Wim Rijsbergen

**Wilhelmus** "**Wim**" **Gerardus Rijsbergen** (; born 18 January 1952) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last the manager of Solomon Islands' national team. He was considered as one of the best and most solid defenders in the world. A rugged and physical man-marker who consistently kept opponents away from the ball, he was often charged with marking opposing teams’ top scorers, a job he performed well both in Europe with Feyenoord in Holland and Bastia in France, and in the North American Soccer League with the Cosmos.

## Club career
He was born on January 18, 1952 in the city of Leiden. He is a pupil of the football school of the Roodenburg club. He made his debut in adult football in 1970 playing for the third division team Zwolle, in which he spent one season, taking part in 26 league matches.

With his play for this team, he attracted the attention of representatives of the coaching staff of the Feyenoord club, which he joined in 1971. He played for the team from Rotterdam for the next seven seasons of his playing career. Most of the time spent with Feyenoord, he was the main player in the team's defense and in 1974 with the team won the title of champion of the Netherlands and became the owner of the UEFA Cup, scoring the decisive goal in the second final match against Tottenham Hotspur (2:0).

Subsequently, in the 1978/79 season, Rijsbergen played for the French Bastia, after which he moved to the legendary American team New York Cosmos and for five seasons defended the club's colors in the North American Soccer League, at that time the top division of the United States, playing with such world stars as Carlos Alberto Torres, Franz Beckenbauer, Giorgio Quinaglia, Johan Neeskens and others and in 1980 and 1982 won the tournament twice with the team.

In 1983, Wim returned to his homeland, becoming a player of the Helmond Sport club, and ended his playing career in the Utrecht team, for which he played during 1984-1986, winning his last trophy, the Dutch Cup, in 1985.

## International career
On June 5, 1974, he made his debut in official matches as part of the national team of the Netherlands in a friendly match against the Romanian national team, which ended with a score of 0:0 and in the same month went with the team to the 1974 World Cup in Germany, where he played in all seven matches and won silver medals.

Later, as part of the national team, he was a participant in the 1976 European Championship in Yugoslavia, where the team won bronze medals, and Rijsbergen played one game against Czechoslovakia (1:3).

Two years later, Rijsbergen went to his second World Cup in 1978 in Argentina, where he again won silver with the team. This time, Wim played in three group stage matches, and the last match with the Scottish national team, which ended in a 2-3 defeat for the Dutch, was Reisbergen's last in the national team. In total, during his career in the national team, which lasted 5 years, he spent 28 matches in its uniform, scoring 1 goal.

## Coaching career
He began his coaching career immediately after the end of his playing career, in 1986, becoming the coach of the youth team of the Ajax club, after which he worked with the youth team of Dordrecht, and in 1989 he led the first team, which became his native Roodenburg, where he worked until 1991.

Subsequently, he coached other Dutch teams ICE Volendam, NAC Breda and Groningen, and in 1998 he left the Netherlands and worked around the world, first coaching the Chilean club Universidad Catholica, and then the Saudi Al-Ittifaq.

In 2003, Rijsbergen became an assistant to his compatriot Leo Beenhakker, first in the Mexican "America", and then in the national team of Trinidad and Tobago. The Dutch tandem managed to lead the Caribbean national team to the 2006 World Cup in Germany for the first time in its history, after which Beenhakker left the post and Rijsbergen became the new head coach. Under his leadership, Trinidad and Tobago became a finalist for the home Caribbean Cup and qualified for the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup in the United States. There, the Trinidadians performed unsuccessfully, taking last place with one point, after which Rijsbergen left the national team.

In January 2011, Rijsbergen signed a contract with the PSM (Makassar) club from Indonesia, and on July 14, 2011 it was announced that the Dutchman would also be appointed interim coach of the Indonesian national team. Two days later, he signed a two-year contract, but six months later, on January 13, 2012, he became the technical director of the Indonesian Football Association. Subsequently, during 1997-1998, he headed the coaching staff of the Indonesian club "Persibo Bojonegoro".

In 2019, he became the head coach of the Solomon Islands national team, which he took that year to the Pacific Games in Samoa, where Rijsbergen's team failed to overcome the group stage.

## Managerial statistics
## Honors
### As a player
**PEC Zwolle**
*Tweede Divisie runner up: 1970–71

**Feyenoord**
*Eredivisie: 1973–74
*UEFA Cup: 1973–74

**New York Cosmos**
* Soccer Bowl: 1980, 1982
* Soccer Bowl runner up: 1981

**Utrecht**
* KNVB Cup: 1984–85

**Netherlands**
* FIFA World Cup runner-up: 1974, 1978
* UEFA European Championship third place: 1976
* Tournoi de Paris: 1978

### As a manager
**FC Volendam**
* KNVB Cup runner up: 1994–95

## References
## Other websites
* NASL stats