28 Facts About Martin Jol

Maarten Cornelis "Martin" Jol was born on 16 January 1956 and is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder.

Martin Jol played over 400 games during his career which included spells in the Netherlands, Germany and England, as well as earning three caps with the Netherlands national team.

Martin Jol subsequently became a manager and has worked for Roda JC, RKC Waalwijk and Ajax in his homeland, as well as German Bundesliga club Hamburger SV and English Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Fulham and Egypt's Al Ahly.

Martin Jol started his playing career with an amateur team before joining the local professional side ADO Den Haag.

Martin Jol won the 1975 Dutch Cup with the team defeating Twente.

Martin Jol signed for Coventry City in 1984 but wanted to leave the club after manager Bobby Gould was asked to leave.

Martin Jol returned to Den Haag in 1985, and won the 1985 Dutch Footballer of the Year award in the Eerste Divisie league.

At international level, Martin Jol won ten schoolboy caps, 20 'B' caps, 12 Under-21 caps and 12 Under-23 caps.

Martin Jol made three appearances for the senior team, and competed at the 1980 Mundialito held in Uruguay.

Martin Jol's coaching career began in 1991 when he took over at the amateur side ADO Den Haag and took them to the highest local amateur division.

Martin Jol then moved to the leading local amateur side Scheveningen for one season, where he won the national non-league championship.

Martin Jol then spent two years as manager at the professional Eredivisie side Roda JC from the town of Kerkrade, during which time he won the Dutch Cup in 1997, Roda's first trophy for 30 years.

Between 1998 and 2004, Martin Jol managed the Dutch professional team RKC Waalwijk.

Martin Jol saved them from relegation in their first year and was in contention for European football in the years after.

Martin Jol was honoured with the Dutch Football Writers Coach of the Year 2001 and with the Dutch Players and Coaches Coach of the Year 2002 awards.

RKC Waalwijk denied reports in June 2004 that Martin Jol was about to become assistant manager of Tottenham Hotspur.

Several days later Martin Jol was given the job under Tottenham's new coach, Jacques Santini, having been recruited by Tottenham's sporting director Frank Arnesen.

Santini resigned from the manager's job after just 13 games, and on 8 November 2004, Martin Jol was confirmed as his replacement.

Martin Jol led Tottenham to the verge of European qualification but the season ended with a ninth-place finish in the Premier League after a final day draw at home to Blackburn Rovers.

Nevertheless, Martin Jol had led Tottenham to their highest league finish since 1990, which meant they had qualified for the UEFA Cup via the league for the first time since the ban on English clubs playing in Europe was lifted in 1990.

News of the sacking was widely known around the ground before the final whistle, before even Martin Jol had become aware of his fate.

Martin Jol confessed that he first became aware of the decision when his nephew told him of a text message he received saying Martin Jol was to leave the job.

On 26 May 2009, it was announced that Martin Jol was to be the new head coach of Ajax, taking over from Marco van Basten, who resigned at the end of the season.

Martin Jol showed his happiness at returning to his home country and on 28 May 2009, he officially signed a three-year contract.

On 7 June 2011, it was announced that Martin Jol had signed a two-year contract to take up the vacant post at Premier League side Fulham, after Mark Hughes' departure.

Martin Jol joined the club almost a year after nearly becoming their manager before Hughes' appointment.

On 24 February 2016, Martin Jol was appointed as the new coach of the Egyptian Premier League club, Al-Ahly.

On 19 August 2016, Martin Jol was sacked because of his bad performance in the 2016 CAF Champions League competition.