François Vercauteren (born 28 October 1956), nicknamed "The Little Prince", is a Belgian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a left winger. He is currently unemployed after most recently managing

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

Club career

Vercauteren made his first team debut for

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

in 1975 against

Racing Mechelen K.R.C. Mechelen is a Belgian association football club from Mechelen in the Antwerp province. It is a long-time rival of KV Mechelen. The club's best position ever is a second place in the first division 1951–52. KRC Mechelen also reached ...

, replacing Gilbert Van Binst. A double surgery in October 1975 and January 1976, however, later slowed down his development. Vercauteren won the five European titles with Anderlecht (two

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...

s, one

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

and two European Supercups). He also won two

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

s, four [ Belgian Championship titles and won the

Belgian Supercup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

twice. In 1987, he joined

Nantes Nantes (, , ; Gallo: or ; ) is a city in Loire-Atlantique on the Loire, from the Atlantic coast. The city is the sixth largest in France, with a population of 314,138 in Nantes proper and a metropolitan area of nearly 1 million inhabita ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and came back to Belgium three years later to play with

Molenbeek ( French, ) or (Dutch, ), often simply called Molenbeek, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, from which it is separated ...

until 1993. While at Nantes, Vercauteren finished twice the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

with the most assists.

International career

Vercauteren played 63 times with the Belgium national team. He was part of the squad that finished fourth at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

, and also featured in the

1982 World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 i ...

and at

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

. Though he made his national team debut on 16 November 1977 (a 3–0 defeat to

Northern Ireland national football team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland natio ...

), he was not selected for the

Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

, where Belgium finished runner-up to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

Coaching career

At the end of his playing career, Vercauteren became the trainer of the youth team from C.S. Braine, a small club in

Walloon Brabant Walloon Brabant (french: Brabant wallon ; nl, Waals-Brabant ; wa, Roman Payis) is a province located in Belgium's French-speaking region of Wallonia. It borders on (clockwise from the North) the province of Flemish Brabant (Flemish Region) and ...

. A year after, he moved to KV Mechelen, where he first trained the youth team, then the first team, beginning in 1997–98. At the end of this season, he signed as an assistant manager at his first club as a player, Anderlecht. He was briefly named manager along with his fellow

Jean Dockx Jean Baptiste Dockx (24 May 1941 – 15 January 2002) was a Belgian international footballer. He played for Mechelen, Racing White and Anderlecht, and for the Belgium national team in the 1970 FIFA World Cup and the 1972 UEFA European Footb ...

in the 1998–99 season after a disappointing start by manager

Arie Haan Arend "Arie" Haan (; born 16 November 1948) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He scored 6 goals in 35 matches for the Netherlands national team of the 1970s. At club level, he enjoyed a successful career ...

(Anderlecht fell to the 18th and last place in the beginning of the season). The two men secured among others a nice 0–6 win at Sclessin against old rival

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

and a 2–5 win at

Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...

, to come back in the European places. Anderlecht then hired

Aimé Anthuenis Aimé Anthuenis (born 21 December 1943) is a Belgian former professional football player and manager. He managed the Belgium national football team between 2002 and 2005. After a career as a defender, Anthuenis moved into coaching, first as the ...

as a manager, and Vercauteren became assistant once again. After coach

Hugo Broos Hugo Henri Broos (born 10 April 1952) is a Belgian association football, football coach (sport), manager and former player. He is the manager of South Africa national soccer team Playing career He started his football career in his hometown Hu ...

(the successor of Anthuenis) was dismissed in February 2005, Vercauteren signed as the new manager and won twice the Belgian Championship. On 12 November 2007, after a string of poor and indifferent results, Vercauteren and Anderlecht parted company, with assistant coach Ariel Jacobs taking over until the end of the season. From 9 April 2009 to 10 September 2009, Vercauteren served as caretaker manager for the Belgium national team, resigning after Belgium's defeat to

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

on 9 September 2009; he was replaced by the Dutchman

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

. On 3 December 2009, Vercauteren signed a contract as head coach for Genk. On 17 May 2011, he celebrated winning the

2010–11 Belgian Pro League The 2010–11 season of the Belgian Pro League (also known as ''Jupiler Pro League'' for sponsorship reasons) is the 108th season of top-tier football in Belgium. It began on 30 July 2010 with the first match of the regular season and ended in M ...

championship with Genk after a 1–1 home draw against Standard Liège. He also won the

2011 Belgian Super Cup The 2011 Belgian Super Cup is a football match that was played on 21 July 2011, between league winners Genk and the cup winners Standard Liège. Genk won the game one nil and with that won their first Super Cup, after already being on the losing ...

over Standard, and led his club into the qualifying play-off for the

2011–12 UEFA Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa Lea ...

. On 8 August 2011, Vercauteren signed a contract as head coach of Emirati side

Al Jazira Club Al Jazira Club is an Emirati professional football club based in Abu Dhabi, that currently competes in the UAE Pro League. History Al-Jazira was established in 1974 as a merger between ''Khalidiyah'' and ''Al Bateen''. The club struggled to st ...

. On 11 March 2012, Al Jazira announced that they had parted company with Vercauteren. They stated the reason behind the controversial exit of Vercauteren was because he was not getting on with the players. On the same day, he was replaced by

Caio Júnior Luiz Carlos Sarolli (8 March 1965 – 28 November 2016), known as Caio Júnior or Caio Jr., was a Brazilian football forward and coach. He spent his 14-year professional career in Brazil and Portugal, notably amassing Primeira Liga totals of ...

. Vercauteren joined

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

in November 2012, but was sacked after two months, with the club winning just two games during his tenure. Vercauteren then took over Russian club

Krylia Sovetov Samara PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara (russian: Профессиональный футбольный клуб «Крылья Советов» Самара) is a football club from Russia based in Samara. It returned to the Russian Premier League for the 20 ...

in the summer of 2014 following the club's relegation from the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

. Krylia had spent every one of its 22 previous seasons on the top level. Under Vercauteren's management, Krylia Sovetov won the

2014–15 Russian Football National League The 2014–15 Russian National Football League was the 23rd season of Russia's second-tier football league since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The season began on 6 July 2014 and ended on 30 May 2015. Teams League table Results St ...

and were promoted back to the Premier League. In 2018, Vercauteren won promotion to the

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

with his club

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisio ...

. He then signed a contract with Saudi club Al-Batin. On 3 October 2019, Vercauteren rejoined Anderlecht. On 17 August 2020, Vercauteren left Anderlecht.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

: 1980–81, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87 *

: List of Belgian Cup finals, 1975–76 *

: 1985, 1987 *

: 1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup, 1975–76, 1977–78; runners-up 1976–77 *

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was originall ...

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

: 1982–83; runners-up 1983–84 *

Amsterdam Tournament The Amsterdam Tournament ( nl, Amsterdam Toernooi) was a pre-season association football competition, held in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The competition was hosted by Eredivisie club Ajax at the Amsterdam Arena. It was inaugurated in 1975 as the Ams ...

: 1976 *

Tournoi de Paris The Tournoi de Paris, also known as Trophée de Paris, was a pre-season association football invitational competition hosted by French club Paris Saint-Germain at their home ground Parc des Princes in Paris, France. The competition was founded in ...

: 1977 *

Jules Pappaert Cup Trophy Jules Pappaert or Pappaert cup is a Belgian football trophy since 1953 and is awarded annually to a club in the first, second or third division of the Belgian Pro League with the longest uninterrupted series of unbeaten games. The award is ...

: 1977, 1983, 1985 * Belgian Sports Merit Award: 1978 *

Bruges Matins The Matins of Bruges ( nl, Brugse Metten) was the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges and their supporters, a political faction in favour of French rule, on 18 May 1302 by the members of the local Flemish militia. It has been ...

: 1985 Belgium *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

( fourth place)

Manager

Anderlecht *

: 2005–06, 2006–07 *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Genk *

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Krylia Sovetov *

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

: 2014–15 Cercle Brugge * Promotion to

: 2017–18

Individual

Belgian Golden Shoe In association football, the Belgian Golden Shoe ( nl, Gouden Schoen, french: Soulier d'Or) is an award given in Belgium at the beginning of each civil year to the best footballer of the Belgian First Division A for the past year. The trophy is spon ...

: 1983 *

Ballon d'Or The Ballon d'Or (; ) is an annual football award presented by French news magazine ''France Football'' since 1956. Between 2010 and 2015, in an agreement with FIFA, the award was temporarily merged with the FIFA World Player of the Year (fo ...

nomination:

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

* Belgian Professional Manager of the Year:

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Vercauteren, Franky 1956 births Living people People from Molenbeek-Saint-Jean Belgian footballers Belgian football managers Belgium international footballers Belgian expatriate footballers FC Nantes players Expatriate footballers in France Belgian expatriate sportspeople in France R.S.C. Anderlecht players R.S.C. Anderlecht managers 1982 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Belgian First Division A players Ligue 1 players Belgium national football team managers K.R.C. Genk managers K.V. Mechelen managers PFC Krylia Sovetov Samara managers Expatriate football managers in Russia Belgian expatriate football managers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Russian Premier League managers Al Jazira Club managers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. managers Al Batin FC managers Oud-Heverlee Leuven non-playing staff Royal Antwerp F.C. managers Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Association football wingers UEFA Cup winning players Saudi Professional League managers Footballers from Brussels