John van 't Schip

Johannes Nicolaas "John" van 't Schip (born 30 December 1963) is a Canadian - Dutch football manager and former player who played as a winger, and is the current manager of Eredivisie club Ajax. Born in Canada, he played for the Netherlands national team for nine years. He spent his club career with Ajax, where they won four Eredivisie titles, a UEFA Cup and a European Cup Winners Cup, as well as Genoa. He was also a member of the Dutch side which won the 1988 European Championships.

Van 't Schip started his managerial career at the Ajax Youth Academy, and his first senior managerial gig was with Twente. He previously was the manager of PEC Zwolle in his native Netherlands and Melbourne City in Australia among others. He managed Greece from 2019 to 2021. He was then appointed as the manager of Ajax in 2023.

Early life
Van 't Schip was born in Fort St. John, British Columbia, and was raised in Powell River, British Columbia, where he grew up playing youth football in the small community before his family moved back to the Netherlands in 1972.

Club career
Van 't Schip began his football journey at NFC where he played for four years. He then began his professional career at Ajax in its youth academy. Debuting for the first team on the sixth of December 1981 in a 4–1 win against Haarlem, he spent the next eleven seasons with the club. During this period, he won the Eredivisie in 1982, 1983, 1985 and 1990, as well as the KNVB Beker in 1983, 1986 and 1987. He also helped Ajax win the 1987 European Cup Winners' Cup and the 1992 UEFA Cup. After Ajax's UEFA Cup victory, he was transferred to Italian team Genoa, where he played four seasons before ending his career. He helped the club to lift the 1996 Anglo-Italian Cup.

International career
On the international level, Van 't Schip, a member of the Dutch squad at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship, was capped 41 times and scored two goals for the Dutch national team. His debut came against Scotland in April 1986, and his final match was a Euro qualifying match against Belarus in June 1995. Van 't Schip featured in the victorious Euro 1988 squad, as well as 1990 FIFA World Cup and Euro 1992 tournaments.

Coaching career
After retiring, Van 't Schip became a youth coach for Ajax and manager for Twente. From August 2004 he assisted Marco van Basten in coaching the Dutch national team, until Van Basten left the position of head coach following Euro 2008. Van 't Schip followed Van Basten to Ajax, becoming assistant coach with Rob Witschge, for the 2008–09 season. On 6 May 2009, after Marco van Basten's resignation, he was named as the interim head coach of Ajax, and coached the club till the end of the season.

Melbourne Heart
He was signed by Australian A-League club Melbourne Heart on 12 October 2009, to be their inaugural coach for the 2010–11 season. On 1 February 2012, Van 't Schip announced that he would be leaving the Melbourne Heart at the end of the 2011–12 season, citing personal reasons for his decision. Van't Schip took Heart to their first finals appearance in their second season. Van 't Schip had a major role in the development of Melbourne Heart.

Guadalajara
In April 2012, Guadalajara announced, through its Twitter account, that Van 't Schip would be the new coach of the club. Van 't Schip was recommended by his fellow countryman Johan Cruyff, who was working at that moment on a project with the club. Van 't Schip's first competitive game was against Toluca, in which the Chivas lost 2–1.

Van 't Schip was relieved of his duties as coach of Chivas a few days before the start of the Clausura 2013 Season. He was replaced by former Chivas coach Benjamin Galindo.

Return to Melbourne City
On 30 December 2013, following 17 winless games by Melbourne Heart and the early termination of John Aloisi's contract, Melbourne Heart re-appointed Van 't Schip as head coach until the end of the season.

On 19 March 2014, after eleven matches coaching the club, including a seven-match unbeaten run, Van 't Schip signed a three-year contract with the club (who would be renamed Melbourne City in June 2014), through to the end of the 2016–17 season.

On 3 January 2017, Van 't Schip resigned as Melbourne City manager to return to the Netherlands to help care for his terminally-ill father.

Greece
In July 2019, he was hired as coach of Greece. On 26 November 2021, Van 't Schip resigned.

Return to Ajax
On 30 October 2023, Van 't Schip was appointed as head coach of Ajax until the end of the 2023–24 season.

Personal life
In addition to his native Dutch, Van 't Schip can also speak English, Spanish and Italian. His mother in law is Dutch singer and actress Willeke Alberti.

Coaching record

 * 1.Includes League, Liguilla, Copa MX and CONCACAF Champions League.

Club
Ajax
 * Eredivisie: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1989–90
 * KNVB Cup: 1982–83, 1985–86, 1986–87
 * UEFA Cup: 1991–92
 * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1986–87

Genoa
 * Anglo-Italian Cup: 1995–96

International
Netherlands
 * UEFA European Championship: 1988

Manager
Melbourne City
 * FFA Cup: 2016