Wiel Coerver was a Football Genius and was nicknamed “the Albert Einstein of Football”.

He died 22 April in his birthplace Kerkrade.

A History

In the late 1970s, Dutch European Championship winning coach Wiel Coerver led a revolution in football coaching. He was dissatisfied with the lack of individual skills and emphasis on defensive play in the professional game. An emphasis that many thought, was stifling the more exciting, attacking style of play necessary to score goals and attract fans.

Up to that point, little attention had been given to individual skill development, because no one knew quite how to teach these skills. It was also widely assumed that the great players of the game were innately gifted far beyond the capabilities of the average player.

Wiel Coerver challenged the widely held belief that talent was innate and could not be produced or improved by correct coaching methods. He then set up establishing such programs.

Coerver’s early focus was on teaching ball mastery and 1 v 1 skills by encouraging players to emulate the “moves” of football’s all-time greats, such as Sir Stanley Matthews, Cryuff, Beckenbauer and Pele.

Part of Wiel’s legacy is that over one million players and thousands of Coaches have attended Coerver Programs all over the World since 1984, and the way Football has been taught around the World has changed because of Wiel.

What Wiel meant to us by Alfred Galustian, Coerver Coaching co-founder

In 1983, a football conference in Philadelphia changed everything for us. We happened to walk past a room where Wiel Coerver was showing four kids some turns with the ball. We went and sat down to watch and he kept us captivated. I had never seen anybody teaching 1v1 skills before, neither had Charlie.

The concept was something we were really excited about. Focusing on teaching individual skills to young players as a priority before any team or tactical concept.  It just made sense. Wiel agreed that Charlie and I could use his name, and in 1984 Charlie and I began what is now Coerver Coaching.

Wiel was a tough teacher over these 30 years, and constantly pushed us to add and improve our Coerver programs. Even two weeks ago when I was with him in the hospital, he took out his note pad and drew some new drills! We experienced this passion and energy for almost 30 years, and it made Charlie and I more determined to continually improve Coerver Coaching.

For all of us involved in Coerver Coaching in more than 22 countries for almost 30 years, Wiel Coerver changed our lives and inspired us to expand his philosophy all over the world.