Piet Keizer

**Petrus Johannes** "**Piet**" **Keizer** (14 June 1943 – 10 February 2017) was a Dutch professional footballer who played as a left winger. As part of the "Total Football" Ajax Amsterdam team of the 1960s and 1970s, Keizer was particularly notable during the successive managerial tenures of Rinus Michels and Stefan Kovacs (1965–1973). He is widely considered one of the greatest players in Dutch football history. Dutch writer Nico Scheepmaker once said: "Cruyff is the best, but Keizer is the better one". UEFA website has described Keizer as "the genius on the left wing, the skillfull flanker, the superb foil to Johan Cruyff". He was in the shadow of Johan Cruijff, with whom he formed the so-called royal couple. Keizer made frequent use of the scissor movement. Cruyff, in his posthumously released autobiography, placed Keizer, as left winger, in his "ideal squad".

## Club career

Keizer totalled 490 official matches for Ajax, scoring 189 goals between 1961 and 1974. He played predominantly on the left-wing and with Ajax won 3 consecutive European Cups (1971, 1972, 1973), having lost the 1969 European Cup final to A.C. Milan. Also with Ajax, he won 6 Eredivisie titles, 5 KNVB Cups, 2 European Super Cups, 1 Intercontinental Cup and 1 Intertoto Cup.

In August 1973, under new Ajax manager George Knobel, the Ajax players voted in a secret ballot for Keizer to be the team's next captain, ahead of Johan Cruyff. Just weeks later Cruyff left Ajax to join Barcelona.

## International career

With the Dutch national team, Keizer played 34 times, scoring 11 goals. He made his international debut in an 8-0 friendly win against the Netherlands Antilles in 1962. Keizer was selected by Netherlands manager, Rinus Michels, to play for the Dutch squad during the 1974 FIFA World Cup, but only started in the 0-0 draw against Sweden. He wasn't used for the rest of the tournament and the World Cup final against Germany.

Keizer suddenly retired from football in October 1974, shortly after a row over tactics with Ajax manager Hans Kraay.

## Personal life

On 13 June 1967, Keizer married Jenny Hoopman. The couple have two sons.

Keizer died after a long battle with lung cancer in February 2017.

### Club

- Ajax
- Eredivisie: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73
- KNVB Cup: 1960–61, 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72
- European Cup: 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73; runner-up: 1968–69
- UEFA Super Cup: 1972, 1973
- Intercontinental Cup: 1972
- Intertoto Cup: 1961–62, 1968 (Group A2 winner)

### International

- Netherlands
- FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1974

## Related pages

- List of one-club men

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Piet Keizer
- **image**: Piet Keizer 1973c.jpg
- **caption**: Keizer in 1973
- **fullname**: Petrus Johannes Keizer
- **birth place**: Amsterdam, Netherlands
- **position**: Winger (association football), Left winger
- **youthyears1**: 1953–1955
- **youthclubs1**: Amstel
- **youthyears2**: 1955–1961
- **youthclubs2**: AFC Ajax, Ajax
- **years1**: 1961–1974
- **clubs1**: AFC Ajax, Ajax
- **caps1**: 365
- **goals1**: 146
- **nationalyears1**: 1962–1974
- **nationalteam1**: Netherlands national football team, Netherlands
- **nationalcaps1**: 34
- **nationalgoals1**: 11