 Winter pictured in 2013 | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1967-03-01)1 March 1967 (age 58) | |||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Paramaribo,Suriname[1] | |||||||||||||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | |||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||
| 1975–1978 | VV Unicum | |||||||||||||
| 1978–1983 | SV Lelystad | |||||||||||||
| 1983–1986 | Ajax | |||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||
| 1986–1992 | Ajax | 187 | (46) | |||||||||||
| 1992–1996 | Lazio | 123 | (21) | |||||||||||
| 1996–1999 | Inter Milan | 77 | (1) | |||||||||||
| 1999–2003 | Ajax | 51 | (4) | |||||||||||
| 2001–2002 | →Sparta Rotterdam (loan) | 32 | (1) | |||||||||||
| Total | 469 | (73) | ||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||
| 1987–2000 | Netherlands[2] | 84 | (6) | |||||||||||
| Managerial career | ||||||||||||||
| 2005–2009 | Ajax A1 (assistant) | |||||||||||||
| 2007–2009 | Ajax A2 | |||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Toronto FC | |||||||||||||
| 2014–2016 | Netherlands U-19 | |||||||||||||
| 2016–2017 | Ajax (U-19) | |||||||||||||
| 2017–2019 | Ajax (assistant) | |||||||||||||
| 2019–2021 | Greece (assistant) | |||||||||||||
| 2022–2023 | Suriname | |||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||
Aron Winter (born 1 March 1967) is a Dutchfootball manager and former player who most recently managedSuriname. Amidfielder, he played forAjax andSparta Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and for Italian sidesLazio andInter Milan. Born in Suriname, he played for theNetherlands national team.
Winter began his career with amateur club VV Unicum inLelystad, moved on to SV Lelystad, and the same year joinedAjax at the age of 19. His first game for Ajax was a match againstFC Utrecht on 6 April 1986, which Ajax won 3–0. Winter won twoKNVB Cups (1987 and 1988), theEredivisie title (1990), theEuropean Cup Winners' Cup (1987) and theUEFA Cup (1992).
In 1992, he moved to the Roman teamLazio, playing his first match againstSampdoria on 6 September, which Lazio tied 3–3.
In 1996, Winter joinedInter Milan, with whom he won theUEFA Cup in 1998. He had also played in theprevious year's final, with the game going to penalties. However, Winter missed his penalty as Inter lost toSchalke.
Winter left Inter for his former club Ajax in 1999. In 2001, he was loaned out toSparta Rotterdam. He played 32 games for Sparta Rotterdam and scored one goal before returning to Ajax to finish his career, and where he chose to retire in 2003.
Winter was a member of theNetherlands national team that won the1988 European Football Championship, but made no appearances during thefinal tournament.[3]
He played in 1990 Italy World Cup where the Netherlands lost in 1/8 finals game against Germany. In the1994 FIFA World Cup, he scored a goal againstBrazil in the quarter-finals, making him the only player of Indian descent ever to score in a World Cup.[4]
He was also selected for the Netherlands national team forEuro 96, as well as the1998 FIFA World Cup in France.
Winter placed in Rijkaard'sEuro 2000 squad.
Having represented his national team 84 times, scoring 6 goals, Winter is currently thetwelfth most capped player for the Netherlands national team.
Normally acentral orholding midfielder, Winter was a hard-working and physical, yet elegant and classy team player of both quantity and quality. Owing to his development in the Ajax youth system, which was heavily influenced by the Dutchtotal football tactical philosophy, Winter was a versatile and well–rounded midfielder, who was capable of assisting his team both defensively and offensively, as well as creatively, courtesy of his physical, technical, and tactical qualities. Among his range of skills, he possessed significant stamina, acceleration, physicality, a good positional sense, intelligence, vision, passing, technique, and excellent striking ability from distance, as well as an ability to make late runs into the penalty box. Beyond his playing ability, he was known for his strong character, personality, consistency, composed playing style, correct behaviour, and leadership qualities, which made him a respected figure among his clubs' fans and teammates.[5][6][7][8][9][10] In Italy, his best role was considered to be that of a left–sided central,offensive–mindedbox-to-box midfielder, known as themezzala role in Italian football jargon, although he was also capable of playing on the right in a three–player midfield in a 4–3–3, a role in which he was often used during his time at Lazio. He would often start matches out wide before moving into the centre of the pitch. Moreover, he was also deployed on either the right or left flank, as awide midfielder,wing-back, orfull-back, in particular during his time with Inter; however these were not his favoured positions, and Italian pundits did not consider him to be as well–suited to these roles due to his less convincing performances.[6][11][12][13] Winter was also occasionally used to great effect as acentre-back under managerGuus Hiddink with the Netherlands national team, with Elko Born ofBleacher Report even ranking him as the eight–best Dutch central defender of all time in 2014.[14]
After three years as assistant coach for the Ajax first academy team, Winter signed a three-year contract with Canadian sideToronto FC on 6 January 2011. Winter brought former colleagueBob de Klerk from Ajax to be his assistant coach, whilePaul Mariner was also brought in the same day as Director of Player Development.[15] After a disappointing season opener againstVancouver Whitecaps that ended in a 4–2 away defeat on 19 March, Winter won his first game as Toronto's head coach the following week againstPortland Timbers 2–0 in Toronto.[16]
Winter won his first trophy with Toronto in early July as Toronto defeated Vancouver 3–2 on aggregate to capture its third consecutiveCanadian Championship, thereby earning a berth in the2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League.[17] Winter then guided Toronto to theChampions League semifinals, the first time a Canadian club had progressed that far in the competition.[18] Toronto eventually lost 7–3 on aggregate toSantos Laguna.[19]
However, Toronto began the 2012 MLS season with nine straight losses, the worst start to a season in the history of the MLS.[20] Toronto won its tenth match 1–0 versus Philadelphia on 26 May 2012, but it was not enough to save Winter's job, as the club announced on 7 June 2012 that he would be replaced by the director of player development,Paul Mariner.[21]
On 6 September 2022, Winter was announced as the interim coach forSuriname. Winter succeedsStanley Menzo, who was at the helm of the team for seven months before leaving to work at Beijing Guoan.[22] Winter is set to coach Natio in a friendly againstNicaragua and a potential second opponent.
Winter was born inParamaribo,Suriname.[1] His cousinRicardo Winter was also a former football player/manager who headed theSuriname national football team.[23]
| Team | From | To | Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Toronto FC | 6 January 2011 | 7 June 2012 | 64 | 18 | 21 | 25 | 028.13 | |
| Total | 64 | 18 | 21 | 25 | 028.13 | |||
Ajax
Inter Milan
Netherlands
Individual
Toronto FC
Ajax (as assistant manager)
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Ajax | 1985–86 | Eredivisie | 4 | 1 | — | — | — | 4 | 1 | |||
| 1986–87 | 28 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 1 | — | 42 | 10 | |||
| 1987–88 | 34 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 2[a] | 0 | 48 | 7 | ||
| 1988–89 | 27 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | — | 31 | 9 | |||
| 1989–90 | 32 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 38 | 10 | |||
| 1990–91 | 33 | 6 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 35 | 7 | ||||
| 1991–92 | 30 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 12 | 3 | — | 44 | 12 | |||
| Total | 188 | 46 | 18 | 5 | 34 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 242 | 56 | ||
| Lazio | 1992–93 | Serie A | 30 | 6 | 6 | 2 | — | — | 36 | 8 | ||
| 1993–94 | 34 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | 40 | 5 | |||
| 1994–95 | 29 | 5 | 6 | 1 | 8 | 0 | — | 43 | 6 | |||
| 1995–96 | 30 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | — | 37 | 7 | |||
| Total | 123 | 21 | 17 | 3 | 16 | 2 | — | 156 | 26 | |||
| Inter Milan | 1996–97 | Serie A | 24 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 11 | 0 | — | 42 | 1 | |
| 1997–98 | 24 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 0 | — | 35 | 1 | |||
| 1998–99 | 28 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | 42 | 1 | ||
| Total | 76 | 1 | 16 | 2 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 119 | 3 | ||
| Ajax | 1999–2000 | Eredivisie | 34 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 41 | 3 |
| 2000–01 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | 22 | 1 | |||
| Total | 51 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 4 | ||
| Sparta | 2001–02 | Eredivisie | 32 | 1 | — | — | — | 32 | 1 | |||
| Total | 32 | 1 | — | — | — | 32 | 1 | |||||
| Ajax | 2002–03 | Eredivisie | — | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| Total | — | — | 1 | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||||
| Career total | 470 | 73 | 53 | 10 | 86 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 613 | 90 | ||
Awards | |||||||
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