Tschen La Ling


Tscheu La Ling is a Dutch former professional footballer who played for clubs in the Netherlands, Greece and France. His name has been spelled in various ways throughout his career, but usually as Tscheu La Ling; he was generally uninterested in how it was spelled but revealed in a February 2007 interview that his name was officially Ling Tshen La. This name uses Chinese naming customs. The family name is Ling. In June 2015 he was appointed to the advisory board of Ajax Amsterdam. He is also the owner of the Slovak football club AS Trencin.
He currently is the creator and owner of Fitshape, which sells professional sport supplementation for athletes.

Club career

Born in The Hague to a Chinese father and a Dutch Mother, Ling began his career with his hometown team Den Haag in the 1973-74 and 1974-75 seasons. He joined Ajax in the 1975-76 season. Ajax won the Eredivisie title in the 4 seasons 1976-77, 1978-79, 1979-80 and 1981-82, and reached 4 Dutch Cup finals in the 4 consecutive seasons 1977-78, 1978-79, 1979-80 and 1980-81, but these feats paled in comparison to the European successes during the early 1970s, when Ajax, with players like Johan Cruijff, Johan Neeskens, Johnny Rep, Ruud Krol, Barry Hulshoff, Horst Blankenburg, Arie Haan, Gerrie Mühren and Piet Keizer won 3 European Cups I in the 1970-71, 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons. Only in 1979-80 Ajax was able to reach a ½ final European Cup I for champions. Ling played together with players like Ruud Krol, Ruud Geels, Frank Arnesen, Soren Lerby, Simon Tahamata and Martin van Geel, and later also with Wim Kieft, Frank Rijkaard, Gerald Vanenburg, Jesper Olsen and Sonny Silooy. In December 1981, Johan Cruijff returned to Ajax. The team was built around him, and Ling lost his place in the starting line-up to Gerald Vanenburg. He moved to Panathinaikos in July 1982, and then Marseille in July 1984. He spent a year with Ajax's bitter rival Feyenoord for the 1985-86 season and moved back to Den Haag for the 1986-87 season before retiring in 1987.

International career

Ling played for the Dutch team during qualifying for UEFA Euro 1980. He earned 14 caps for the Netherlands and scored 2 goals from 1977 to 1982.