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With such a successful football career on the pitch, having to take a step back due to an injury can be traumatising both career wise and emotionally in the world of sports. Therefore, when Marco Van Basten transitioned from player to manager there were a few years where he had to come to terms with this change in order to stay in the soccer world.

Throughout this article we are going to explore the inspiring history of this highly influential football player and manager throughout his career on and off the pitch. We also take a look at a list of the achievements he has accumulated over the years thanks to his expertise. So if you want to find out more about Van Basten and his journey through various roles in soccer, then continue reading!

Establishing His Soccer Career

Born in 1964, Marco started his football journey at only 6 years old where he played for local team – EDO. And after only a year with this Utrecht club, he transferred to UVV Utrecht where he spent

18th May 2016.
With the summer's 2016 European Championship tournament getting closer and closer, it's time to start thinking about picking up a football kit or two to show support for your favorite national team. For teams that use Nike as a kit manufacturer, the American sportswear company has given fans a wider array of options to choose from with its latest batch of jersey releases. In addition to the obvious variations that are always there in the jersey market-home and away kits, jerseys and tees-Nike has also unveiled different kit varieties this year.

Nike's Two Jersey Types

On one side of the conversation, we have the Nike Vapor Match shirts. On the other side, there are the Nike Stadium shirts. Viewed independently, these two kits could easily be taken to the be the "official" jerseys for their respective teams (or perhaps as similar designs of the same team's jersey from different years). There are

When the UEFA seeded teams for the Euro 2016 qualifying rounds in January 2014, the Netherlands were seeded third, behind Spain and Germany. The team's success at the 2014 World Cup only further affirmed their status as one of the frontrunners for Euro 2016-not just for the qualifiers, but also for the final tournament. Unfortunately, the Dutch had a disastrous run throughout the qualifying competition, losing five of their ten matches and ultimately finishing in fourth place in Group A-not even earning a spot in the playoffs.

Now, thanks to a post-qualifier friendly fixture with Wales, it seems the Oranje might have done considerably better had they been drawn into a different group. The Netherlands beat Wales 3-2 in a Friday, November 13^th friendly, scoring a surprising away victory against a team that will feature at the European Championship next summer.

The Match

As the third-place teams

Guest Post By Karl Matchett.

One of the most immediately identifiable scenes at any major international tournament on the world football stage is the brightly clad group of raucous orange supporters cheering on Netherlands-but it's a sight and a sound that Euro 2016 will have to do without.

Having finished up as the third-best team in the world barely 18 months ago at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Netherlands endured a shocking qualification campaign for next summer's tournament in France and, having failed to qualify, have to begin again under new boss Danny Blind. With Guus Hiddink masterminding a shambolic run of five defeats 10 games over his nine months in charge, he was quickly jettisoned from the national team set-up-with Blind stepping up from assistant to head coach, a year earlier than originally intended.

Blind was always planned as the

The Netherlands national football team have featured heavily in nine of the last 10 European Championship tournaments. After first qualifying for the UEFA soccer event in 1976 (and finishing third), the Oranje made regular appearances. They failed to qualify in 1984 but bounced back to win their first title at Euro 1988. In 1992, 2000, and 2004, the Netherlands reached the semifinals. In 1996 and 2008, they went to the quarterfinals. 2012 was the first year since the Dutch Euro victory where the soccer team failed to go beyond the group stage. Now, after a dismal run in the qualifying competition it is confirmed that Netherlands out of Euro 2016, the Netherlands won't have a presence at UEFA's European Championship for the first time in 22 years.

What Went Wrong?

The big question swirling in all football circles-not just among Dutch soccer fans-is what went wrong? If someone were to predict a year when the Oranje's

What happened to the Netherlands Euro 2016 qualifying campaign? After making a huge impression at each of the last two World Cups, the Dutch national football team appear to have imploded over the course of the qualifying rounds for the 2016 European Championship. Indeed, the Oranje have only won three of their first eight qualifying games, and are now in very real danger of not securing a spot in the Euro 2016 tournament. If the Netherlands do miss out on qualification, it would be the first time since 1984 without a Dutch presence at the European Championship.

At the moment, the wearers of the Netherlands away shirt 2015 2016 are in fourth place in qualifying Group A-behind Iceland, the Czech Republic, and Turkey, but ahead of Latvia and Kazakhstan. Both Latvia and Kazakhstan have been mathematically eliminated from contention, as neither soccer squad could finish as one of the top three teams in the group. Iceland and Czech Republic, meanwhile, are locked in for the top

The Netherlands national football team have not missed out on qualification for the UEFA European Championship since 1984, and have seen a slew of great results at the tournament in the years since-including a title victory in 1988, and four semi-final berths, in 1992, 2000, and 2004, respectively. Now, though, as Euro 2016 looms and as the qualifiers head into their final few months, the Dutch are in danger of not securing direct qualification into the tournament. The question is, will they be able to turn things around in the final four qualifying games, or will they have to fight for their spot in the event with a strong playoff performance? We analyze the results so far and ask can the Netherlands secure direct qualification for Euro 2016?

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The State of

The next incarnation of the FIFA World Cup might still be three years off, but qualifying groups for the tournament have officially been announced, and it's certainly not too early to start analyzing those groups and putting together predictions! Today, we're starting off with 2018 FIFA World Cup UEFA qualifying Group A, which includes heavyweights such as the Netherlands and France, a dark horse in the form of Sweden, and a few national football teams (Bulgaria, Belarus, and Luxembourg) that we don't expect to have much of a shot at qualification. Let's dive in!

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The Netherlands: Could 2018 Be Their Year?

Based on the outcomes of the last two World Cup events, it would be perhaps even a little unwise to not predict the Netherlands as

On June 12^th, Turkey won an away game against Kazakhstan, Iceland topped the Czech Republic 2-1, and the Netherlands grabbed a satisfying 2-0 victory over Latvia. The three fixtures represented the start of the second half of the Euro 2016 qualifying competition, of which each team has now played six of their 10 games. With only a few months remaining until we see the final lineup for the 2016 European Championship, now is the perfect time to analyze the current situations in the qualifying groups and assess what certain soccer teams need to do in order to secure Euro qualification. We will start with Euro 2016 qualifying group A.

Group A has proven to be one of the most surprising and unpredictable in the qualifying competition-at least so far. When the group was originally announced, most football fans expected the Netherlands to take the top spots without much difficulty. After all, the Dutch squad has finished in the top three of the last two World Cups, and was the

The Netherlands national football side had a good year in 2014, which has only made the country's struggles throughout the 2016 European Championship qualifying rounds more confusing. After all, this is the team that upset the Spanish defending champions in the World Cup group stage, winning 5-1 in a game that preceded Spain's very early exit from the world soccer tournament. This is the squad that nearly beat out Argentina for a spot in the World Cup final, and the team that flattened the Brazilian hosts in the third place consolation match. Needless to say, fans were wearing their Netherlands soccer gear proudly in 2014, and for good reason.

Things took a turn for the worse in the fall, though, with the Netherlands squad notching two losses out of their four Euro 2016 qualifying games. The early