Franciscus Johannes Antonius Gesthuizen "François" Gesthuizen (born 18 September 1972) is a Dutch professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

, who is currently coaching the

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

U18-team.

Playing career

Club career

Born in

Millingen aan de Rijn Millingen aan de Rijn () is a former municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Ne ...

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

, Gesthuizen started playing football at MVV '18 in his hometown as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Afterwards he played youth football at SV Hatert,

and PSV. He made his debut in the 1992–93 season on loan at NAC, for whom he made 82 total appearances during his time there. With the club he managed to achieve promotion to the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

in his first season. In 1994, NAC signed him on a permanent deal from PSV. In 1997, Gesthuizen moved to

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

. He made more than 50 appearances for the

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

team in three seasons. In 2000, Gesthuizen moved to

SC Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2020–21 Ee ...

, where he would stay for two seasons. In 2002, he left for

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

, where he retired from professional football three years later, in 2005. Gesthuizen made a total of 216 appearances in professional football, scoring 12 goals. As amateur level, he continued with

JVC Cuijk JVC Cuijk is a Dutch association football club from Cuijk Cuijk (; dialect: ''Kuuk'') is a town in the northeastern part of the province of North Brabant, Netherlands. It is the successor of a Roman settlement on the west bank of the Meuse, 13& ...

in the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie, formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league is divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This is a result of ...

until 2008.

International career

Gesthuizen was a Dutch youth international. He was part of the Netherlands national under-16 team at the

1989 UEFA European Under-16 Championship The 1989 UEFA European Under-16 Championship was the seventh edition of UEFA's European Under-16 Football Championship. Denmark hosted the championship, during 4–14 May 1989. 16 teams entered the competition, and Portugal won their first title. ...

in Denmark.

Managerial career

Gesthuizen started his coaching career at his last professional club;

. For this club, he worked for several years as a youth coach at the regional football academy

FC Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviatio ...

, for the U17 team, among others. In 2010, Gesthuizen was appointed head coach of eight tier

Derde Klasse The ('Third Class') is the eighth tier of football in the Netherlands and the sixth tier of Dutch amateur football. The league is divided into 44 divisions, 20 played on Saturday and 24 on Sunday. Each division consists of 14 teams. The champion ...

club VV Rood Wit from

Breedeweg Breedeweg is a village in the Dutch province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Berg en Dal, about 1 km south of Groesbeek Groesbeek () is a town and former municipality in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. In J ...

, where he won the championship in his first season. He then moved to fifth-tier

club Blauw Geel '38 from

Veghel Veghel () is a town and a former municipality in the southern Netherlands. On 1 January 2017 Veghel, together with Schijndel and Sint-Oedenrode, merged into a new municipality called Meierijstad creating the largest municipality of the provinc ...

. In his first season, he finished in second place behind

VV Gemert Voetbalvereniging Gemert is an association football club from Gemert, Netherlands. In the 2017-18 season it plays in the Sunday Hoofdklasse B. History Gemert's recent appearances in the KNVB Cup, Dutch national cup were in 2006–07 KNVB Cup, ...

and in fifth place in his second season. Gesthuizen signed a two-year contract as head coach of

Achilles '29 Achilles '29 is a football club from Groesbeek, Netherlands, competing in the sixth-tier Eerste Klasse. The club is known for its successes in the Dutch domestic cup, having knocked FC Volendam, Heracles Almelo, RKC Waalwijk, Telstar and MV ...

in June 2013.

Arno Arts Arno Arts (born 26 June 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, ...

had long been considered a favorite to succeed

Jan van Deinsen Jan van Deinsen (born 19 June 1953 in Tiel, Gelderland) is a retired association football, football midfielder and Striker (association football), forward from the Netherlands. Playing career Club The left-sided midfielder from Wamel made his pr ...

in the position, but according to chairman Harrie Derks, both men matched the profile of the new head coach; a young coach with professional footballing experience from the region. The

Groesbeek Groesbeek () is a town and former municipality in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. In January 2015 the former municipality merged with Millingen aan de Rijn and Ubbergen. The larger area was known as Groesbeek until January 2016, when ...

-based team made their first ever appearance in the second-tier

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

that season. In Gesthuizen's debut in the Eerste Divisie, Achilles drew 2–2 at

FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch football club based in Emmen, Drenthe. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie title. Founded in 1925, the club entered the professional Eerste Divisie in 1985. I ...

. In their debut season, Achilles '29 finished in last place and suffered relegation to the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

. In October 2014, it was announced that Gesthuizen's contract with Achilles would not be extended and that he was replaced by

Eric Meijers Eric Meijers (born 6 August 1963) is a Dutch football manager. Coaching career Meijers is mostly known for his ten-year spell as head coach of Achilles '29, which he turned into a mainstay of Dutch amateur football and a national Topklasse in 201 ...

. In May 2015, Gesthuizen passed for the coaching diploma. In June 2015, Gesthuizen was appointed as the new head coach of DFS. In the summer of 2016, he moved to

. He was dismissed half a season later, in February 2017, after a 2–7 home loss to

. At that time, TOP Oss was in 17th position in the Eerste Divisie. From the 2017–18 season, Gesthuizen coached the U17 side of the NEC/TOP Oss academy and worked as an analyst for the first team of

. In the 2019–20 season, he became joint head coach of NEC together with Adrie Bogers and

Rogier Meijer Rogier Meijer (born 5 September 1981) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player, who is the head coach of Eredivisie club NEC. As a player, Meijer appeared his entire professional career for De Graafschap as a midfielder. In Ma ...

, where he was mostly the face of the trio towards the media. In mid-2020, he became the coach of the NEC U18 team, after losing out to Mark Otten for the position of U21 coach.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gesthuizen, Francois 1972 births Living people People from Millingen aan de Rijn Association football midfielders Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers PSV Eindhoven players Fortuna Sittard players NAC Breda players SC Cambuur players TOP Oss players JVC Cuijk players Dutch football managers Achilles '29 managers TOP Oss managers NEC Nijmegen managers NEC Nijmegen non-playing staff Footballers from Gelderland