A Goalkeeping Guru: Frans Hoek Discusses Working With Cruyff, van Gaal, and the Future of the Position
A Goalkeeping Guru: Frans Hoek Discusses Working With Cruyff, van Gaal, and the Future of the Position Having mentored some of the greatest goalkeepers in the game, Frans Hoek is an authority figure not just for the position, but for the sport as a whole. We sit down with the legendary coach to discuss his love for education, working with some of the brightest minds in the sport’s history, and why he prefers the term ‘goalplayer’ to goalkeeper. Frans Hoek might not be a household name in the football world, but keen-eyed fans would recognize his face as part of some of the greatest clubs and moments in the history of the sport.
The goalkeeping coach has had stints with Manchester United , Bayern Munich and the Dutch national team, having overseen multiple iconic matches from the touchline. From Tim Krul’s famous heroics against Costa Rica in the 2014 World Cup to the Red Devils’ dramatic FA Cup win in 2016, he has seen it all. Those three teams simply represent a small part of Hoek’s incredible career, which has spanned Turkey, Poland, Spain, Saudi Arabia, and even the United States.
Now 69, the Dutchman has been coaching for 40 years and very few personalities in the game boast the same longevity and effectiveness. His revolutionary and innovative ideas hide behind a warm smile, which mirrors his humble background and upbringing Hoorn, a province of North Holland. The Origins of a Goalkeeping Guru By Bert Verhoeff for Anefo, Nationaal Archief, Den Haag, Rijksfotoarchief: Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Fotopersbureau Hoek’s unorthodox journey in the sport didn’t even begin with football in the first place — it wasn’t even in his top two sports.
A judo blackbelt, Hoek devoted most of his energy towards the martial art between the ages of 5 to 12, and in high school, he took up volleyball, which he calls his “second love. ” And while football was lower on Hoek’s priority list, the Netherlands’ bustling culture around the sport nevertheless made it unavoidable, and he was eventually drawn to its gravitational pull. “In Holland, everybody played football on the streets,” Hoek said.
“All your friends play it. So when I was 10, I went to a club and the funny thing was, I played in goal and in the outfield. I liked the goal better because it was similar to judo.
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