Frans Thijssen

Thijssen in 1979
Personal information
Date of birth	(1952-01-23) 23 January 1952 (age 72)
Place of birth	Malden, Netherlands
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
	Juliana '31
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1970–1973	NEC Nijmegen	83	(10)
1973–1979	FC Twente	167	(47)
1979–1983	Ipswich Town	125	(10)
1983–1984	Nottingham Forest	17	(3)
1984	Vancouver Whitecaps	45	(9)
1984–1987	Fortuna Sittard	79	(11)
1987–1988	FC Groningen	25	(0)
1988–1991	Vitesse Arnhem	87	(1)
Total		628	(91)
International career
1975–1981	Netherlands[1]	14	(3)
Managerial career
1995–1996	Vitesse Arnhem
1997–1998	Malmö FF
1999	De Graafschap
2000–2001	Fortuna Sittard
2014–2015	Brisbane Roar (caretaker manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Frans Thijssen (born 23 January 1952) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He won fourteen caps for the Netherlands between 1975 and 1981.

Playing career

Thijssen started his professional career in 1970 with NEC Nijmegen. In 1973, he moved to FC Twente, where he played for nearly six seasons.

In 1979, Thijssen moved to England to sign for Ipswich Town joining former FC Twente teammate Arnold Mühren. In 1981 he was the first Dutchman to be voted English Footballer of the Year as he helped Ipswich Town win the UEFA Cup, scoring one goal in each of the two legs of the final. He played a big part in their run to the semi-finals of the FA Cup, and they also finished second in the league that season. He helped them finish second again the following year, but a year later he departed from Portman Road after four years to sign for Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest, but he was not nearly as successful at the City Ground as he had been in East Anglia, and he had left the club within months.

He also had a stint in the NASL with the Vancouver Whitecaps. In 1984, he returned to his native country, to play for Fortuna Sittard (1984–1987), FC Groningen (1987–1988) and Vitesse Arnhem (1988–1991).

Managerial career

After his active career he became a football manager. In 1997, he became manager for the Swedish club Malmö FF and spent two years there.

After several seasons without success, Thijssen was sacked as manager for Malmö FF during the middle of season 1998. At the time of his dismissal Malmö was in danger of being relegated to the first division (Superettan) for the first time in the club's history. Thijssen was replaced by Roland Andersson and Thomas Sjöberg.

On 24 November 2014, Thijssen was named interim coach of the Brisbane Roar in the Australian A-League.^[2]

Managerial statistics

As of 4 March 2015

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Brisbane Roar		24 November 2014	8 June 2015	28	11	5	12	039.29
Total				28	11	5	12	039.29

Honours

FC Twente

• KNVB Cup: 1976–77

Ipswich Town

• UEFA Cup: 1980–81

Vitesse Arnhem

• Eerste Divisie: 1988–89

Individual

• Ipswich Town Player of the Year: 1979–80^[3]
• Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year: 1980–81^[4]
• Football Writers' Association Footballer of the Year 1980–81
• Eerste Divisie Player of the Year: 1987–88^[5]
• Ipswich Town Hall of Fame: Inducted 2008^[6]