Christiaan Adrianus Kronshorst (born 4 February 1946 in Delft, Holland) is a Dutch former footballer who played for N.E.C. (Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie), Sparta, and FC Utrecht. Since ending his playing career, he has worked as an assistant coach and skills trainer.
Chris Kronshorst began playing football at DHC (Delfia-Hollandia Combinatie) in his hometown of Delft. At the age of sixteen, Kronshorst made his debut for the DHC team that played in the Eerste Divisie ("first division," second tier of Dutch football). After DHC merged with Xerxes in 1967, Kronshorst made his first appearance in the Eredivisie. After one year, Kronshorst moved to Holland Sport, with whom he played in the Eredivisie from 1968 until 1971.
At the age of twenty-five, Kronshorst left Holland Sport for N.E.C., where he played two seasons with the "Einstein of Football," Wiel Coerver. Kronshorst: "Until then, during training we jumped over fences, played tag and leap-frog. Coerver focused on technique. He fell out with almost everyone. He introduced strength-training and made it clear that football was more than a game. When I came into contact with the training methods of Wiel Coerver, I had the overwhelming feeling that I would have become a much better footballer if I'd started this training as a youth." In the winter of 1974, following Coerver's departure to Feyenoord, Kronshorst was loaned to Sparta. After that season, Kronshorst was bought by FC Utrecht, where he played with Co Adriaanse, among others. In 1976, after two seasons in the cathedral city, Kronshorst put an end to his career in professional football. He then played two years for DVV (Delftse Voetbal Vereniging) in Delft.
After his playing career Kronshorst turned to coaching. He started at vv Delfia and then also at DHC and was youth coach at Sparta and ADO Den Haag (Alles Door Oefening Den Haag). In 2004 he started his own football academy, based on the Wiel Coerver method: Voetbalschool Chris Kronshorst. In 2006, Co Adriaanse, a former teammate, brought Kronshorst to FC Porto as an assistant coach. This was the beginning of a long collaboration between Kronshorst and Adriaanse, including time together at Metallurg Donetsk (2006–07), Al-Sadd (2007–08), Red Bull Salzburg (2008–09), and the Qatar Olympic team (2010–11). Kronshorst later served as skills coach with AZ Alkmaar (2007), Red Bull Salzburg (2011–12), Dinamo Tbilisi (2014), and FC Utrecht (2014–15).
At FC Porto, Kronshorst trained Pepe (Real Madrid), Ricardo Quaresma (Sporting Club de Portugal, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Chelsea, Beşiktaş), Vieirinha (Wolfsburg), José Bosingwa (Chelsea, QPR), Anderson (Manchester United), Bruno Alves (Zenit St. Petersburg), Lisandro Lopez (Lyon), and Raul Mereiles (Liverpool, Chelsea, Fenerbahçe), among others. At Red Bull Salzburg, Kronshorst trained Hinteregger (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Stefan Ilsanker (Red Bull Leipzig), Alexander Zickler (Bayern Munich), Marc Janko (Porto, FC Basel), Johan Vonlanten (PSV Eindhoven), Leonardo (Ajax, Feyenoord), and André Ramalho Silva (Bayer Leverkusen). In Qatar, Kronshorst trained Mauro Zarate (Lazio, West Ham, Fiorentina).
Today Kronshorst is again fully focused on his football academy in Delft, where he has trained Ryan Babel (Ajax, Liverpool, 1899 Hoffenheim) and Eljero Elia (Juventus, Werder Bremen, Feyenoord), among many others.