AZ Alkmaar
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Template:Football club infobox AZ Alkmaar is a football club from Alkmaar, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1967 as AZ'67, the result of a merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek.
Owing to the commitment of businessmen Cees and Klaas Molenaar, AZ '67 was successful in the late seventies and early eighties. In 1981 they became Dutch champions and UEFA Cup finalists. After the Molenaar brothers left the club, things went downhill. In 1988 AZ were relegated from the "Eredivisie" (Dutch premier league).
The involvement of businessman Dick Scheringa in the late nineties marked the revival of the club. AZ returned to the Eredivisie in 1998. In 2004-05 they reappeared in the UEFA Cup tournament, advancing to the semifinals. They also finished third in the Eredivisie that season, again qualifying for the UEFA Cup, after spending most of the season in the top two spots. AZ's home ground is the Alkmaarder Hout which has a spectator capacity of 8390. The club manager is Co Adriaanse and interestingly, none of the starting eleven of the team were locally born in Alkmaar. Adriaanse has already opted to leave the club at the end of the 2004/2005 season, with Louis van Gaal already chosen as his replacement.
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2004/2005 squad
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Achievements
- Dutch championship: 1981.
- Dutch cup: 1978, 1980 and 1982.
- Champion Dutch first division: 1996 and 1998.
- Losing finalist in UEFA Cup: 1981.
See also
External links
- Website of AZ (http://www.az-alkmaar.nl/)
- AZ Alkmaar News (English) (http://www.epitch.co.uk/eredivisie/az-alkmaar/)
Template:Eredivisiede:AZ Alkmaar nl:AZ Alkmaar fr:AZ Alkmaar