"I want to see if what we achieved can also be achieved in football" - Merijn Zeeman on bringing Visma's success to AZ Alkmaar

Merijn Zeeman oversaw and era of vast success during his latter years at Team Visma | Lease a Bike, including the historic Grand Tour treble of 2023 and the numerous success of the likes of Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert and others. Now though, a new adventure awaits Zeeman at Eredivisie team AZ Alkmaar.

"Mainly because I worked in cycling for sixteen years, twelve of which at Jumbo-Visma. I want to see if what we achieved there can also be achieved in football. I needed a new challenge in another sport," the Dutchman explains of his sporting switch, in conversation with L'Equipe, also noting how AZ Alkmaar are the perfect club for him to try and grow. "It is a very modern club, where they use a lot of data. The club is known for bringing in people from other sports. The two directors before me came from volleyball and baseball."

Looking at both sports at face value, there aren't too many similarities between the sports of football and cycling, even though notable names such as Remco Evenepoel have successfully switched between the two in the past. Zeeman though, can see a clear pathway to bringing his cycling success over to this different sporting venue.

"It's about a group of people working together to make a club better, to create a vision, to develop themselves, to achieve goals," he explains. "You are surrounded by athletes and trainers. With them you look at how they can work together, what their vision is. The type of sport doesn't matter that much. It's more about what you think about the organization."

"The performance aspect, and for example also nutrition, is something that is not yet very developed in football. While the sport is becoming more and more intense due to more and more matches. It is precisely in that area that cycling has developed rapidly in the last five years," concludes Zeeman. "It is interesting for many clubs that do not have the biggest budget, but still want to compete with the very best. They have to be smarter than their opponents. I think that many people in football do not like people from outside coming to them. That ice still has to be broken."