Marco van Basten is a Dutch football manager, currently in charge of AFC Ajax. Previously, he was a football player who played for Ajax Amsterdam and A.C. Milan in the 1980s and early 1990s.

He was born on 31 October 1964 in Utrecht, where he started his football career at the age of seven. Van Basten's first club was a local team, EDO. After one year, he went to UVV Utrecht. After spending ten years there, he moved to another club from Utrecht, Elinkwijk, where he played very briefly, just before Ajax signed him. He played his first game for Ajax in April 1982, scoring at his debut in the 5-0 victory over NEC Nijmegen.

Van Basten became a prolific goal-scorer while at Ajax and displayed a brilliant technique. During the 1982-83 season he had European top scorer, Wim Kieft, as his main rival for Ajax's centre forward position, which caused him to play only 20 games, scoring 9 goals. However, Kieft was sold to Serie A club Pisa the next season, and Ajax continued the mid-eighties with the teenage forward.

He became top scorer in the following four seasons (1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987), scoring 117 goals in 112 matches. A highlight of this run was the season 1985-86, when he scored 37 goals in 26 matches (including six against Sparta and five against Heracles) in the Eredivisie, making him the winner of the European Golden Boot that year. In the 1986-87 season, Van Basten scored the winning goal in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against FC Lokomotive Leipzig.

In 1987, Silvio Berlusconi brought Van Basten to Milan, with fellow countrymen Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard joining him in 1988. In his first season Milan won their first scudetto (league championship) in eight years, but Van Basten played only eleven games and was constantly troubled by an ankle injury. Despite this, Van Basten scored five goals in Euro 88: a hat-trick against England, the winning goal in the semi-final against West Germany, and a spectacular volley in the final against the Soviet Union, as the Dutch national team won the European Championship. He was top scorer at the tournament, and also the only player to score more than two goals.

Helped by his form in international competition, Van Basten had an excellent season in 1988-89, winning European Footballer of the Year and scoring nineteen goals in Serie A as well as helping Milan demolish Steaua Bucharest by scoring twice to win the European Cup. In 1989-90 he was Capocannoniere (Serie A's leading goal scorer) and Milan defended their European Cup successfully against Benfica. The Dutch national side had a poor World Cup in 1990, going out to West Germany in the second round.

Domestically Milan's 1990-91 season was disappointing as Sampdoria won the scudetto. Van Basten fell out with Milan's manager Arrigo Sacchi and Berlusconi sacked Sacchi to placate him. Managed by Fabio Capello the following season, Milan did not lose a single game in the league and won the championship, van Basten scoring 25 goals and becoming Capocannoniere again. Internationally, the Netherlands reached the semi-final of Euro 92 where they lost to Denmark in a penalty shootout, van Basten having his penalty saved by Peter Schmeichel. In November 1992 he scored four goals against IFK Gothenburg, which is still a UEFA Champions League record for the most goals scored by a player in a single match (it was later equaled by Simone Inzaghi in 2000 and Dado Prso in 2004).

Milan stretched their unbeaten run into the 1992-93 season, going 58 matches in total before they lost a game. Van Basten played exceptionally well in the early part of the season and was voted European Player of the Year for a third time (equaling the record of Johan Cruyff and Michel Platini) before his troublesome ankle injury recurred in a game against Ancona. Van Basten underwent another series of operations and returned to Milan for the final few domestic games before they lost the Champions League final to Marseille. The final was Van Basten's final game for Milan. He spent more than two years fighting to make a comeback, but finally conceded defeat in 1995 and announced his retirement from playing.

During March 2007, Sky Sports named Marco Van Basten the number 1 on their list of the great players who had their career cut short.

Van Basten officially left Milan in 1995 and retired from football, stating he would never try management. However, he changed his mind and took a course with the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB). His first stint as a manager was as an assistant to his former teammate John van 't Schip with the second team of Ajax in 2003-04. On 29 July 2004, Van Basten was named the new manager of the Dutch national team, with van 't Schip as his assistant.

As a coach, he soon established himself as a man of strong principles. Van Basten famously dropped regulars like Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids and Roy Makaay and benched Mark van Bommel, because he believed that they were either past their prime or constantly underachieving.

Van Basten became trainer of AFC Ajax after Euro 2008.