Willy van der Kuijlen

Wilhelmus Martinus Leonardus Johannes "Willy" van der Kuijlen (6 December 1946 – 19 April 2021) was a Dutch football player and a scout for PSV Eindhoven.

Van der Kuijlen was born in Helmond and started his youth career at local club HVV.

He won 22 caps and scored seven goals for the Netherlands national team in the 1960s and 1970s, but his international career was marred by frequent clashes with Johan Cruyff and his allies.

Van der Kuijlen was raised in Helmond and started playing football from an early age.

At eight years old, he joined local club HVV Helmond, even though boys were not able to join until the age of nine.

Van der Kuijlen became noteworthy because of his goalscoring abilities.

He attended school to become a tiler, but quit in favour of becoming a football player.

At the age of fifteen, Van der Kuijlen debuted in the HVV Helmond first team.

In 1963, he attracted interest from PSV Eindhoven and played a test match for them against De Valk in May.

The team offered him a contract, but Van der Kuijlen declined; he could only receive a youth contract and the offered wages were lower than his deal with HVV at the time.

While playing for HVV Helmond, he managed to score 69 goals in 63 matches for the amateur side.

In 1964, he was signed by PSV Eindhoven.

In 1964, PSV and thirteen other clubs (including Belgian sides) were interested in signing the youngster.

This time, Van der Kuijlen opted to play for PSV.

Van der Kuijlen started out with a semi-professional contract; signing a contract with PSV Eindhoven meant that he could also work at Philips.

On weekdays, he would work as a warehouse worker.

Van der Kuijlen debuted in a friendly match on 7 August 1964 against SVV, scoring five goals in a 6–1 victory.

His Eredivisie debut was on 23 August 1964 in a match against Fortuna ’54.

Van der Kuijlen scored the only goal in a 2–1 loss.

In the second league match, he managed to score three goals in PSV's 3–1 victory over SC Enschede.

In his first season at PSV (as the youngest player in the league), the team finished second in the league and Van der Kuijlen also finished second in the Eredivisie top scorer ranking with twenty goals.

In the 1965–66 season, Van der Kuijlen, who just turned 20, became league topscorer with 23 goals.

In the final league round, PSV managed to beat FC Twente 7–1 in Enschede; Van der Kuijlen scored four times in that match.

In the following years, Van der Kuijlen faced a few struggles in his career.

His Philips job and a call up for the military draft proved difficult to combine with his football.

In both the 1966–67 and the 1967–68 season, Van der Kuijlen still produced 21 league goals but a lack of chemistry between him and PSV coach Milan Nikolić (football manager) also made his performances suffer.

In 1968, PSV was struggling in the league and battling relegation.

As a result, Nikolić was sacked and in the wake of his departure, Van der Kuijlen immediately scored four goals in a 5–1 victory against DWS.

In the 1968–69 season PSV appointed Kurt Linder as the new coach.

But once again, Van der Kuijlen did not get along with his coach, having trouble with Linder's harsh coaching style.

This situation almost led to a transfer by Van der Kuijlen to Helmond Sport, his hometown side.

They could not afford his transfer fee though, and Van der Kuijlen ultimately signed a new contract with PSV.

Van der Kuijlen ended up playing for the club 18 years, winning three Eredivisie titles, two domestic cups and the UEFA Cup in 1978.

He was also crowned Eredivisie top scorer three times.

After short periods with MVV Maastricht and Overpelt, he retired at age 37.

After his playing career, Van der Kuijlen returned to PSV as assistant manager, first team coach, youth coach and scout.

He also briefly served as assistant manager at Roda JC.

Van der Kuijlen played 528 league games and scored 308 times for PSV, both being all-time club records.

With 311 career goals in total, Van der Kuijlen also holds the all-time Eredivisie goal record.

After a few important wins, PSV ended 14th in the Eredivisie.