Piet Hamberg

Piet Hamberg

Hamberg with Ajax in 1980
Personal information
Date of birth	(1954-01-22) 22 January 1954
Place of birth	Winschoten, Netherlands
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1973–1974	NEC	1	(0)
1974–1976	Wageningen	51	(5)
1976–1978	Utrecht	55	(11)
1978–1980	Servette	56	(28)
1980–1982	Ajax	18	(4)
Managerial career
1999–2002	Al-Ahly
2000–2002	Grasshopper (head of youth department)
2003–2004	Al Dhafra
2004–2006	Al Jazira
2006	Togo (assistant)
2006–2007	Liverpool (head of youth department)
2007–2009	Grasshopper (head of youth department)
2009–2010	ES Sahel
2012	Red Bull Salzburg (assistant)
2012–	Red Bull Salzburg (scout)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Piet Hamberg (born 22 January 1954) is a former Dutch footballer and manager. He worked at Liverpool as technical manager for their academy. On 22 December 2009, he became the general manager of Tunisian club Etoile Sportive du Sahel.

Playing career

Hamberg began his youth career with Groningen. During his playing career, Hamberg represented NEC, Wageningen, Utrecht, Servette and Ajax. During a European Cup clash in Madrid his knee was injured, and it took him quite a while to get fit. Once he was declared fit to play, the same knee was injured in a match against PSV Eindhoven and he was sidelined for quite a period yet again, and eventually an Achilles tendon injury ended his career as a player.

Hamberg played in one match for Netherlands national football team, but was unavailable for further selection due to the Achilles tendon injury that ended his career.

Managerial career

After his playing career, Hamberg became a coach and worked in Saudi Arabia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Togo. He led the Saudi Arabia under-20 team toward the World Cup before becoming a manager at Libyan club Al-Ahly. In 2003 he replaced fellow Dutch manager Jan Versleijen at Al-Jazira Club in the United Arab Emirates. For Togo he was the assistant to manager Otto Pfister at their 2006 FIFA World Cup campaign. However, Hamberg and Pfister stepped back from their position after it was announced that their players had not received any promised money for qualifying for the World Cup. Eventually Pfister returned before their World Cup opener against South Korea, but Hamberg decided not to and told the press he is a man of his words. In between he was manager and technical director of Grasshopper Club Zürich in two different stints between 1997 and April 2007. As a result of his successes, Hamberg became known as one of the best youth developers in the world, leading to his appointment as technical manager for Liverpool F.C. Academy in July 2007. His successes continued at Liverpool, as he groomed six youth international players and guided the under-18 team to the Football Association Youth Cup Final. On 11 May, Liverpool announced that Hamberg was to leave the club at the end of the season. No reason was given for his departure. In December 2009, he became the manager of Tunisian club Etoile du Sahel.

Honours

Club

Servette

• Swiss Super League: 1978–79
• Swiss Cup: 1978–79
• Swiss League Cup: 1979
• Coppa delle Alpi: 1979

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 1981–82

Individual

• Swiss Foreign Footballer of the Year: 1979–80

External links

• Piet Hamberg at ELFvoetbal.nl (Dutch)