Nicknamed 'The Tulip', he made a name for himself on the right wing. He played on the left side with the same ease. The graceful right-winger played 348 games for Ajax, in which he scored 33 times. His runs outside, followed by an impactful cross, were the Ajax attacker's trademark.
Canada
Van 't Schip was born on 30 December 1963 in Fort St. John, Canada. In Canada, he was already playing football, but ice hockey was the absolute number one sport there. He was eight years old when he came to the Netherlands in April 1972.
Once in the Netherlands, Van 't Schip wanted to get back to football as soon as possible. His football career started at Amstelveen's NFC. After three trial training sessions at Ajax, he was delighted to be told he could stay. He could be found training and playing week-in-week-out at the Middenweg ground from the age of 12. He soon progressed to Ajax's first team.
Popular player
As a player, Van 't Schip wore the shirt of the Ajax first team from 1981 to 1992. He made his debut at the age of 17 against Haarlem. After two years, he managed to secure a starting place. In his years as a player with Ajax, he has won four national championships, won three Dutch Cups, captured the Europa Cup II and the UEFA Cup. After winning the UEFA Cup in 1992 with Ajax, the striker left for Genoa. In Italy, he was one of the most popular players on the team.
With his 348 matches in the Ajax 1st team, the former striker occupies (with Dick Schoenaker) twelfth place in Ajax's Club of 100. In the Dutch national team, Van 't Schip reached 41 international appearances as both a right and left winger, in which he scored twice. In 1988, he became European champion with the Dutch national team.
Manager
After his active football career, Van 't Schip went into the coaching world. He held various positions within Ajax between 1997 and 2004, including youth coach, assistant coach and head coach of Ajax U23. In between, he was head coach at FC Twente for one season. In 2008, Van 't Schip returned again. This time in the role of assistant with the first team.
From the end of 2009, he had ultimate technical responsibility at the recently founded club Melbourne Heart. Van 't Schip then became head coach at Chivas Guadalajara and Melbourne City. Between 2017 and 2021, the Ajax player worked successively at PEC Zwolle as head coach and was national coach of Greece. With another return of Van 't Schip to Ajax, the circle is complete.
