Lee-Roy Echteld
Dutch football manager (born 1968)
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Lee-Roy Echteld (born 30 September 1968) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who is caretaker manager of Eredivisie club AZ. He most notably played for Heerenveen as a midfielder.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 30 September 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Amsterdam, Netherlands | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | AZ (caretaker) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1981–198? | Ajax | ||
| 198?–1988 | DWS | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1988–1992 | HFC Haarlem | 70 | (6) |
| 1992–1997 | Heerenveen | 151 | (22) |
| 1997–1998 | Cannes | 5 | (0) |
| 1998 | AZ | 11 | (2) |
| 1998–1999 | RKC Waalwijk | 27 | (3) |
| 1999–2001 | Austria Lustenau | 20 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | → Heracles Almelo (loan) | 8 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2009–2011 | Blauw-Wit Amsterdam | ||
| 2013 | DVW | ||
| 2015 | Zeeburgia | ||
| 2018–2019 | Paris Saint-Germain B | ||
| 2022–2024 | De Treffers | ||
| 2023– | Netherlands U21 (assistant) | ||
| 2024–2026 | Jong AZ | ||
| 2026– | AZ (caretaker) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Playing career
Echteld started playing football in youth departments of Ajax and DWS in Amsterdam.[1] He broke through to senior football in 1988 at HFC Haarlem and then played for Heerenveen during a five-year spell. He also played briefly abroad with the French Ligue 1 club Cannes and the Austrian club Austria Lustenau. In 2001, he retired from football at Heracles Almelo.[2][3][4]
Echteld also played with the Suriprofs, where he was allowed to participate because of his Surinamese descent. Because his father is of Chinese Surinamese descent, and this was also clearly visible when Echteld was a baby, the Chinese name 'Lee' was added with a dash before 'Roy', which his parents originally wanted to call him.[1]
Managerial career
Echteld became a coach after his playing career and began managing the amateur branch of FC Omniworld. He did an internship at Ajax for the KNVB diploma. In the 2006–07 season he was a youth coach at DoCoS. From 2007, he became active at Blauw-Wit Amsterdam, first as a youth coach and in 2009 as head coach. He then took over as manager of DWV in January 2013.[5] In 2014, he started working as a youth coach at AZ. He took over as manager of Zeeburgia in January 2015,[6] but left that position at the end of 2015, when he was appointed assistant coach of the first team where succeeded Marco van Basten in that position. In the summer of 2018, Echteld left for Paris Saint-Germain to become manager of the reserves competing in the Championnat National 2.[7] In 2019, however, PSG decided to dissolve the second team and Echteld's contract was not renewed.[8]
Echteld was added to the staff of PEC Zwolle in July 2020, where he became responsible for coaching the first-team strikers as well as overseeing the transition of players from under-21 team to first team.[2]
On 5 July 2022, Echteld was appointed the new head coach of Tweede Divisie club De Treffers.[9] On 14 July 2023, he was appointed assistant coach to Michael Reiziger for the Netherlands U21 team, while continuing as head coach of De Treffers.[10]
On 20 January 2024, Echteld was appointed head coach of Jong AZ.[11] On 18 January 2026, he was appointed as head coach of AZ's first team for the remainder of the season, following the dismissal of Maarten Martens.[12]
Career statistics
Managerial
- As of match played 12 April 2026
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Paris Saint-Germain B | 1 July 2018 | 30 June 2019 | 33 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 24.24 |
| De Treffers | 5 July 2022 | 19 January 2024 | 58 | 33 | 9 | 16 | 56.90 |
| Jong AZ | 20 January 2024 | 17 January 2026 | 69 | 25 | 13 | 31 | 36.23 |
| AZ (caretaker) | 1 July 2018 | Present | 19 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 57.89 |
| Total | 179 | 77 | 34 | 68 | 43.02 | ||