After six years it is enough, according to football coach Mischa Visser, who will stop as coach of the Netherlands Under-19s after this season. Time for something different. “But the best months are still coming.”
These days he is already preparing for his future in the Spanish sun. Visser (37) will take a look behind the scenes with trainer Dick Schreuder, who suddenly left PEC Zwolle this summer for CD Castellón, at the third Spanish level, until Thursday.
It was a surprising move for many in 2018: Mischa Visser signed with the KNVB as Under-16 and Under-18 coach. He progressed to the Under-17 teams, with which he reached the final of the European Championship in 2022, and then became coach of the Under-19s.
‘Hesitation on both sides’
After six years, the born and bred Stadjer will retire from the KNVB after this season. “In such a job you are actually constantly talking to each other,” Visser explains the decision-making in the Zeister woods. “You sign for two years each time and constantly check how things are going. In recent years it was clear from both sides: we wanted to continue together. And this time there was hesitation on both sides. Maybe it was good to do something different after six years. We simply agreed on that. Well, then it’s clear: then you say goodbye to each other.”
And what about the Dutch Juniors, the logical step after the Under-19s? “No, no,” laughs Visser. “There is a great staff there. And moreover: I am very ambitious, but at the same time I also have a very low ego. I don’t necessarily need a particular position, because it just happens to seem a step higher than the previous or current one.”
Grandson of legendary masseur
Visser, grandson of Johnny Visser, the legendary masseur and caregiver of GVAV and FC Groningen, grew up in Hoogkerk and Lewenborg and played football at FC Lewenborg. In a match against Veendam 1894 he seriously injured his knee; he tore his ACL.
He then focused on coaching and became one of the first so-called ‘laptop trainers’ in the North: ambitious trainers who, at a young age, absorbed football knowledge that was widely available on the world wide web, and who applied a lot of scientific knowledge. and thus provided new insights.
Head coach Be Quick 1887
He became a Sports Science teacher at Hanze University of Applied Sciences and combined that position with youth coaching at ACV, where he managed youth teams for six years. In 2013, at the age of 26, he became head coach of the then top division Be Quick 1887, with which he was first relegated, but two seasons later promoted again to what was then called the third division.
But his ambition reached much higher. In 2017-2018, Visser did an internship at FC Groningen for his training as a professional football coach and in 2018 he started working in Zeist.
European Championship final the highlight
The highlight of his KNVB years was the final he experienced with the Dutch Under-17 team as coach at the 2022 European Championship in Israel. Visser’s team, including guys like Thijmen Blokzijl, Gabriel Misehouy (recently an opponent of FC Groningen with Jong Ajax), Dean Huijsen, Jason van Duiven, Jaden Slory, Mike Kleijn, Isaac Babadi, Antoni Milambo and Silvano Vos, won in the first round 3-1 against France and finished first in the group.
The Dutch Under-17 team then reached the final via victories over Italy and Serbia, in which France won 2-1. “It’s a shame,” Visser looks back. “But it was great to play a final at a European Championship, of course. We all learned a lot from it.”
‘Tournament football is really a different profession’
What has he learned from six years at the KNVB? ,,Good question. Especially playing tournament football, I think. That is a completely different profession than competitive football. You have to prepare your players for a match in a limited time, and that means: optimally manage your time. What do I do, what not? That really has made me a better trainer.”
And he also visited quite a few top European clubs, says De Stadjer. “That is a real gift, of course, that I have been given a brief look behind the scenes in my job at so many clubs. Which? Well, you name it: Manchester City, Manchester United, Bayern Munich, the list goes on. That’s really nice, good for contacts too of course.”
Fully busy in Veendam and Assen
In the coming months, Visser will have to work hard to qualify again for a European Championship, namely the one for Under-19 players in Northern Ireland, this summer. Visser could hardly think of a better place to achieve that qualification, because the Dutch Under-19 team will play the qualifying matches in Assen and Veendam.
On Wednesday, March 20, Visser and his men open the qualifying group against Lithuania. That match will be played in the Henk Nienhuis Stadium in Veendam, where so many people attended the youth international matches against Sweden last fall.
Charged duel with France
On Saturday, March 23, the charged match against France will follow in the Achilles 1894 stadium, after which the Dutch will meet the Belgians again on March 26 at the Langeleegte in Veendam. “We are in by far the strongest group,” Visser looks ahead. “And in addition, only the group winner qualifies, while there is no rematch for numbers 2 and 3, for example. So it is absolutely make or break. It couldn’t be more beautiful in that regard.”
With his wealth of association experience with youth players at the highest level, with his diplomas – Visser has all the necessary papers for professional football, including the diploma to become head of youth training at a professional club – Visser can look ahead to the future in the near future. Woldmeer in Meerstad, where he started living a year ago with his girlfriend Anouk.
‘I’ll see what happens’
“But quietly staring is not really in my character,” says Visser. Whether he might be a trainer in Paris or Manchester in a while, or whether he simply stays in the Netherlands: anything is possible.
“I am open to everything,” says Visser, who also continued to live in ‘City’ during his KNVB years. “But I choose carefully. I’ll see what happens.”