Frank Rijkaard

Franklin Edmundo Rijkaard (born September 30, 1962 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager and former player. Rijkaard has played for AFC Ajax, Real Zaragoza and AC Milan, and represented his national side 73 times, scoring 10 goals. Since 2003 he has been the manager of FC Barcelona. His mother is Dutch and his father is Afro-Surinamese.
His five seasons at Milan made him a legend. It was coach Arrigo Sacchi who saw Rijkaard as playing a pivotal role at Milan and transformed the central defender into a world class holding midfielder, where the Dutchman's aggressive style would go on to influence the likes of Patrick Vieira to replicate in future years. Playing alongside fellow country-men Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit, Rijkaard won the European Cup twice (in 1989 against Steaua Bucharest and 1990, against Benfica) and the domestic Serie A championship twice with the Italian side. He was also believed to have apologized to Cruijff while at Milan.

Rijkaard's temperament though, was still in question, as became evident when he spat multiple times on Rudi Völler during the 1990 FIFA World Cup, which Holland entered as favourites. Holland went on to lose the match, fitting for a tournament that was marred by a pre-tournament coach change and an underperforming squad. Rijkaard's spitting on Rudi Völler earned him the media nickname of "the llama".

Managerial career
KNVB (1998-2000)

Rijkaard's coaching career began when he was appointed manager of the Netherlands national football team in 1998. He had previously served as an assistant coach, along with Johan Neeskens and Ronald Koeman under the managerial tenure of Guus Hiddink. At the time, he was not taken seriously as a manager because of his inexperience, but he was able to guide his national side to the Euro 2000 semi-finals. The Netherlands played some of the best football of the tournament but lost their semi-final match to Italy on penalties, and Rijkaard resigned immediately.

Sparta Rotterdam (2001-2002)

During the 2001-02 season, he became manager of Sparta Rotterdam in the Dutch Eredivisie, the oldest professional team in Holland. Rijkaard enjoyed the down-to-earth atmosphere, though the club were not financially strong.[3] Under his leadership, the club was relegated to the first division for the first time in its history, and he was fired as a consequence.

FC Barcelona (2003-present)

Rijkaard was not out of a coaching role for long, and less than a year after leaving Sparta Rotterdam, he was appointed manager of FC Barcelona for the 2003-04 season. The season would prove to be a watershed for the club, but not without initial instability. Rijkaard arrived at the club as it entered a new phase, having elected a new President in Joan Laporta and a new managerial board, but with fans unhappy that Laporta had let English midfielder David Beckham snub the chance to join the club. For Rijkaard, the team he inherited, with the exception of new superstar signing Ronaldinho (who was the club's second choice after Beckham), also consisted of many underachieving players from the old guard and era that failed to meet the club and its fans' demands to match arch rival Real Madrid's success in the early 2000s, having not won a trophy since 1999.

Rijkaard had a disappointing start at Barcelona that saw some sections of the club's fans call for his resignation, and he drew flak from the media when the team lost to Real Madrid in December 2003. Rijkaard's resilience won through and from 2004 onwards, he achieved a massive turnaround, as the team went from strength to strength. Barcelona finished runners-up in La Liga in 2003-04, having been close to the relegation zone at one point in the earlier stages of the season. Rijkaard then took Barcelona to the next level as he phased out the old guard and rebuilt a new look side around Ronaldinho, with players like Deco, Samuel Eto'o and Edmilson. He eventually succeeded in turning around the fortunes of the club, with the strong support of Laporta, and within the next couple of years finally managed to win La Liga both in 2004-05 and in 2005-06.

He became the first Barcelona coach to have won twice at Real Madrid's stadium Santiago Bernabéu, an achievement which even successful managers like Johan Cruijff, Louis van Gaal and Luis Aragonés were unable to accomplish. His no nonsense policy on and off the field, and the sparkling football played by his team, have won him many plaudits and Rijkaard was among the five nominated coaches for UEFA's Team of the Year 2005. On 8 March 2006 he was also honoured by UEFA for his contributions to the European Cup Competition throughout his career as player and manager.

On May 17, 2006, Rijkaard managed Barcelona to win the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final 2-1 against Arsenal FC, overcoming a 1-0 deficit which lasted until the final stages of the game, despite having a man advantage after an early red card for Arsenal. His late tactical substitutions during the game proved the decisive factor, as the introduction of Henrik Larsson and Juliano Belletti contributed directly to Barcelona's two goals. The win made him the only fifth individual to have won the European Cup both as a player and as a manager, alongside Miguel Muñoz, Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, and Carlo Ancelotti.

He is currently the only black manager in La Liga, the first to manage a European national team and the only one to win the UEFA Champions League.

Coaching philosophy and style

As a coach, Frank Rijkaard's essential philosophy is to guide his team towards playing attack-minded football as a cohesive unit. In doing this, he believes a team can achieve the dual objectives of winning games and ensuring the audience's enjoyment of the spectacle. This follows in the best coaching traditions of Rijkaard's countrymen and forebears Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. In this light, it is notable that Michels coached both Cruyff and Rijkaard during their respective participations with the Dutch national team, and that Cruyff himself went on to coach Rijkaard. Nonetheless, Rijkaard believes in working within a contemporary football context and is not out to imitate the styles and tactics of past masters. In his own words:
“ ...you gain many impressions from the past. You still have it in your mind when you become a coach, and if something happens you can recall how it was dealt with. But I strongly believe that you cannot copy anyone. The decisions that a great coach made years ago will not necessarily work today. ”

Rijkaard has evidently learned to curb the quick temper of his playing days and is often a portrait of calm and stability in training and along the touchline. He rarely courts controversy in the media and is more apt now to promote a positive environment and let his team's play speak for itself when faced with intense rivalry or criticism.

The tactics used during his tenure as manager of FC Barcelona best exemplify Frank Rijkaard's commitment to playing stylish attacking football. During the team's 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 campaigns, the coach frequently fielded a 4-1-2-2-1 formation, a system which encouraged the creativity of the players in the front third of the field and created optimal interplay between the midfielders and forwards during attacks. Within this system the four defenders also tended to play in a relatively high position on the pitch to support the midfield which frequently advanced to participate in the attack. The team generally focuses on maintaining possession in the opponents' half of the field, applying pressure in order to force the opposition to make errors in defense and offensive counter-attacking.

With regards to man-management and motivation, Rijkaard rejects the notion of a "star system" and promotes the idea that every one of his players is a valuable member of the team. He rarely praises one individual over another in the squad, although he has been known to acknowledge the outstanding contributions of a player within the context of a team performance.

Playing honours

* Ajax:

Dutch League 1982, 1983, 1985, 1994, 1995
Dutch Super Cup 1993, 1994
KNVB Cup 1983, 1986, 1987
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup 1987
UEFA Champions League 1995



* AC Milan:

Italian League 1992, 1993
Italian Super Cup 1988, 1992
European Cup (now called: UEFA Champions League) 1989, 1990
European Super Cup 1989, 1990
Intercontinental Cup 1989, 1990

* Holland national team:

European Championship 1988