Piet Keizer

Petrus Johannes "Piet" Keizer (14 June 1943 – 10 February 2017) was a Dutch professional footballer who played as a left winger.

Piet Keizer
Keizer in 1973
Personal information
Full name Petrus Johannes Keizer
Date of birth (1943-06-14)14 June 1943
Place of birth Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date of death 10 February 2017(2017-02-10) (aged 73)
Position(s) Left winger
Youth career
1953–1955 Amstel
1955–1961 Ajax
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1961–1974 Ajax 365 (146)
National team
1962–1974 Netherlands 34 (11)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

As part of the "Total Football" Ajax Amsterdam team of the 1960s and 1970s, Keizer was particularly notable during the successive managerial tenures of Rinus Michels and Stefan Kovacs (1965–1973). He is widely considered one of the greatest players in Dutch football history. Dutch writer Nico Scheepmaker once said: "Cruyff is the best, but Keizer is the better one".[1]

Club career

Keizer totalled 490 official matches for Ajax, scoring 189 goals between 1961 and 1974.[2] He played predominantly on the left-wing and with Ajax won 3 consecutive European Cups (1971, 1972, 1973), having lost the 1969 European Cup final to A.C. Milan. Also with Ajax, he won 6 Eredivisie titles, 5 KNVB Cups, 2 European Super Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 1 Intertoto Cup.

In August 1973, under new Ajax manager George Knobel, the Ajax players voted in a secret ballot for Keizer to be the team's next captain, ahead of Johan Cruyff. Just weeks later Cruyff left Ajax to join Barcelona.[3]

International career

With the Dutch national team, Keizer played 34 times, scoring 11 goals.[4] He made his international debut in an 8-0 friendly win against the Netherlands Antilles in 1962. Keizer was selected by Netherlands manager, Rinus Michels, to play for the Dutch squad during the 1974 FIFA World Cup, but only started in the 0-0 draw against Sweden.[5]

Keizer suddenly retired from football in October 1974, shortly after a row over tactics with Ajax manager, Hans Kraay.[3][4][6]

Personal life

On 13 June 1967, Keizer married Jenny Hoopman.[7] The couple have two sons.[8]

Keizer died after a long battle with lung cancer in February 2017.[9]

Style of play

UEFA website has described Keizer as "the genius on the left wing, the skilfull (sic) flanker, the superb foil to Johan Cruyff".[10]

Cruyff, in his posthumously released autobiography,[11] placed Piet Keizer, as left winger, in his ideal squad.

Honours

Club
Ajax

International
Netherlands

See also

References
  1. Hall of Fame: Piet Keizer
  2. Ajax-icoon Piet Keizer (73) overleden - Ajax (in Dutch)
  3. "Piet Keizer: Ghost goal". Archived from the original on 14 September 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  4. Piet Keizer
  5. 1974 Netherlands World Cup Squad at Planet World Cup. Planetworldcup.com. Retrieved on 9 November 2013
  6. Ajax-icoon Piet Keizer (73) overleden - Telegraaf (in Dutch)
  7. Het paar op weg naar de trouwzaal. gahetna.nl
  8. Ajax-elftal arriveert op Schiphol uit Londen. Piet Keizer met zoontje. gahetna.nl
  9. Niederlande trauern um Keizer - Parool (in Dutch)
  10. The greatest teams of all time: Ajax 1971–73. UEFA.com. Retrieved on 2015-10-31.
  11. Johan Cruyff, My Turn. The autobiography, Macmillan, 2016, p. 273.
  12. 1973: Ajax enjoy early success. UEFA.com. Retrieved on 2015-10-31.
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