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Michael van Praag

Michael van Praag
Michael van Praag ©UEFA

Nationality: Dutch
Date of birth: 28 September 1947
Executive Committee member since: 2009

Michael van Praag's father Jaap was AFC Ajax president from 1964 to 1978, during which time the club won three successive European Champion Clubs' Cups. He followed in his father's footsteps, serving as club president from 1989 to 2003, with Ajax winning a UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League under his leadership. In 1996, the club moved from the small De Meer stadium to the Johan Cruyff Arena.

In 2003, he was asked to become president of the Dutch League Eredivisie, and served in this post until 2008, when he became president of the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), where he was re-elected for a third three-year term in 2016.

Succeeding the late Mathieu Sprengers as KNVB president, he said of his time at Ajax: “I am proud of winning the UEFA Champions League in 1995. My most beautiful moment was flying over Amsterdam with the team and the pilot doing a special manoeuvre to salute the crowd dressed in red and white on the ground.”

 

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