.jpg) Kieft in 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Willem Cornelis Nicolaas Kieft | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1962-11-12)12 November 1962 (age 63) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Amsterdam, Netherlands | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Centre forward | |||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| AVV Madjoe[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1975–1979 | Ajax | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1983 | Ajax | 96 | (68) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1983–1986 | Pisa | 91 | (25) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1986–1987 | Torino | 19 | (8) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1987–1990 | PSV | 82 | (55) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Bordeaux | 26 | (3) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1991–1994 | PSV | 88 | (34) | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | 402 | (193) | ||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 1981–1993 | Netherlands | 43 | (11) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
Willem Cornelis Nicolaas "Wim" Kieft (born 12 November 1962) is a Dutch former professionalfootballer who played as acentre forward. Kieft went into punditry in 2001, occasionally appearing on football talk showVoetbal Inside.
A prolific goal-scorer whose main asset was his heading ability, he played for two big clubs,Ajax andPSV. He also played in Italy and France.
Kieft played for theNetherlands national team, and was a member of the squad that wonEuro 1988. He also represented his nation at the1990 World Cup andEuro 1992.
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Born inAmsterdam, Kieft started his professional career with local sideAjax, making his first-team debuts on 4 May 1980, when he was not yet 18. Amongst his young and upcoming teammates wereFrank Rijkaard,John van 't Schip,Marco van Basten andGerald Vanenburg, alongside established players likeJohan Cruijff,Søren Lerby andRuud Krol. In his first two full seasons, he scored at an astonishing rate, especially in the1981–82 season, when he netted 32 goals in as many games, being crucial as the team won theEredivisie title; he received theEuropean Golden Boot award.[2]
At only 20, Kieft was sold to Italy'sPisa, scoring only three times in arelegation-ending campaign. He did help theTuscany sideimmediately promote toSerie A, but underperformed overall in the top flight, with that club and his subsequent one,Torino.
In the summer of 1987, Kieft returned to his country and signed forPSV. His impact was immediate as his new team wonthe treble, includingthe season'sEuropean Cup, where he scored in thepenalty shootout defeat ofBenfica (0–0 after 120 minutes).[3]En route to these accolades, he contributed with more than 30 goals overall, 29 alone in the league, a competition-best; he was also one of five European players to ever achieve the feat of winning four competitions – three with their club, and one with the national team – in the same year, the others being teammatesBerry van Aerle,Hans van Breukelen,Ronald Koeman and Vanenburg.
Kieft had his second and last abroad experience in 1990, joiningBordeaux in France and again underachieving, returning to PSV and playing three more seasons until his retirement, averaging more than eleven goals in his second spell with the latter. In total, he scored 158 times in only 264 matches in the Netherlands' top division.
Kieft rejoined PSV in 2009, being named as assistant coach of the club's youth sides.
Kieft earned his first cap for theNetherlands in 1981. He would represent the national team in three major international tournaments,UEFA Euro 1988, the1990 FIFA World Cup andEuro 1992.[4]
In the first competition, Kieft played three times for the eventual champions, always as a second-halfsubstitute: on 18 June 1988, after having replacedErwin Koeman, he scored in the 82nd minute of the 1–0 group stage win against theRepublic of Ireland, through a header, helping the Dutch overtake their opponents in the match and finish second in Group 2 to secure a place in the semi-finals.[5]
Kieft played four times in his second tournament, held in Italy, starting against a familiar opponent, Ireland, and finding the net in the 1–1 draw againstEgypt as theOranje exited in theround-of-16.[6]
Kieft played only one match during his third and final tournament, replacingFrank de Boer at the start of the second half of theEuro 1992 semi-finals againstDenmark.
After retiring, Kieft worked as a footballpundit for television channelsSport1 andRTL, making a name for himself as a commentator and pundit with popular football talkshowVoetbal Inside (VI). In 2016, Kieft signed an exclusive agreement withZiggo Sport. Because of this, he initially could not feature at the VI table.[7] At the end of 2018, Kieft returned twice a week as a table guest at VI. In 2019, Kieft signed a three-year contract withTalpa, which meant that he returned to their new program,Veronica Inside, with the same concept as VI.[8]
His son,Robbin (born 1987), was also a footballer. After attending Ajax andGroningen's youth academies, he played exclusively in the lower leagues of the country.
In his biography, published in 2014, Kieft admitted a long-lasting addiction toalcohol andcocaine, which began after the end of his career and ended after a withdrawal treatment.[9]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 1981 | 1 | 0 |
| 1982 | 5 | 1 | |
| 1984 | 2 | 2 | |
| 1985 | 5 | 3 | |
| 1986 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1988 | 5 | 2 | |
| 1989 | 4 | 1 | |
| 1990 | 8 | 1 | |
| 1991 | 5 | 0 | |
| 1992 | 6 | 1 | |
| 1993 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 11 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23 March 1982 | Hampden Park,Glasgow, Scotland |  Scotland | 1–2 | 1–2 | Friendly | [11] |
| 2 | 14 March 1984 | De Meer Stadion,Amsterdam, Netherlands |  Denmark | 1–0 | 6–0 | Friendly | [12] |
| 3 | 17 October 1984 | De Kuip,Rotterdam, Netherlands |  Hungary | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification | [13] |
| 4 | 27 February 1985 | De Meer Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands |  Cyprus | 2–1 | 7–1 | 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification | [14] |
| 5 | 4–1 | ||||||
| 6 | 1 May 1985 | De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands |  Austria | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification | [15] |
| 7 | 1 June 1988 | Olympic Stadium, Amsterdam, Netherlands |  Romania | 2–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | [16] |
| 8 | 18 June 1988 | Parkstadion,Gelsenkirchen, Germany |  Republic of Ireland | 1–0 | 1–0 | UEFA Euro 1988 | [17] |
| 9 | 31 May 1989 | Helsinki Olympic Stadium,Helsinki, Finland |  Finland | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification | [18] |
| 10 | 12 June 1990 | Stadio Renzo Barbera,Palermo, Italy |  Egypt | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1990 FIFA World Cup | [19] |
| 11 | 25 March 1992 | De Meer Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands |  Yugoslavia | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly | [20] |
Ajax
Pisa
PSV
Netherlands
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