Phillip Cocu

Phillip John-William Cocu (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, and was most recently the manager of Vitesse.

Cocu was born in Eindhoven but raised in Zevenaar, playing youth football for local clubs DCS and De Graafschap.

After a year at AFC '34, he started his professional career at AZ.

After a short period, he moved to AFC '34 in 1986.

A year later, his talent was again noticed by a professional club and in June 1987, Cocu joined the AZ youth ranks.

Cocu began in the AZ reserve squad but was soon added to the first team.

He made his professional debut on 22 January 1989, when assistant coach Hugo Hovenkamp (replacing the bedridden manager Hans Eijkenbroek) brought him on in an Eerste Divisie match against NEC.

The 18-year-old played as left winger at the time.

Cocu scored his first goal two weeks later in a cup match against Fortuna Sittard, followed up by his first league goal in March against SVV.

He would go on and score four goals in his first season.

In the 1989-90 season, he appeared in nearly every league match.

After the competition ended, Cocu was sold to the newly promoted Vitesse for €272,000.

Cocu played only eight matches in his first Vitesse season after he suffered a broken fibula.

He had a more productive second season, playing most matches and scoring three times.

In 1990, Cocu moved to Vitesse.

A broken fibula disrupted his first season, but he became a first-team regular in the following four seasons.

He netted his first Vitesse goal in August 1991 in a match against ADO Den Haag.

In Arnhem, Cocu changed from being a left winger to a central midfielder.

Coach Herbert Neumann envisioned a leading central role for Cocu in 1991 and placed him on the midfield position.

In 1992, Cocu played his first European match when Vitesse faced Derry City.

After Vitesse defeated Derry City, they beat Belgian side Mechelen in the following round.

In 1995, he joined PSV, where he won the KNVB Cup and the Eredivisie title in 1997.

Cocu debuted for the Netherlands national team in 1996 and appeared at the 1998 World Cup, scoring two goals but missing a penalty in the semi-finals against Brazil.

Cocu played for Barcelona between 1998 and 2004.

There, he would become club captain, win La Liga in 1999 and play two Champions League semi-finals.

He left the club in 2004 as club record holder for the most league appearances by a foreign player.

During Cocu's second stint at PSV, he won another three Eredivisie titles and reached the Champions League semi-finals.

After a year at Al Jazira, Cocu retired from professional football.

Cocu reached the semi-finals in the latter two tournaments and in 2004, he served as captain of the Dutch team.

With 101 caps, Cocu is eighth on the list of most Dutch international appearances.

During his career, he mainly played as a defensive "playmaker" in midfield, but became equally known for his ability to be fielded as a defender, wing back, winger or forward.

After his retirement from playing professional football, Cocu joined PSV again as youth coach and later assistant manager.

He also played at the 2006 World Cup, as well as the 1996, 2000 and 2004 European Championships.

He also served as assistant at the Dutch team under Bert van Marwijk between 2008 and 2012.

Cocu was caretaker manager at PSV in 2012, during which he won the KNVB Cup.

In 2013, he was officially appointed as PSV manager, and won three league titles in his five years at the club.

Cocu was born in Eindhoven, but he and his family moved to Zevenaar when he was three years old after his father switched jobs.

He started playing youth football at the local amateur club DCS when he was six.

Even though youth players normally were not allowed to play until they were seven, the team made an exception for Cocu.

He played for DCS until he was picked up by De Graafschap's youth academy.