Martin Jol

Jol was born in The Hague. He started his playing career with an amateur team before joining the local professional side ADO Den Haag. He turned professional with Den Haag in 1973. He won the 1975 Dutch Cup with the team defeating Twente. He played in the Bundesliga for the 1978–79 season with Bayern Munich before returning to the Dutch Eredivisie to play for Twente in 1979. While with Twente, he won his first cap for the Netherlands national football team in October 1980. Jol moved to England in 1981, joining West Bromwich Albion. He appeared in the semi-finals of both domestic cup competitions in 1981–82. He signed for Coventry City in 1984 but wanted to leave the club after manager Bobby Gould was asked to leave. Jol returned to Den Haag in 1985, and won the 1985 Dutch Footballer of the Year award in the Eerste Divisie league. At international level, Jol won ten schoolboy caps, 20 'B' caps, 12 Under-21 caps and 12 Under-23 caps. He also made three appearances for the senior team, and competed at the 1980 Mundialito held in Uruguay.

Early career in the Netherlands

Jol's coaching career began in 1991 when he took over at the amateur side ADO Den Haag and took them to the highest local amateur division. Jol then moved to the leading local amateur side Scheveningen for one season, where he won the national non-league championship. Jol then spent two years as manager at the professional Eredivisie side Roda JC from the town of Kerkrade, during which time he won the Dutch Cup in 1997, Roda's first trophy for 30 years. Between 1998 and 2004, Jol managed the Dutch professional team RKC Waalwijk. He started there in November with only three points at the bottom of the table. He saved them from relegation in their first year and was in contention for European football in the years after. He was honoured with the Dutch Football Writers Coach of the Year 2001 and with the Dutch Players and Coaches Coach of the Year 2002 awards.

Tottenham Hotspur

RKC Waalwijk denied reports in June 2004 that Jol was about to become assistant manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Several days later, however, Jol was given the job under Tottenham's new coach, Jacques Santini, having been recruited by Tottenham's sporting director Frank Arnesen. Santini resigned from the manager's job after just 13 games, and on 8 November 2004, Jol was confirmed as his replacement. In his first season in charge, Jol improved their league fortunes and scrapped the defensive nature of play that Santini had instilled. After winning five league…

Player

ADO Den Haag

Eerste Divisie: 1985–86 KNVB Cup: 1974–75 Individual

Player of the year, KNVB second division (Eerste Divisie) 1985

Manager

SVV Scheveningen

Overall Amateur League National Champion season 1995/1996 Roda JC

KNVB Cup: 1996–97 Ajax

KNVB Cup: 2009–10 Al Ahly

Egyptian Premier League: 2015–16 Individual

Eredivisie Manager of the Year: 2000–01 Premier League Manager of the Month: December 2004