʋɪm ˈsyːrbiːr]; 16 January 1945 – 12 July 2020) was a Dutch professional footballer and among others assistant coach of the Albania national team. He played as a right back and was part of the Netherlands national team and AFC Ajax teams of the 1970s.[2]

Suurbier was born in Eindhoven, but moved to Amsterdam with his family at a young age.[3] He made his debut for Ajax Amsterdam when he was 19 and played with them for 13 years, all throughout the most successful era until 1977 when he was 32 years old.[3] He played more than 500 official matches for Ajax and is part of the informal Club van 100 at the club.[3] Usually a right back, Suurbier was renowned for his pace and stamina.[4] Suurbier was a big part of the 70's "total football" team the "Twelve Apostles" of Ajax Amsterdam led by Johan Cruijff, which lifted the UEFA European Cup three times in a row. In 1977, he moved to FC Schalke 04 for one season.[5]

In 1979, Suurbier transferred to the Los Angeles Aztecs of the North American Soccer League.[2] He played three seasons in Los Angeles before moving to the San Jose Earthquakes for the 1982 season.[2] In the fall of 1982, the team was renamed the Golden Bay Earthquakes and entered the Major Indoor Soccer League. He retired at the end of the season to become an assistant coach with the Earthquakes. He later resumed his playing career as a player-coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies in the American Indoor Soccer Association.

Suurbier played 60 matches and scored three goals for the Netherlands national team from 1966 to 1978.[2] He played in both the 1974 and 1978 World Cups[6] where the Dutch finished second, and also the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship.

In 1983, Suurbier was an assistant coach with the Golden Bay Earthquakes.[7] In 1984, the Tulsa Roughnecks of the North American Soccer League hired Suurbier as head coach.[8] He took the team to a 10–14 record.[9] In 1986, he became the head coach of the Los Angeles Heat of the Western Soccer League.[10] In the fall of 1986, he was hired by the Tampa Bay Rowdies as the team entered the American Indoor Soccer Association. In November 1987, Suurbier became the head coach of the newly established Fort Lauderdale Strikers in preparation of the team's first season in 1988.[11] That season, the Strikers finished and went to the American Soccer League championship before falling to the Washington Diplomats. In January 1989, Suurbier resigned as coach of the Strikers.[12] In February 1989, he was named the new head coach of the Miami Sharks.[13] After starting the season at 2–3, the Sharks fired Suurbier.[14] In 1994, he became the head coach of the St. Petersburg Kickers.[15] In 1999 Suurbier joined Al Etehad (Qatar) as an assistant coach to Rene Meulensteen. Together they won the Arab Cup and H.H. Apparent Cup that season. The year after they joined Al Sadd (Qatar) and in season 2000–01 they won the Emir cup. From 2001 to 2002 Suurbier worked for Heerenveen as an assistant for the U-20 squad. In 2017, he was a part of the coaching staff for the pre-season preparations of the Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters in Spain, where he served as a mentor to the Blasters' head coach René Meulensteen during the preseason.[16]

In May 2020, it was reported that Suurbier was in intensive care after having suffered a "major" intracerebral haemorrhage.[17] He died on 12 July 2020.[18]

When playing in the United States, Suurbier befriended George Best, and called Best's lifestyle a "bit boring".[19]

Suurbier was known for his humor and practical jokes,[3] most notably during the 1974 FIFA World Cup when he and Ruud Krol (nicknamed Snabbel and Babbel)[3] kept making fun of Ruud Geels, much to the frustration of the latter.[19]

Suurbier married Maya Verkaart in 1967 and divorced in the 1980s; he had one daughter from this marriage.[20]

Appearances and goals by national team and year[21]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Netherlands	1966	2	0
	1967	5	2
	1968	3	0
	1969	4	0
	1970	2	0
	1971	2	1
	1972	1	0
	1973	6	0
	1974	12	0
	1975	6	0
	1976	4	0
	1977	6	0
	1978	7	0
Total		60	3

Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Suurbier goal. List of international goals scored by Wim Suurbier[21]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 May 1967	Népstadion, Budapest, Hungary	Hungary	1–2	1–2	UEFA Euro 1968 qualification
2	4 October 1967	Københavns Idrætspark, Copenhagen, Denmark	Denmark	1–3	2–3	UEFA Euro 1968 qualification
3	24 February 1971	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Luxembourg	6–0	6–0	UEFA Euro 1972 qualification

Ajax[3]

• Eredivisie: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1976–77[22]
• KNVB Cup: 1966–67, 1969-1970, 1970–71, 1971–72
• European Cup: 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73; runner-up: 1968-69
• European Super Cup: 1972, 1973
• Intercontinental Cup: 1972

Netherlands

• FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1974[23], 1978[24]
• UEFA Euro third place: 1976[25]
• Tournoi de Paris: 1978[26]

Individual

• Sport Ideal European XI: 1972,[27] 1974[28]

• Wim Suurbier at National-Football-Teams.com
• `Suurbier Appreciated`
• 1974 FIFA World Cup final appearance
• 1978 FIFA World Cup final appearance
• 1976 Euro 3rd Place winners
• NASL/MISL stats
• Profile – FC Metz