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AZ

HOLLAND'S NEW FOOTBALL POWERHOUSE?

Has AZ really become a new powerhouse in Dutch football? It's starting to look like it: since 2003, under head-coaches Co Adriaanse and then Louis van Gaal, AZ have consistently been one of The Netherlands' best football sides and by all accounts the most entertaining team in the country. AZ play the football that Ajax want to play, according to some. They finished 5th in 2004, 3rd in 2005, 2nd in 2006 and 3rd in 2007. They lost the cup final of 2007 to Ajax after an endless series of penalties, were literally 10 seconds away from the 2005 UEFA Cup final (against Sporting Lisbon) and tragically dropped the 2007 championship shield at Excelsior, on the very last day of the season. Yes, AZ have been top drawer in recent years, just like in their golden years around 1980. The only difference: they somehow failed to clinch an actual trophy since 2003.

And so, the year 1981 - for now - remains the highlight in the history of the modest local pride of Alkmaar, a town of some 90,000 inhabitants. The date was 03 May 1981 and AZ required a win over Feyenoord, in Rotterdam, in the last league game of the season. They did the job in spectacular style (1-5) and the championship shield was theirs. It was a historic moment: since the start of the professional Eredivisie in 1956, the hegemony of Holland's traditional 'Big Three' (Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord) was only interrupted by DOS (1958), Sparta (1959) and DWS (1964). After AZ's unlikely 1981 triumph it never happened again.


The great Hugo Hovenkamp (31 caps for Holland and
an AZ' 67 player throughout the era of glory), proudly showing
one of the three KNVB Cups he won with the Alkmaar club.

The title of '81 was the climax of a brief period of amazing glory for AZ '67, as the club was still named at the time. In 1972 the small club was adopted by the Molenaar brothers, Klaas and Cees. They were AZ supporters, self-made millionaires and owners of Wastora, a major company in household equipment. Their financial injections turned the modest club from Alkmaar into a Dutch football giant for a while: AZ '67 won the Dutch KNVB Cup in 1978, the Dutch 'double' in 1981 and another KNVB Cup in 1982. They even came close to lifting a European trophy, but Ipswich Town were 'a bridge too far' in the UEFA Cup final of 1981.

The AZ Class of '81 is still renowned in Holland. It included Oranje stars such as Ronald Spelbos, Hugo Hovenkamp, John Metgod, Willem van Hanegem and Kees Kist. They were coached by a living legend from the Dutch coaching guild: 'Sir' Georg Kessler. The town of Alkmaar saw heroic European battles against Barcelona (1977), Liverpool (1981) and Inter Milan (1982). AZ got eliminated by each of those opponents, but lost only two out of the six games and never at home. In fact: AZ never lost a European home game at their tiny but atmospheric Alkmaarderhout stadium until they moved to brand-new DSB Stadium in 2006. AZ fans who were there from 1978 to 1982 still think it was a dream.


Official match programme of the return leg of the 1981 UEFA Cup
final: AZ '67 vs Ipswich Town, played at Amsterdam's Olympic
Stadium as AZ's ground was deemed to small for a European final.

When the 'Super Molenaar Bros' knocked on the door in 1972, AZ '67 were a rather insignificant provincial club. A merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek, the newly founded Alkmaar Zaanstreek (AZ) '67 had a rough start. The club bought on tick during their first five years of existence and the Molenaars arrived just in time to save their pet from bankruptcy. Klaas was the only brother to witness the glory of 1981: his brother Cees died in 1979. When Klaas retired in 1985 it became clear how heavily the club depended on the money of the Molenaar brothers: only three years later AZ (the affix '67 was dropped in 1986) were broke and got relegated to the First Division. Was professional football in Alkmaar doomed without the Molenaars...? It seemed so.


One of the greats from the golden era: AZ '67 and Oranje
striker Kees Kist, in action at the good old Alkmaarderhout.

AZ played a minor part in Dutch football before as well as after the 'Molenaar era', until another rich business man showed up in the 1990s: Dirk Scheringa, a maecenas, museum director and owner of Frisia, a large insurance company. His money brought AZ back to the Eredivisie. The 1996 promotion was immediately followed by relegation, but AZ returned again in 1998 - and slowly worked towards the second 'golden era' in the club's history. We're right in the middle of it, actually, although AZ would really, really like to actually win something. Will they keep it up? Time will tell. With Dirk Scheringa as a chairman and Louis van Gaal at the helm we surely haven't seen the last of them. (MP)

AZ FACTS

Founded: 10 May 1967 as AZ '67 (merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek). Name changed into AZ in July 1986.
City: Alkmaar
Stadium: DSB Stadium
Capacity: 17,000
Official website: www.az-alkmaar.nl
Honors:

  • Dutch champions: 1981.
  • Dutch Cup winners: 1978, 1981, 1982.
  • Runners-up UEFA Cup: 1981.
Recent History: Ajax vs AZ