1910–1972: Foundation and first years AZ was founded on 10 May 1967 as AZ '67, the result of a merger of Alkmaar '54 and FC Zaanstreek. Alkmaar '54 was founded as a professional team in April 1954 to play in the 10-team NBVB league, created because the
Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) refused to organize a professional league (the KNVB took over in 1955). Alkmaar '54, and by extension AZ, played the first professional match in the Netherlands: on 14 August 1954, they won 3–0 at home against Venlo '54, with
Klaas Smit scoring the first and third goal. After winning the in 1960–61, it played one year in the Eredivisie. FC Zaanstreek had been playing since 1910 as the Kooger Football Club (KFC). KFC had nearly become national champion in 1934 through a narrow loss to
Ajax in the finals. The team became professional in 1955. In 1964 the professional part of KFC was renamed FC Zaanstreek, while the amateurs played on as KFC. Also in 1964, the brothers Cees and Klaas Molenaar, former players and trainers for KFC and owners of a growing appliance store chain, sought to create a powerful football team in Zaanstreek by merging the two local professional teams: KFC and Zaanlandsche Football Club. After the ZFC leadership thwarted this attempt, the Molenaars successfully merged FC Zaanstreek with Alkmaar '54 in 1967. FC Zaanstreek had finished 7th and Alkmaar '54 12th in
1966–67 Eerste Divisie. The team would be based in Alkmaar, though the second team originally trained and played in
Koog aan de Zaan.
1972–1985: Molenaar years Partially through the hiring of expensive foreign players, the new club soon acquired large debts. In 1972, the Molenaar brothers bailed it out and invested heavily in the club, to the point that AZ '67 were successful in the late 1970s and early '80s, regularly playing European football from 1977 to 1982 while also winning three
KNVB Cups over that period. After four close league campaigns, AZ '67 finally became
Dutch champions in
1981, becoming the only team other than the "big three" of Ajax, and
PSV to do so in a 44-year period spanning from 1965 to 2009 (when AZ once again won the league title). They won the title with overwhelming power, winning 27 of 34 matches and only losing once, while scoring a club record 101 goals and conceding just 30. That same season, AZ '67 reached the
final of the UEFA Cup, losing 5–4 on aggregate to
Ipswich Town. The next year, in the
European Cup, they lost in the second round 3–2 on aggregate to
Liverpool.
Georg Keßler was AZ's manager over most of these years (1978–82), while star players included:
Kees Kist, the club's highest ever goalscorer with 212 goals and the first ever Dutchman to win the
European Golden Boot in 1979 when he scored 34 goals in a season;
Jan Peters, who played 120 matches for AZ '67 during this period scoring 30 goals from midfield; and
Hugo Hovenkamp, who played 239 matches in defence for AZ '67 from 1975 to 1983, as well as receiving 31 caps for the
Netherlands national team from 1977 to 1983 and playing each match in
UEFA Euro 1980 while an AZ '67 player. Additional stars included
John Metgod, who spent six years at AZ '67 playing 195 matches as a defender, scoring 26 goals including a goal against Ipswich Town in the final of the UEFA Cup. Like Hovenkamp, Metgod was also included in the Dutch squad for Euro 1980. Meanwhile, Danish forward
Kristen Nygaard spent ten years at AZ '67, scoring 104 goals in 363 matches between 1972 and 1982.
1985–1993: Interim years Co-owner
Cees Molenaar died in 1979. AZ'67's fortunes deteriorated after his brother, Klaas Molenaar, left the club in 1985. The club's name was shortened to just
AZ in 1986. After several mid-table finishes in previous seasons, AZ was relegated in 1988 from the
Eredivisie, ending the season on 28 points from 34 matches and falling to the due to the superior goal difference of
Roda JC. This relegation was significant since it occurred just seven years after the club's historic domestic double and marked the end of AZ's first period of success in Dutch football. Following this, AZ spent much of the next decade in the second tier, struggling to find a return to the top flight.
1993–2009: Scheringa years The involvement of businessman Dirk Scheringa in the mid-1990s marked the revival of the club as AZ returned to the Eredivisie, winning the
1997-98 Eerste Divisie title. The club achieved consecutive finishes around the middle positions in the league until ending up in third place in the
2004-05 Eredivisie season, AZ's highest position for 23 years. In the summer of 2006, the club moved to a new 17,000 capacity stadium,
AZ Stadion. Despite playing strongly for the majority of the 2006–07 season, AZ's season ended in disappointment. First, entering the last matchday of the
2006–07 Eredivisie season, AZ led PSV and Ajax on goal difference at the top of the league table, but ended up third after losing their last match against 16th placed team
Excelsior, AZ played with ten men for 80 minutes. Additionally, AZ then lost the
KNVB Cup final to Ajax 8–7 after a penalty shoot-out, while also falling to Ajax over two play-off matches for participation in the
Champions League. After the season, key players like
Tim de Cler,
Danny Koevermans and
Shota Arveladze left the team. in a
2007–08 UEFA Cup match A remarkable run ended in the 2007–08 season: after AZ lost a group stage match against
Everton (3–2) in the
UEFA Cup, the club's unbeaten run of 32 home matches in European competitions – lasting from 1977 to 2007 – ended. AZ had a poor season, suffering elimination in the first round of the KNVB Cup and the group stage of the UEFA Cup, as well as finishing the
2007–08 Eredivisie in a disappointing 11th place. Towards the latter stages of the season, in March 2008, AZ manager
Louis van Gaal had initially tendered his resignation, but after protests the players and directors, he rescinded his resignation. The
2008–09 season had an unpromising start after two opening defeats against
NAC Breda and
ADO Den Haag. However, starting with a 1–0 victory over defending league champions PSV, AZ did not lose a match in its next 28 matches, including a run of 11-straight matches where AZ did not concede an opposition goal. Three weeks before the end of the season, AZ became Eredivisie champions, edging nearest title rivals
Twente and Ajax comfortably. This was a historic achievement for the club as this was the first title-winning season for 28 years, and it also meant a return to the
UEFA Champions League. Being league champions, AZ qualified for the
Champions League for only the second time. It was drawn into a group alongside
Arsenal FC,
Standard Liège and
Olympiacos but only took four points from six matches and finished bottom of their group.
2009–2014: Advocaat–Verbeek years For the 2009–10 season,
Ronald Koeman succeeded Louis van Gaal, who had departed to manage
Bayern Munich after leading AZ to the championship. Koeman was officially hired on 17 May 2009, but on 5 December, AZ announced he was no longer in charge of the club after losing 7 of his first 16 matches. Former
Rangers and
Zenit Saint Petersburg manager
Dick Advocaat took over for the remainder of the season. Under Advocaat, AZ achieved solid results and secured European football for the next season. For the 2010–11 season, AZ appointed
Gertjan Verbeek as its new manager. They finished the
2010–11 Eredivisie in fourth place, thus securing
Europa League football for the next season, while in the
KNVB Cup, AZ reached the last eight, where they were beaten by rivals Ajax by a 1–0 scoreline. AZ also finished third in their
Europa League group, thus failing to qualifying for the competition's knockout round. In the 2011–12 season, AZ finished fourth in the
Eredivisie, though performed significantly better in cup competitions, reaching the semi-finals in the
KNVB Cup (losing to
Heracles after extra time) and the quarter-finals in the Europa League. In the latter, the club ultimately lost to
Valencia after having defeated
Udinese,
Anderlecht,
Malmö FF,
Austria Wien,
Metalist Kharkiv,
Aalesund and
Baumit Jablonec to reach that stage. On 21 December 2011, during the quarter-finals of the
2011–12 KNVB Cup, a 19-year-old Ajax fan invaded the
Amsterdam Arena pitch in the 36th minute with Ajax winning 1–0, attacking AZ goalkeeper
Esteban Alvarado. The fan slipped and Alvarado kicked the fan twice, prompting the referee to issue the goalkeeper a red card. Following this, AZ manager Gertjan Verbeek ordered his players to leave the pitch for the dressing room in protest. The match was later played on 19 January 2012, with Alvarado's red card rescinded; AZ won 3–2. The 2012–13 season started in the
Europa League with a qualifying play-off round against
Guus Hiddink's
Anzhi Makhachkala. AZ was hammered 6–0 on aggregate. Disappointingly, AZ finished tenth in the
2012–13 Eredivisie, although the club won the
2012–13 KNVB Cup after defeating PSV 2–1 in the
final. As cup winners, AZ automatically qualified for the
2013–14 Europa League. In September 2013, just one day after emphatically beating PSV, at the time the
league leaders, Verbeek was dismissed as first team manager by the club due to "a lack of chemistry" between management and players. He was replaced by Dick Advocaat for the remainder of the season until a permanent replacement could be found. Advocaat took AZ to the semi-finals of the
KNVB Cup, the quarter-finals of the
Europa League and eighth in the league, ultimately losing to
Groningen in the Europa League play-off final round (their 58th match of the season, a club record).
2014–2019: Van den Brom years The
2014–15 season began with a new manager, former
Heerenveen manager and Ajax great
Marco van Basten. However, after just three matches into the season, Van Basten resigned as manager to become assistant manager under
Alex Pastoor, citing heavy stress as the main reason. Pastoor was the interim manager during two matches under Van Basten's absence and received the official title on 16 September, but contract negotiations failed and he left the club just two days later. A week later,
John van den Brom was appointed manager. Under Van den Brom, AZ quickly rose up to the sub-top, eventually finished the season in third place, surpassing Feyenoord on the final season's matchday and qualifying for the
2015–16 Europa League. The
2015–16 Eredivisie started with AZ selling most of its first-team players from the previous season during the summer transfer period. As a response, AZ bought players from other Dutch clubs, notably
Vincent Janssen from
Almere City,
Alireza Jahanbakhsh from
NEC and
Ben Rienstra from
PEC Zwolle. In December, it was announced free agent
Ron Vlaar signed a contract until the end of the season after training with the club for a few weeks prior. Vlaar quickly became team captain and helped lift AZ from tenth place to a fourth-place finish in the league. Along this rise, new signing Vincent Janssen scored 27 goals for the club, earning him the Eredivisie top goalscorer title. In the
2015–16 KNVB Cup, AZ reached the semi-finals, losing 3–1 to Feyenoord. AZ won the first two qualification rounds to qualify for the 2015–16 Europa League group stage, but finished last in their group. At the start of the
2016–17 Eredivisie, AZ sold Vincent Janssen to
Tottenham Hotspur and long-time midfielder
Markus Henriksen to
Hull City. In the
2016–17 Europa League, AZ finished second in Group D, surviving the group stage for the third time in five seasons.
2020–2024: Slot–Jansen years After an excellent
2019/20 season in which AZ beat league leaders
Ajax home and away, aided by consistent performances from youth academy talents such as
Teun Koopmeiners,
Myron Boadu,
Calvin Stengs and
Owen Wijndal, the season was forced to end early due to the effects of the
COVID-19 pandemic. Joint on points with Ajax at the top of the table, AZ were given second place on goal difference, and subsequently earned Qualification to the
Champions League second qualifying round. A poor start to their
2020/21 Eredivisie campaign saw AZ draw five games in a row, before eventually picking up a victory against
RKC Waalwijk on 1 November 2020. in the Champions League qualifiers 2021. AZ also struggled in European competitions this season. Despite a strong start, with a 3–1 extra time come back against
Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League qualifiers, the club lost 2–0 to
Dynamo Kyiv several weeks later, seeing them fall back into the
Europa League. After victory against
Napoli and
Rijeka early in the pool stages, AZ was on track to advance, though lost to
Real Sociedad away, obtained a 0–0 draw in the reverse fixture, and also drew 1–1 with
Napoli. Following these results, AZ needed to defeat
Rijeka away to advance. However, the departure the week before the game of manager
Arne Slot saw an unorganised team lose 2–1 to Rijeka, ending their European dream. In 2022–2023, AZ stepped up their performance in Europa Conference League play, winning five out of six Group E matches against
SC Dnipro-1,
Apollon Limassol and
Vaduz, then beating
Lazio 4–2 on aggregate. However, their run was ended by defeats to
West Ham United, with AZ's home leg marred by supporter violence. In the 2023–24 season, AZ had a disappointed season, they get eliminated early in the group stage of the
UEFA Conference League. After only winning against the amateurs club
Quick Boys on penalty shootout in the
KNVB, AZ fired coach
Pascal Jansen on 17 January 2024.
2024–2026: Maarten Martens years Their new manager was
Maarten Martens, a former AZ player. After joined the club, he led AZ to a fourth place in the league, which secured the qualification for
Europa League. In 2025, AZ reached the
final of the KNVB Cup, but then lost against
Go Ahead Eagles on penalty shootout. On 9 May 2025, AZ extended Martens's contract until the summer of 2028. Before the beginning of the 2025–26 season,
Leaseweb become the new shirt sponsor for AZ Alkmaar. ==Coaching staff==