Jan Wouters

For the Belgian legal scholar, see Jan Wouters (legal scholar).

Jan Wouters

Personal information
Full name	Jan Jacobus Wouters
Date of birth	(1960-07-17) 17 July 1960 (age 65)
Place of birth	Utrecht, Netherlands
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position	Defensive midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980–1986	Utrecht	168	(21)
1986–1992	Ajax	150	(21)
1992–1994	Bayern Munich	66	(6)
1994–1996	PSV	52	(5)
Total		434	(55)
International career
1982–1994 [1]	Netherlands	70	(4)
Managerial career
1996–1997	Utrecht (assistant)
1997	Utrecht (caretaker)
1997–1998	Ajax (youth)
1998–2000	Ajax
2001–2006	Rangers (assistant)
2006–2007	PSV (assistant)
2007	PSV (caretaker)
2008–2009	PSV (assistant)
2009–2011	Utrecht (assistant)
2011–2014	Utrecht
2015	Kasımpaşa (caretaker)
2015–2018	Feyenoord (assistant)
2021	Fortuna Sittard (assistant)
2022-present	Ajax youth (assistant)
Medal record Representing   Netherlands UEFA European Championship Winner 1988 West Germany 1992 Sweden
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jan Jacobus Wouters (born 17 July 1960) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He played as a defensive midfielder and was Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1990. ^[2]

Player career

Wouters played for several clubs including Utrecht, Ajax, Bayern Munich and PSV. He was also a Netherlands international team member (70 caps, four goals) and was hugely influential in 1988 when the Netherlands won the European Football Championship. ^[3]

Wouters participated in four tournaments as player of the Dutch national team: UEFA Euro 1988, 1990 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 1992, and 1994 FIFA World Cup. ^[4] He played his final match in the Dutch team during the quarter finals of the 1994 World Cup against later winners Brazil on 9 July 1994. ^[3]

Coaching career

Wouters started his career as head coach at Ajax after the sacking of coach Morten Olsen in December 1998. ^[5] Wouters was sacked by Ajax in March 2000. ^[6]

He was a coach of Scottish Premier League club Rangers under Dick Advocaat and then Alex McLeish, starting in July 2001. ^[7] He left Rangers at the end of the 2005–06 season, along with McLeish and Andy Watson.

Wouters is infamous to England supporters after elbowing Paul Gascoigne and fracturing his cheekbone during a World Cup qualifier in 1993 at Wembley Stadium. ^[8] Gascoigne was forced to wear a Phantom of the Opera style facemask to protect his fractured cheekbone until his injury healed. The following day, the Daily Mirror labelled Wouters a "Dutch thug". The match was drawn 2–2 and damaged England's hopes of qualifying for the 1994 World Cup finals in the United States, despite England leading the match 2–0.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^[9]

Club	Season	League [9]			National Cup		Other		Continental [10]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Utrecht	1980–81	Eredivisie	19	1	2	0	—		—		21	1
	1981–82		31	4	8	2	—		2 [a]	0	43	6
	1982–83		27	6	1	0	—		1 [a]	0	29	6
	1983–84		31	4	2	1	—		—		33	5
	1984–85		25	1	6	1	—		—		31	2
	1985–86		33	5	1	0	—		2 [b]	0	36	5
	Total		166 [9]	21 [9]	20	4	—		5 [10]	0 [10]	193	25
Ajax	1986–87	Eredivisie	32	4	7	0	—		9 [b]	1	48	5
	1987–88		28	4	1	0	2 [c]	0	7 [b]	0	36	4
	1988–89		22	1	4	0	—		1 [a]	0	27	0
	1989–90		28	7	4	1	—		2 [a]	1	34	7
	1990–91		30	5	2	1	—		— [d]		32	6
	1991–92		11	2	—		—		4 [a]	0	14	1
	Total [11]		151 [9]	23 [9]	18	2	2	0	23 [10]	2 [10]	194	23
Bayern Munich	1991–92	Bundesliga	17	1	—		—		—		17	1
	1992–93		33	4	2	0	—		—		35	4
	1993–94		16	1	4	1	—		4 [a]	0	24	2
	Total		68	6	6	1	—		4	0	76	7
PSV	1993–94	Eredivisie	10	1	1	0	—		—		11	1
	1994–95		22	1	1	0	—		2 [a]	0	25	1
	1995–96		20	3	4	0	—		3 [a]	0	27	3
	Total		52 [9]	5 [9]	6	0	—		5 [10]	0 [10]	63	5
Career total			437	55	50	7	2	0	37	2	524	60

1. Appearances in UEFA Cup
2. Appearances in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
3. Appearances in UEFA Super Cup
4. Ajax suspended for playing European football as a result of the iron rod incident in the previous season

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year ^[3]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Netherlands	1982	1	0
	1983	0	0
	1984	0	0
	1985	0	0
	1986	7	0
	1987	3	0
	1988	10	1
	1989	5	2
	1990	11	0
	1991	6	0
	1992	13	1
	1993	7	0
	1994	7	0
Total		70	4

Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Wouters goal.

List of international goals scored by Jan Wouters ^[3]

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	24 May 1988	Rotterdam, Netherlands	Bulgaria	1–0	1–2	Friendly
2	4 January 1989	Tel Aviv, Israel	Israel	1–0	2–0	Friendly
3	6 September 1989	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Denmark	2–0	2–2	Friendly
4	25 March 1992	Amsterdam, Netherlands	Yugoslavia	2–0	2–0	Friendly

Honours

Utrecht

• KNVB Cup: 1984–85

Ajax ^{[12] [4]}

• Eredivisie: 1989–90
• KNVB Cup: 1986–87
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup: 1986–87

Bayern Munich ^[13]

• Bundesliga: 1993–94

PSV

• KNVB Cup: 1995–96

Netherlands

• UEFA European Championship: 1988

Individual

• Dutch Footballer of the Year: 1989–90
• UEFA European Championship Team of the Tournament: 1988 ^[14]
• kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1992–93 ^[15]

In popular culture

Wouters was repeatedly referenced in a Saturday Night Live sketch on 4 February 2023 featuring James Austin Johnson as a British rapper named Milly Pounds. ^[16]

References

1. Stokkermans, Karel (16 January 2009). "Jan Wouters - International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 18 April 2014.
2. "Nederlands voetballer van het jaar sinds 1963" [Dutch footballer of the year]. dutchmultimedia.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 November 2025.
3. "Jan Wouters – Interlands Nederlands elftal". voetbalstats.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 November 2025.
4. "Oud-international en jeugdtrainer Jan Wouters: 'Nederland behoort altijd tot de favorieten'" [Former international and youth coach Jan Wouters: 'Dutch team is always one of the favorites']. ajax.nl (in Dutch). 3 December 2022. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
5. Paul Onkenhout (20 March 1999). "Een totale vernedering" [A total humiliation]. volkskrant.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 November 2025.
6. "Ajax ontslaat met Wouters zesde trainer in historie" [Ajax sacks Wouters as the sixth coach in their history]. Voetbal International (in Dutch). 21 March 2000. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
7. "Jan Wouters assistent van Dick Advocaat bij Rangers" [Jan Wouters assistent to Dick Advocaat at Rangers]. volkskrant.nl (in Dutch). 3 May 2001. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
8. David Hessing (28 April 2020). "Toen Jan Wouters het jukbeen van Paul Gascoigne brak" [When Jan Wouters fractured the cheekbone of Paul Gascoigne]. ad.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 November 2025.
9. "Jan Wouters - speler Eredivisie". voetbalstats.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 November 2025.
10. "Jan Wouters - Europese wedstrijden Nederlandse clubs". voetbalstats.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 6 November 2025.
11. "Jan Wouters bij Ajax" [Jan Wouters at Ajax]. afc-ajax.info (in Dutch).
12. "Jan Wouters". afc-ajax.info (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 November 2025.
13. "Jan Wouters" (in German). fussballdaten.de. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
14. "UEFA 1988 Team of the Tournament". UEFA . Retrieved 18 March 2015.
15. "Bundesliga Historie 1992/93" (in German). kicker. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
16. Weekend Update ft. Michael Longfellow, James Austin Johnson and Devon Walker - SNL, 6 February 2023, retrieved 6 February 2023

External links

• profile Jan Wouters (in Dutch)
• Jan Wouters at Wereld van Oranje (archived) (in Dutch)