AZ Alkmaar

'Welcome to AZ Alkmaar Thread for Football Manager 2014

AZ was founded on 10 May 1967 as AZ '67, the result of a merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek. FC Zaanstreek was formed in 1964, continuing the professional adventure of the Kooger Football Club (KFC). KFC had been founded in 1910, had nearly become National Champion in 1934 through a narrow loss to Ajax in the finals, and had been professional since 1955.

In 1964, the brothers Cees and Klaas Molenaar, former players for KFC and owners of a growing appliance store chain, sought to create a powerful football team in the Zaanstreek by merging the two local professional teams (KFC and ZFC). After this merger failed, they successfully merged KFC (now "FC Zaanstreek") with Alkmaar '54, though the team would be located in Alkmaar. Partially through the hiring of expensive foreign players, the new club soon acquired large debts. Fortunately in 1972 the brothers Molenaar bailed it out and invested heavily in the club, to the point that AZ '67 were successful in the late seventies and early eighties, playing European football in five of the six seasons from 1977 to 1982 and winning the Dutch Cup three times over that period.

After four near-misses, AZ finally became Dutch champions in 1981. They were the only team other than the "big three" (Ajax, Feyenoord, and PSV) to do so in a period stretching from 1965 to 2009, when AZ repeated as champions. They won the 1980–81 season with overwhelming power, winning 27 of 34 matches while losing only one, and scoring 101 goals while allowing only 30. The same season they reached the final of the UEFA Cup, losing 4:5 on aggregate to Ipswich Town. The next year in the UEFA Champions League they lost in the second round 2:3 on aggregate to Liverpool. Georg Keßler was AZ's manager over most of these years (1978–1982), while star players included Kees Kist, Jan Peters, Hugo Hovenkamp, John Metgod and Kristen Nygaard.

Things went downhill after Klaas Molenaar left the club in 1985 (Cees had died in 1979). In 1988, AZ were even relegated from the Eredivisie.

The involvement of businessman Dirk Scheringa in the mid-'90s marked the revival of the club. AZ returned to the Eredivisie in 1998. In 2004–05, they reappeared in the UEFA Cup tournament, advancing to the semi-finals. The second leg of these semis against Sporting CP had a heart-breaking ending, when Sporting scored in the 122nd minute (2 minutes into stoppage time) to reach an aggregate tie of 4:4, but to win on away goals. AZ also finished third in the Eredivisie that season, again qualifying for the UEFA Cup, after spending most of the season in the top two spots. These were remarkable achievements for a small club like AZ, which does not have a similar fanbase as their Eredivisie and European rivals: AZ's home ground until the 2006-07 season, the Alkmaarderhout, had a spectator capacity of 8,390.

In the summer of 2006, the club moved to a new 17,000 capacity stadium AZ Stadion.Club's chairman Dirk Scheringa stated in 2007 that he wished to expand the stadium capacity to 40,000 by 2010.Ultimately, the club began plans to expand the stadium to at least 30,000 seats by 2011–12.

AZ had a very good 2006–07 season, which ended, however, in disaster. Going into the last game of the 2006–07 season, AZ led PSV and Ajax by goal-differential for the Eredivisie championship, but ended up third after losing this last match against bottom-dweller Excelsior, playing with 10 men for 80 minutes. Further setbacks followed when AZ lost the KNVB Cup finals to Ajax, 8–7 in penalty kicks after a drawn game, and also lost to Ajax over two playoff games for the Champions League. After the season, key players like Tim de Cler, Danny Koevermans, and Shota Arveladze left the team.

Ronald Koeman, succeeded Louis van Gaal after the 2008–09 season. Van Gaal had already left for Bayern Munich after becoming league champions with AZ. Koeman became the manager for AZ on 17 May 2009.On 5 December 2009 AZ announced that Koeman no longer was in charge of AZ, after losing 7 of the first 16 games in the Dutch competition.Former Zenit St. Petersburg manager Dick Advocaat took over for the rest of the season. Under his lead, some good results were achieved and European football was secured. For the 2010–2011 season, Gertjan Verbeek, coming from Heracles Almelo, will be the new manager.

Club Information

Full Name :Alkmaar Zaanstreek

Nickname:The Cheese Farmers

Founded:10 May 1967; 46 years ago

Chairman:René Neelissen

Manager:Dick Advocaat

Major rivals: Ajax Amsterdam

Affiliated Clubs:Telstar

Club legends:Kees Kist

Icons:Barry van Galen, Co Adriaanse, Louis van Gaal

Media Prediction: 5th

Club Capitan:Maarten Martens

Vice Capitan: Dirk Marcellis

Stadium and Facilities

Name: AFAS Stadion Alkmaar

Capacity17,000

Pitch: Grass

Under Soil Heating: Yes

Roof :No

Pitch Dimentions: Length 102 yards, width: 65

Max Pitch dimentions: Length 109 with :72

Pitch Condition: Very Good

corporate Facilities: Top corporate facilities

training Facilities : Superb training Facilities

youth training Facilities: Superb Facilities

youth recruitment Established youth recruitment

junior coaching: good junior coaching system.

First Team Squad Analysis

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii267/ace25/az_zps43136015.jpg' alt='az_zps43136015.jpg'>

Now for the squad run down.

Goalkeepers:

Esteban first choice goalkeeper been here sine 2010-11 Season should do job.

Yves De Winter Good Back up Keeper Looks Decent.

Erik Heijblok he getting on a bit but could be ok as a third choice.

Defenders

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii267/ace25/AZ_SquadPlayers_zps4e38bb80.png' alt='AZ_SquadPlayers_zps4e38bb80.png'>

Donny Gorter - Been here for two season now should be first choice winger or full back

Dirk Marcellis - The club captain should be your regular at hart of your defence

Etienne Reijnen - Should do job as cover for you.

Jonas Heymans - Youngster Could be one your top stars in many season to come.

Nick Viergever - good player looks decent.

Jan Wuytens - probably your second choice center half.

Mattias Johansson - think he would be your second choice left back but could do job as winger.

Jeffrey Gouweleeuw - think could be dark horse in your team.

midfielders

Viktor Elm he is probably your best player in the midfield.

Nemanja Gudelj Serbian player with Bags of talent.

Markus Henriksen he probably going to be one them players you love to hate I think.

Maarten Martens he is the club captain and can see why brilliant player.

Roy Beerens he most likely be your first choice wide midfielder.

Celso Ortiz South American player with fairly good pace should do job.

Willie Overtoom One Back up players looks ok.

Willie Overtoom One Back up players looks ok.

Forwards

Aron Jóhannsson The American player probably your best forward.

Eli Babalj I don't really no much about this player as never herd of him before so hard to judge.

Viktor Elm personally I think his best position is as a defensive midfielder

Tactical Analysis

AZ Alkmaar normally play a 4 3 3 formation like so

I am going to try resurrect the old Bayern Munich 1990 Christmas tree formation that they used to play in the early 90's like so

http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii267/ace25/untitled_zpsf94651fd.png' alt='untitled_zpsf94651fd.png'>

reasons why should you play as Az

A solid squad which is easily good enough to compete in the top half Dutch league.

A good youth system

European Football Yes Qualifying but should get threw

try beat ajax and Feyenoord, Psv,