Eddy Achterberg

Eddy Achterberg
Personal information
Date of birth	February 21, 1947 (age 77)
Place of birth	Utrecht, Netherlands
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	FC Schalke 04 (scout)
Senior career*
Years	Team
1964–1967	DOS
1967–1976	FC Twente
1976–1978	FC Groningen
Total
Managerial career
1988–1990	FC Twente (youth team)
1990–1993	FC Twente (assistant)
1993–1996	Roda JC (assistant)
1996	Roda JC (caretaker)
1996–1998	Roda JC (assistant)
1998–2000	FC Schalke 04 (assistant)
2000–2002	FC Twente (assistant)
2002–2003	FC Twente (second team)
2003–2004	FC Schalke 04 (assistant)
2004	FC Schalke 04 (caretaker)
2004–2005	FC Schalke 04 (assistant)
2005–present	FC Schalke 04 (scout)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Eddy Achterberg (born 21 February 1947 in Utrecht) is a retired Dutch football player and coach. As of February 2009, he is a scout with FC Schalke 04.

Career

Club

A professional for fifteen years prior to signing for Dutch side DOS (the predecessor to FC Utrecht), Eddy Achterberg transferred to FC Twente in 1967, playing 246 games for the Eredivisie club, scoring 26 goals. The midfielder played in 27 UEFA Cup matches for Twente; reaching the semi-final in the 1972–73 season and the final during the 1973–74 season, where the club lost to Borussia Mönchengladbach. After breaking his leg in 1974, he never returned to his previous form, and transferred to FC Groningen in 1976, retiring in 1978.

Managerial

Following the end of his playing career, he became the representative of a German sportswear manufacturer, and innkeeper. In 1988, he became youth and second team coach, and later co-manager at former club FC Twente. In 1994, he moved to Roda JC Kerkrade, where he co-managed alongside Huub Stevens. After Stevens moved to FC Schalke 04, Achterberg was briefly promoted to head coach, before following his colleague to the Bundesliga club, with whom he won the UEFA Cup in 1997. Achterberg returned to FC Twente in 2000, becoming co-manager alongside Fred Rutten, winning the KNVB Cup the same season. After a spell as coach of the Twente second team, Achterberg spent a second spell in Gelsenkirchen from 2003 until 2005. Following the dismissal of Jupp Heynckes on 15 September until the appointment of Ralf Rangnick on 28 September 2004, he briefly served as caretaker-manager of the club.

During his time in Enschede, Achterberg's nickname was De Keu, which goes back to "het keutje", as he was called in Utrecht. In the local dialect, this is another name for "Little pig." According to Achterberg: "The name didn't fit me at all, which was the very reason I was given it. My friends would always say to me: Here comes 'de Keu,' the fat pig with the crooked legs."^[1]

Achterberg, along with other players and fans of FC Twente, released a song entitled "Eenmaal zullen wij de kampioenen zijn" (Once we will be the Champions) in the successful 1973/4 season, which became the unofficial club song.^[2]