Barry Hulshoff

**Bernardus Adriaan "Barry" Hulshoff** (30 September 1946 – 16 February 2020) was a Dutch footballer and manager. He played for Ajax Amsterdam and was part of their European Cup victories in 1971, 1972 and 1973. He earned 12 caps for the Netherlands national football team. He coached Ajax for one season. He was born in Deventer, Netherlands. Hulshoff was a strong defender, who also scored repeatedly. Not only with the head, but also with the foot. He is widely regarded as one of the best central defenders in Dutch football history.

## Club career
Barry Gülshoff started playing football at the ABB Zeburgia academy, but after a quarrel he left the club and moved to Ajax at the age of 16, where he began to play at the youth level. At the time, he was called an "anti-footballer" and compared to a question mark because of his typical posture. But after the coaches moved Barry from the position of left winger to the center of defense, he became a stable player of the youth team.

On January 9, 1966, Gülshoff made his debut for the first team of Ajax in a match against Feyenoord and won the 1966 and 1967 league titles with the club, as well as the 1967 Cup, beating NAC Breda in the final, but he was not the main player of the Amsterdammers at this time.

From the 1967/68 season, Gülshoff finally became the main player and, forming a defensive line with Yugoslav international Velibor Vasovic, won his third consecutive league title in 1968. The following season, 1968/69, the team could not boast of any new titles, but for the first time in its history reached the final of the European Champions Cup in 1969. There, the Netherlands met with the star Milan, for which Karl-Heinz Schnellinger, Giovanni Trapattoni and midfield conductor Gianni Rivera played. The young Amsterdammers could not compare with the experience of the winner of the European Champions Cup in 1963 and lost crushingly 1:4 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid in front of 32,000 spectators.

In 1970, Ajax won the "golden double", winning both the cup and the national championship, and again qualified for the European Champions Cup. Due to participation in the European Cup the following season, Ajax lost their place at the national level to their main rival Feyenoord from Rotterdam in the championship and was only able to win the cup, but again reached the final of the European champions in 1971. This time, at London's Wembley Stadium, they faced the less formidable Athens Panathinaikos. As a result, the Amsterdam club won 2–0, using the so-called "total football", which gave the team an advantage in European football and allowed them to win the European Champions Cup for the first time.

Since the 1971/72 season, Hulshoff has a new partner in the center of defense. It was German Horst Blankenburg, who replaced Vasovic, who retired for health reasons, and Romanian Stefan Kovacs replaced ˞Rinus Michels as head coach. In the eyes of many, thanks to this, Ajax gained enthusiasm and creativity. 1972 was the most successful year in the history of the club - Ajax won the "golden double" at the national level, and in the final of the European Champions Cup, this time in Rotterdam, they defeated the Italian "Internazionale" (2:0) with defender Giacinto Facchetti, midfielder Sandro Mazzola and star striker Roberto Boninsegna. Ajax won their fourth title of the year in September, defeating South America's best team, Independiente, in the Intercontinental Cup. Ajax drew in Argentina and defeated the opponent 3-0 in the return match, and Barry played both games in full. At this time, he was recognized one of the best European footballers and in the Ballon d'Or poll, which determined the best footballer in Europe, he finished seventh in 1972 and nineteenth in 1973.

In 1973, Ajax defended their league title and won the European Cup for the third time in a row, this time by a minimum of 1–0, thanks to a fourth-minute goal by Johnny Rapp against Juventus Turin, after which the Amsterdam defense, together with Gülshoff, were able to keep their goal dry. It was Ajax's last big success so far, as team leader Johan Cruyff left the club at the end of the season to join Rinus Michels at Barcelona.

Without Cruyff, Hulshoff and his team almost immediately won the debut European Super Cup in 1973, but in the following years the club lost ground not only in the European arena, but also in domestic competitions, winning only the 1977 championship. Upon its completion, Barry moved to the MVV club, for which he played during 1977-1979, after which he became the technical director of the club Fortuna (Sittard).

In 1982, Austrian Heinz Schilcher, with whom Hulshoff played together at Ajax in the early 1970s, and who now worked on the coaching staff of Austrian Sturm, convinced Barry to return to the field. Gülshoff played only three matches in the country's top division, and also took part in both games of the first round of the UEFA Cup against the Romanian club Corvinul (Hunedoara). After that, he was briefly the club's technical director, but for personal reasons was forced to return to Holland shortly before the start of the 1983/84 season, finally ending his playing career.

## International career
On October 10, 1971, he made his debut in official games as part of the Netherlands national team in a Euro 1972 qualifying match against the GDR national team, which ended with a 3–2 victory for the Netherlands, and Hulshoff scored his first goal for the national team. In the next two matches for the national team that year, he also scored one goal, and in the first international match in 1972, in a friendly game against Greece (5:0), he scored a double. 

In the same year, the national team qualified for the 1974 World Cup in Germany. This was not least thanks to Barry Hulshoff, who in September 1973 scored the winning goal against Norway in the penultimate qualifying match in Oslo three minutes before the end of the game. It was his sixth and last goal for the national team. In the last qualifying game in November, the Netherlands, together with Hulshoff, were able to hold on to a 0-0 draw with Belgium, which was enough for the Orange to reach the World Cup thanks to a better goal difference.

This was Barry's last national team appearance. He was unable to take part in the World Cup due to injury, which many considered a serious weakening of the Netherlands' defensive line, which ended up losing the final match of the World Cup. In total, during his career in the national team, which lasted 3 years, he spent 14 matches in its uniform, scoring 6 goals.

## Coaching career
Towards the end of his active career, Hulshoff went to live in South Limburg. He played for MVV for several years and built a house in Eijsden. At Fortuna SC he was technical manager and at MVV commercial manager.

Hulshoff was briefly assistant coach at Ajax in 1988. Hulshoff then became a trainer in Belgium at Wuustwezel, Lierse SK and Eendracht Aalst, among others. From 2004 to 2006, he worked as technical director at Ajax America in the United States. From June 2012 he was assistant coach at KVC Westerlo. 

## Death
Hulshoff died on 16 February 2020 from a short-illness in Abcoude, Netherlands at the age of 73.

## Honours
;Ajax
*Eredivisie: 1965–66, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1969–70, 1971–72, 1972–73
*KNVB Cup: 1966–67, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72
*European Cup: 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73
*European Super Cup: 1972, 1973
*Intercontinental Cup: 1972

**Individual**
*World XI: 1973
**Sport Ideal European XI*: 1973

## References