 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Dirk Franciscus Blind[1] | |||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1961-08-01)1 August 1961 (age 64) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Oost-Souburg, Netherlands | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] | |||||||||||||
| Position | Defender | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1979–1986 | Sparta Rotterdam | 165 | (18) | |||||||||||
| 1986–1999 | Ajax | 372 | (27) | |||||||||||
| Total | 537 | (45) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1986–1996 | Netherlands | 42 | (1) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2006 | Ajax | |||||||||||||
| 2015–2017 | Netherlands | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Dirk Franciscus "Danny"Blind (Dutch pronunciation:[ˈdɪr(ə)kfrɑnˈsɪskʏzˈdɛniˈblɪnt];[citation needed] born 1 August 1961) is a Dutch formerfootball player and coach. He played as adefender forSparta Rotterdam,Ajax and theNetherlands national team. As coach he has managed Ajax and the Netherlands national team.
He is one of only two Dutch players, together withArnold Mühren, to have won all UEFA club competitions.
Blind made his professional football debut on 29 August 1979 withSparta Rotterdam. He stayed under contract with Sparta for seven seasons when in July 1986 he transferred toAjax, attracted there by managerJohan Cruyff. Blind's signing, however, was much to the chagrin of Ajax superstarMarco van Basten, who was upset that his manager had brought in a relatively unknown, defensive player, instead of investing on a big-name transfer.[3] With Ajax, Blind amassed an impressive trophy list, winning all three European trophies (UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in1987, theUEFA Cup in1992 and theUEFA Champions League in1995). He also secured theIntercontinental Cup in 1995 against Brazil'sGrêmio by scoring the winning penalty in the penalty shoot-out.
Blind was again a penalty hero when he converted twice againstReal Zaragoza in theEuropean Super Cup final of1995, which Ajax won 5–1 over the two legs. The two penalties Blind converted were in the 65th and 69th minutes of the second leg.
Domestically, with Ajax, he won fiveDutch Eredivisie Championships and fournational cups. He retired on 16 May 1999.
Blind was known for being a dependable defender and a leader on the field. Whilst famous for being a centre back, Blind started his career as a right full-back.
Blind gained 42 caps for the Netherlands over a ten-year period, scoring once againstGreece in aUEFA Euro 1992 qualifier. He made his debut in 1986 againstScotland but was not capped at all in 1987 or 1988,[4] an absence which meant he missed being a part of the triumphantUEFA Euro 1988 side. He was a member of the Dutch squads at the1990 and1994 World Cups and the1992 and1996 European Championships, although he only played at the latter. Blind retired from international football after UEFA Euro 1996.
Blind was head coach at Ajax from 14 March 2005 (appointed as successor toRonald Koeman) until 10 May 2006, after only 422 days in charge. He led Ajax to victory in theKNVB Cup and theJohan Cruyff Shield.
In 2007–08, Blind became director of football at his old club, Sparta Rotterdam. On 15 May 2008, he returned to Ajax to become the new director of football in Amsterdam but switched roles whenMartin Jol joined the club to assistant coach. Moving to the position of technical director for Ajax at the beginning of the2011–12 season, on 9 February 2012 it was announced that Blind would retire from his duties as technical director at Ajax, concluding a heated dispute surrounding the club's board of directors.[5]
On 1 July 2015, Blind was namedGuus Hiddink's successor as head coach of the Netherlands national team.[6] He failed to lead them toEuro 2016, and he put the2018 World Cup qualifying campaign at stake after more meagre results. He was sacked by the Dutch FA on 26 March 2017, the day after losing 2–0 away at Bulgaria, which left their chances of qualification in serious doubt.
On 4 August 2021, Blind returned to the Netherlands national team as assistant toLouis van Gaal.
Blind is the father of professional footballerDaley Blind, who has played for Ajax andManchester United.[7] His son is also a Dutch international, and is one of their ten most featured players of all time with over 100 caps.
| Club | Season | League | KNVB Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Sparta Rotterdam | 1979–80 | Eredivisie | 13 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 15 | 0 | |
| 1980–81 | Eredivisie | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 10 | 0 | ||
| 1981–82 | Eredivisie | 10 | 2 | 2 | 0 | – | 12 | 2 | ||
| 1982–83 | Eredivisie | 34 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | 35 | 3 | ||
| 1983–84 | Eredivisie | 34 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 43 | 5 | |
| 1984–85 | Eredivisie | 30 | 3 | 4 | 0 | – | 34 | 3 | ||
| 1985–86 | Eredivisie | 34 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 39 | 5 | |
| Total | 165 | 18 | 13 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 188 | 18 | ||
| Ajax | 1986–87 | Eredivisie | 29 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 41 | 4 |
| 1987–88 | Eredivisie | 31 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 40 | 1 | |
| 1988–89 | Eredivisie | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | 33 | 2 | ||
| 1989–90 | Eredivisie | 34 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | 38 | 0 | ||
| 1990–91 | Eredivisie | 34 | 2 | 3 | 0 | – | 37 | 2 | ||
| 1991–92 | Eredivisie | 30 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 12 | 1 | 45 | 4 | |
| 1992–93 | Eredivisie | 28 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 41 | 4 | |
| 1993–94 | Eredivisie | 30 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 40 | 4 | |
| 1994–95 | Eredivisie | 34 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 49 | 5 | |
| 1995–96 | Eredivisie | 31 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 40 | 3 | |
| 1996–97 | Eredivisie | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 21 | 0 | |
| 1997–98 | Eredivisie | 26 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 37 | 2 | |
| 1998–99 | Eredivisie | 19 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 24 | 3 | |
| Total | 372 | 27 | 38 | 5 | 84 | 2 | 494 | 34 | ||
| Career total | 537 | 45 | 51 | 5 | 94 | 2 | 682 | 52 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 1986 | 3 | 0 |
| 1987 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1988 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1989 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1990 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1991 | 6 | 1 | |
| 1992 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1993 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1994 | 6 | 0 | |
| 1995 | 8 | 0 | |
| 1996 | 6 | 0 | |
| Total | 42 | 1 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 December 1991 | Kaftanzoglio Stadium,Thessaloniki, Greece |  Greece | 2–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 1992 qualification |
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Ajax |  | 15 March 2005 | 10 May 2006 | 64 | 38 | 10 | 16 | 133 | 74 | +59 | 059.38 |
| Netherlands | | 1 July 2015 | 26 March 2017 | 17 | 7 | 3 | 7 | 26 | 25 | +1 | 041.18 |
| Total | 81 | 45 | 13 | 23 | 159 | 99 | +60 | 055.56 | |||
Individual
Netherlands squads | |||||||||||||||||||
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| International | |
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| National | |
| Artists | |
