Luc Nijholt is a Dutch football manager and a former player, who played for a number of clubs, both home and abroad.

Nijholt began his career in the early 1980s with Haarlem

HFC Haarlem

HFC Haarlem was a Dutch football club from the city of Haarlem, established in 1889. The club won the Dutch national title in 1946 and reached five Cup finals, winning in 1902 and 1912...

, spending six years with the club. Nijholt was a member of the famous Haarlem team that competed in the UEFA Cup

UEFA Cup

The UEFA Europa League is an annual association football cup competition organised by UEFA since 1971 for eligible European football clubs. It is the second most prestigious European club football contest after the UEFA Champions League...

 in the 1982-1983 season, for the first time in the club's history. However this campaign was to be overshadowed by the Luzhniki Disaster

Luzhniki disaster

The Luzhniki disaster was a deadly human crush that took place at Lenin stadium in Moscow, Soviet Union during the UEFA Cup second round match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem on 20 October 1982. The official death toll to this day is 67, although many claim it to be as high as 340...

. He then moved on to single seasons with AZ, Utrecht and Swiss

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

 side Old Boys

Old Boys

The terms Old Boys and Old Girls are the usual expressions in use in the United Kingdom for former pupils or alumni of primary and secondary schools. While these are traditionally associated with independent schools, they are also used for some schools in the state sector...

. In 1990, Nijholt moved to Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 side Motherwell

Motherwell F.C.

Motherwell Football & Athletic Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. The club compete in the Scottish Premier League and are one of only seven teams to have remained in this league since it was founded in 1998...

 and helped them win the Scottish Cup

Scottish Cup 1990-91

The 1990–91 Scottish Cup was the 106th staging of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Motherwell who defeated Dundee United F.C...

 in his first season.

In 1993, he moved to English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 side Swindon Town

Swindon Town F.C.

Swindon Town Football Club are a team based in Swindon, Wiltshire. Currently in League Two, Swindon have been managed by Paolo Di Canio since 23 May 2011...

 for a fee of £175,000, spending two years with The Robins. He joined them after they won promotion to the FA Premier League

FA Premier League

The Premier League is an English professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with The Football League. The Premier...

, but couldn't prevent from being relegated after just one reason with a mere five wins and a defence that leaked 100 goals in the league. However, he did score his only goal for Swindon on 19 March 1994 in a surprise 2-2 home draw against that season's double

The Double

The Double is a term in association football which refers to winning a country's top tier division and its primary cup competition in the same season...

 winners Manchester United. A year later he was part of the side which reached the Football League Cup

Football League Cup

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...

 semi finals but suffered a second successive relegation.

After leaving Swindon in 1995, Nijholt joined Volendam and spent three years with them before retiring in 1998.

Nijholt became manager of Stormvogels Telstar

Stormvogels Telstar

Telstar is a Dutch football club based in Velsen. The club was established after the merger of two football clubs in the town of Velsen.- History :...

 in 2005 and has since declared his interest in managing former clubs Swindon and Motherwell, although neither application was successful.
His son is Gianluca Nijholt

Gianluca Nijholt

Gianluca Nijholt is a Dutch professional footballer who currently plays as a midfielder for FC Utrecht. His father is ex-player Luc Nijholt.-External links:...

. He was the assistant-trainer of FC Red Bull Salzburg (Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

) during 2008-09 season. In 2010 he reunited with Co Adriaanse

Co Adriaanse

Jacobus "Co" Adriaanse is a Dutch football manager and former football player, who is currently the head coach of Eredivisie team FC Twente.-Playing career:...

 and is part of his coaching staff with the Qatar national team.

External links