Everyone knows that the forefathers of football are the British. However, what cannot be said at all is that the representatives of Misty Albion are the strongest players, because in Europe there are many countries where football is the number one sport. One of these powers can be considered Holland. It was on this earth that some of the greatest football players of the world were born, including the legendary Ronald Kuman. His life and sports career will be discussed in our article.
Birth
The future wizard of the ball was born in the city of Zandam on March 21, 1963. However, a few months after birth, Ronald Kuman and his family moved to a town called Groningen, located in the north-east of the country. The reason for this move was the signing of the contract by the head of the family with a football club from this city. Therefore, we can confidently say that our hero, like his “colleague in the shop”, Italian Paolo Maldini, is a representative of the whole football dynasty.
Childhood
It is easy to guess that the young Dutchman quickly became attached to the "game of millions." He and his older brother Erwin from the early years became players in the Helpman children's team. Moreover, the brothers were already playing pretty well then, apparently, all the same, genetics did the trick. When they reached adolescence, they ended up at Groningen, a club where by then their father had become one of the coaches. It is noteworthy that Ronald Kuman quickly became physically and technically stronger than his older brother. Their game was also different: Erwin preferred a technical game with a long ball hold and a subsequent sharp pass. Ronald, in turn, was more straightforward, but at the same time much more reliable in defense. Almost no striker could pass him. Not surprisingly, in the end, the youngest member of the family became a defender.
Special talent
Ronald Kuman, whose strike force was simply prohibitive, and accuracy was beyond praise, very often during his playing career was involved in breaking free kicks. It was not a problem for the Dutchman to hammer the ball into the goal from a distance of 30 meters or more. Many goalkeepers were afraid of him. And once he even managed to score a goal, breaking the penalty from forty-four meters.
Confrontation with brother
Ronald Kuman often enough during his speeches played against his older brother. So, for example, in the season 1980-1981, playing for Groningen, Ronald acted as an opponent for Erwin, who at that time defended PSV Eindhoven. The match ended with the victory of the Ronald team 2-0.
First successes
At 19, Ronald literally plunged the Dutch football community into shock. He succeeded in something that no one before made of defenders: he scored 15 goals in a season. This result is quite respected for the attackers. The first season at a high level was successful for the child prodigy.
Team debut
On April 27, 1983, the Kuman brothers first entered the field in the form of their national team. Erwin was then in the position of the left midfielder, and Ronald served as the so-called “cleaner”. That game can not be called successful for the Dutch, since they lost to the Swedes with a score of 3: 0. Nevertheless, the family tandem continued to continue to play for the country's main team. In addition, Ronald was offered to go to the legendary Ajax, which he did not fail to take advantage of, having left the mediocre Groningen.
Stunning achievements
Already in his first season at Ajax, Kuman Ronald, whose photo is shown below, became one of the club’s most productive players. He managed to score 9 goals, while the then team leader Marco van Basten scored 23 times in the opponents' goal. But even more efficiently, Ronald proved himself in PSV Eindhoven, where he spent three seasons since 1986. During this period, the defender was able to score 51 goals. The club at that time became the two-time champion of the Netherlands and the owner of the Cup of the country, and in 1988 the team won the European Cup, defeating the Portuguese “Benfica” in the final match. Then there was another meeting of the brothers on the football field. Erwin, speaking for the Belgian Mechelen, won the Cup Winners' Cup. As a result, the Belgian and Dutch teams, for which Ronald played, identified the strongest club on the continent, having held two meetings. The result of the confrontation was the victory of Mechelen with a score of 3: 2.
Relocation to Catalonia
The best goals of Ronald Cuman came during his appearances for the Spanish “Barcelona”. The Dutchman was at this club at the invitation of Johan Cruyff. In the team, Kuman was assigned the role of a free defender familiar to him, who, if necessary, made forays into someone else's penalty area, shot at goal from a long distance, and executed free-kicks. Already in the first season, speaking for the “blue-garnet”, Ronald accumulated 14 goals, which turned out to be just one goal less than the best result of the team belonging to Julio Salinas. For four years in a row, Barca was the strongest in its own country.
On May 20, 1992, Kuman scored a goal, which entered his name in gold letters in the history of football. That evening was the final of the European Cup. The meeting place is Wembley (London). In extra time, the Dutchman brilliantly performed a free kick and scored a goal against the Italian “Sampdoria”, which brought victory to his club. In the same year, Barcelona won the Super Bowl, passing the German Werder Bremen. But two years later, Kuman was facing a difficult test, because the Catalans were defeated by Milan with a score of 4: 0 in the final of the European Cup.
As a player, Ronald ended his career in the Dutch Feyenoord, having spent two seasons there and scored 19 goals. If you add up all the goals that he scored for all the appearances in Holland and Spain, you get a result of 193 goals. By this indicator, Kuman outperformed many forwards.
For the national team, the legendary football player spent 78 matches and scored 14 goals. In all official games, Kuman scored 252 goals, which is an absolute record for the defender in the entire history of football.
Coaching
Ronald Kuman is a coach who already boasts major achievements today. He began to train in 1997. In the period from 2001 to 2005 he was at the helm of the Ajax Amsterdam, which twice during this time won the national championship, as well as the Dutch Super Cup.
In 2005, under his leadership, the Portuguese Benfica won the national Super Bowl.
Today, England is exactly the country where Ronald Kuman lives and works. “Southampton” is the club in which he is the head coach. He was appointed to this post on June 16, 2014. The Dutchman's contract with this team is valid until the end of June 2017.
The successful work of a specialist from the Land of Roses did not go unnoticed, and according to the results of January 2016, he was recognized as the best coach of the English Premier League.
Some facts
At the 1994 World Championships in the United States, they sold an original cocktail called “Cuman's Crowbar”.
Ronald is the second football player for the entire football era who has played at three major Dutch clubs: PSV, Ajax and Feyenoord.
A pile of red-blond hair brought Kuman a resounding nickname Snowball.
Throughout his career as a player, Ronald has not had serious health problems. Only in the 1990-1991 season did he miss a few weeks due to minor damage.