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In 1967 the Dutch town of Alkmaar had two football
clubs who decided it would be to their mutual advantage to join forces - and so
it was that Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek became AZ
'67. In its early days the club made the mistake of buying too many
foreign players which led to the buildup of a considerable debt.
Fortunately, in 1972 two 'saviours' appeared - the brothers Klaas and Cees
Molenaar - selfmade
millionaires who'd started a very successful business in household
appliances. They'd
both played for KFC (the forerunner of FC Zaanstreek) and, with a
"money's no object" attitude, had only one thing on their mind
and that was to reach the top of Dutch football with AZ !!
Their financial
transfusions made a programme of rebuilding possible including the arrival
of many key players in this period of the club's history : starting
with Kees Kist and Krysten Nygaard, respectively, in 1972 en 1973, and
followed by such names as Ronald Spelbos, Hugo Hovenkamp, Peter Arntz,
Johnny Metgod, Jan Peters, Pier Tol, Eddy Treijtel, Bert van Marwijk, Willem
van Hanegem and the Austrian striker Kurt Welzl. George Kessler was the
trainer and, by the end of the 1970s, he had forged what was probably one of
the best teams in the history of Dutch football.
After winning the Dutch FA
Cup in 1978, AZ won "The Double" of both League and Cup in 1981,
and took home the Cup again in 1982. The season 1980/1981 was their most
successful and, after having had their first taste of European football in
1978 (when they were knocked out in the 2nd round of the UEFA Cup by
Barcelona on penalties), they reached the 1981 Final. After pushing aside
Red Boys Differdange (Luxemburg), Levski Sofia (Bulgarije), Radnicki Nis
(Joegoslavie), Lokeren (Belgie) and Sochaux (Frankrijk) they met their match
in the Ipswich Town of Frans Thijssen, Arnold Muhren and manager Bobby
Robson. In England Ipswich were too strong and AZ lost 3 - 0, which meant
that their 4 - 2 victory in the Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam (their
own Alkmaarderhout ground was deemed to be too small) was insufficient to
clinch the trophy. The English side had knocked them out of the same
competition a year earlier in the 1st Round!!! AZ reached the 2nd Round of
the European Cup 1 in 1982 losing to Liverpool ( 2 - 2 en 2 - 3) and the
following season they went out in the 2nd Round of the European Cup 2
competition, losing to Internazionale (1 - 0, 0 - 2).
Lean years followed, Cees
Molenaar passed away in 1979 and, six years later, his brother Klaas pulled
out of the club (he too passed on in 1996). The once so successful AZ (the
'67 was dropped in 1986) struggled on in the Ere Divisie until the
inevitable happened and they were relegated in 1988. They made little
impression in the Eerste Divisie until businessman Dirk Scheringa took over
as chairman. AZ became Eerste Divisie Champions in 1996, were relegated the
following year, but bounced back the season after that and have remained in
the Ere Divisie ever since. Since then they've held their own with Holland's
finest and created a slot for themselves in midtable. The club's ambition is
to be able to fight it out with the top clubs and a new stadium is planned
to help them in their attempt to reach the peak of Dutch football.
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