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Franciscus "Frank" de Boer (Template:IPA-nl) (born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of Eredivisie club Ajax. He is the younger twin brother of Ronald de Boer. He spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax and Barcelona. After retiring from playing he went into management with the Ajax youth team and as assistant to Bert van Marwijk with the Dutch national team. Since 6 December 2010 he is the manager of Ajax. In 2013, De Boer received the Rinus Michels Award for manager of the year in the Netherlands after leading Ajax to their third successive Eredivisie title.
Club career
De Boer began his career as a left back at Ajax before switching to centre back, a position he made his own for many years in the national team. He won both the UEFA Cup and Champions League while at Ajax. However, after signing a 6-year contract extension with Ajax for the 1998–99 season, he and his twin brother Ronald took successful legal action to have it voided. Ajax had agreed orally that if a lucrative offer for one brother came by, he would be released provided the other stayed. However Ajax apparently backed down on that agreement after floating the club on the stock market and pledging to shareholders that it would hold both of the De Boers and build around them a team to recapture the UEFA Champions League.
Both De Boers then joined FC Barcelona for 22 million pounds. However, they were unable to repeat his earlier triumphs and Frank suffered the ignominy of testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone. De Boer was suspended but he was reinstated after a successful appeal. He briefly moved to Galatasaray in the summer of 2003 before joining Rangers in January 2004. He scored a header at 87th minutes against Aberdeen to save his team from losing in the away game. Later on, he scored his second but also his last goal in a 4:0 home win against Dundee United. He made a total of 17 appearances for Rangers, scoring two goals. He left Rangers in 2004 after Euro 2004 along with twin brother Ronald (his teammate at Ajax, Barcelona and Rangers) to play the rest of his football career in Qatar with Al-Rayyan. De Boer announced his retirement from football in April 2006.
International career
Having represented his national team 112 times, he was the most capped player in the history of the Netherlands national team, until Edwin van der Sar surpassed him. De Boer made his debut for the Netherlands in September 1990 against Italy.
De Boer also played for the Netherlands in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, Euro 92, Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, but missed Euro 96 through injury. He is well-remembered for the arching 60-yard pass which allowed Dennis Bergkamp to score the last-minute goal that knocked out Argentina in the quarter-finals of the 1998 World Cup. During Euro 2000, hosted in his home country and Belgium, De Boer reached another semi-final with the Dutch team. De Boer missed an important penalty kick in the penalty shootout in the semi-finals, which led to defeat against Italy. He also missed a penalty during the match.
He ended his international career after an injury forced him to be replaced in a quarter-final game with Sweden at Euro 2004. The injury ruled him out from the semi-final match against Portugal, which the Netherlands lost 1–2.
Since 2007 De Boer had taken up a coaching role at his former club Ajax where he was in charge of the club's youth sector. During the 2010 World Cup, he was the assistant of the Netherlands national football team, with retired player Phillip Cocu.
On 6 December 2010, after the resignation of Martin Jol, De Boer was appointed caretaker manager of Ajax until the winter break. His first game in charge was a UEFA Champions League match against AC Milan at the San Siro, a game they won 2–0 through goals from Demy de Zeeuw and Toby Alderweireld.
He then went on to help Ajax become champions of the Eredivisie for the 2010–11 season in a 3–1 home victory over FC Twente, the champions of the previous year, on the final matchday. Making the first year of his professional coaching career a golden one. "I couldn't have wished for a more beautiful birthday present," said Frank de Boer, as the club's 30th championship was won on his 41st birthday.
In two and a half-year at the helm of Ajax, Frank de Boer already won 3 championships, his eighth in total, when including the 5 he already won as a player. According to reports, De Boer was offered the chance to interview for the Liverpool job but turned it down to remain with Ajax. "I am honoured by the request but I have only just started with Ajax," he said. In 2013, De Boer received the Rinus Michels Award for manager of the year in the Netherlands after leading Ajax to their third successive Eredivisie title.
"Dutch defender Frank de Boer plays a sixty-metre pass, which finds a gap on the right side of the Argentina defence. At an unpromising angle, the ball drops from its high arc towards Holland's player of the age, Dennis Bergkamp, ..." Winner, David (2002). Brilliant orange: the neurotic genius of Dutch soccer. Overlook Press. ISBN978-1-58567-258-5.
"Dutch play on without captain; Frank de Boer's international career likely over because of injury to ankle". The Kitchener. 29 June 2004. p. C.9. {{cite news}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
de Boer in March 2011.
