Aron Winter (born 1 March 1967) is a Dutch former professional football midfielder and manager for Suriname. He has played for Ajax and Sparta Rotterdam in the Netherlands, for Italian sides Lazio and Inter Milan, and for the Netherlands national team.
Winter was a member of the Netherlands national team that won the 1988 European Football Championship, but made no appearances during the final tournament.
He played in 1990 Italy World Cup where the Netherlands lost in 1/8 finals game against Germany. In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he scored a goal against Brazil in the quarter-finals, making him the only player of Indian descent ever to score in a World Cup.
He was also selected for the Netherlands national team for Euro 96, as well as the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.
Winter placed in Rijkaard's Euro 2000 squad.
Having represented his national team 84 times, scoring 6 goals, Winter is currently the twelfth most capped player for the Netherlands national team.
After three years as assistant coach for the Ajax first academy team, Winter signed a three-year contract with Canadian side Toronto FC on 6 January 2011. Winter brought former colleague Bob de Klerk from Ajax to be his assistant coach, while Paul Mariner was also brought in the same day as Director of Player Development. After a disappointing season opener against Vancouver Whitecaps that ended in a 4–2 away defeat on 19 March, Winter won his first game as Toronto's head coach the following week against Portland Timbers 2–0 in Toronto.
Winter won his first trophy with Toronto in early July as Toronto defeated Vancouver 3–2 on aggregate to capture its third consecutive Canadian Championship, thereby earning a berth in the 2011–12 CONCACAF Champions League. Winter then guided Toronto to the Champions League semifinals, the first time a Canadian club had progressed that far in the competition. Toronto eventually lost 7–3 on aggregate to Santos Laguna.
However, Toronto began the 2012 MLS season with nine straight losses, the worst start to a season in the history of the MLS. Toronto won its tenth match 1–0 versus Philadelphia on 26 May 2012, but it was not enough to save Winter's job, as the club announced on 7 June 2012 that he would be replaced by the director of player development, Paul Mariner.
On 6 September 2022, Winter was announced as the interim coach for Suriname. Winter succeeds Stanley Menzo, who was at the helm of the team for seven months before leaving to work at Beijing Guoan. Winter is set to coach Natio in a friendly against Nicaragua and a potential second opponent.
Winter was born in Paramaribo, Suriname. His cousin Ricardo Winter was also a former football player/manager who headed the Suriname national football team.
1986-1992 |
1987-2000 |
1992-1996 |
1996-1999 |
1999-2003 |
2011-2012 Manager |
2017-2019 Assistant Manager |
2019-2021 Assistant Manager |
2022-2023 Caretaker Manager |
2023-2023 Manager |
| Ajax | Appearances | Dutch Eredivisie | 2000-2001 | 17 |
| Ajax | Goals | Dutch Eredivisie | 2000-2001 | 1 |