Hans-Peter Van Sprew Smit (born June 29, 1958) is an Indonesian-born Filipino football coach. He was assistant coach of the

Philippine national football team The Philippines national football team (Filipino/ tl, Pambansang koponan ng futbol ng Pilipinas, lit=) represents the Philippines in international football, governed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and has been playing internatio ...

which participated at the 1996 Tiger Cup. He is the current head coach of the

DLSU Lady Booters The De La Salle Lady Booters are the varsity women's football team of the De La Salle University. They compete at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), as well as at the PFF Women's League, the top flight domestic women's ...

which plays in the

University Athletic Association of the Philippines The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univers ...

(UAAP), as well as at the

PFF Women's League The PFF Women's League (PFFWL) is the top-flight of women's association football in the Philippines. History To follow up with the PFF Women's Cup which was launched in 2014, the PFF Women's League was launched on November 5, 2016, by the Philip ...

Early life and education

Smit was born as an Indonesian citizen in Jakarta, Indonesia but moved to the Philippines at age 6. Smit attended the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; fil, Pamantasan ng Pilipinas Unibersidad ng Pilipinas) is a state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by Republic Act No. 9500 (UP Charter of 200 ...

for his college and pursued a sports major program after considering to pursue a course in

Human Resource Management Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

and

Mass Communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

. He represented his school as a varsity player at the

UAAP Football Championship The University Athletic Association of the Philippines Football Championship is usually held during the second semester of the school year (December–April). Tournament format The tournament has three divisions: men, women and boys. As of seaso ...

s. He voluntarily chose to drop out from the university to focus on his coaching career.

Coaching career

Smit started his coaching career in football at age 21 making him the youngest football coach in the country at that time. He began his coaching career with the newly formed

De La Salle Santiago Zobel School The De La Salle Santiago Zobel School, also referred to by its acronym DLSZ or De La Salle Zobel (Filipino: Paaralang De La Salle Santiago Zobel), is a private Catholic basic education institution for boys and girls run by the Philippine District ...

football team in 1981.He also became the youngest Athletic Director in the country when he initiated a varsity program for the Alabang-based

. Smit coached the schools' boys' team. Among the other teams Smit had coached is

Kaya Kaya may refer to: People *Kaya (given name) *Kaya (surname) Places *Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department *Kaya Airport, serving the town * Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in centr ...

and the National Capital Region youth team. Smit led the

to the top of its group at the elimination round of the UAAP Season 77 football tournament in 2015. In 2016, he served as the first head coach of the team at the

mentoring the team in the 2016-17 season. He guided the team in its 3–0 win against OutKast on their first match of the second round of the league's season which assured them of the league title. Smit also organizes football festivals, leagues and national championships. He is an official Match Commissioner for the

Philippine Football Federation The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in ...

and certified by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in some countries/territories in Asia and Oceania. It has 47 member countries most of which are located in Asia. Australia, formerly in ...

International

Smit had a brief stint as head coach of the Philippine women's national team in 2008. He replaced

Marlon Maro Marlon Maro (born June 21, 1965) is a Filipino football coach and former international football player. He was the head coach of the Philippines women's national football team in 2021. Club career Maro played as a player for Philippine Navy. ...

who last led the team at the

2007 Southeast Asian Games The 2007 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 2007, Kila haeng echiye tawan oak chiyeng tai 2007), officially known as the 24th Southeast Asian Games, was a South ...

. Smit led the team at the 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers. He was replaced by Joey Villarino the same year who was first tasked to guide the team at the

2008 AFF Women's Championship The 2008 AFF Women's Championship was held from 8 October to 20 October 2008, hosted by Vietnam. All games were played at the Thanh Long Sports Centre in Ho Chi Minh City. The hosts managed to get through to the final, but failed to win the titl ...

Personal life

Smit is married to Carmencita Carlos Smit a natural-born Filipino and has four children who are all likewise born Filipino.

Naturalization

A bill was filed on March 17, 2015 before the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Senators Pia and

Alan Cayetano Alan Peter Schramm Cayetano ( Tagalog pronunciation: ajɛˈtano born October 28, 1970) is a Filipino politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving as a Senator since 2022 and previously from 2007 to 2017. He was the Senate Minority Leader from 20 ...

regarding the granting of

Philippine citizenship Philippine nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a national of the Philippines. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines and the 1939 Revised Naturaliz ...

to Hans Smit for staying more than 50 years in the country and for his contribution to

Philippine football Association football is a developed sport in the Philippines, played by Filipino football clubs. The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of international football in the country. Football is a popular sport in the Phil ...

. On June 6, 2016, the bill was approved in the Senate in the third and final reading, in time for the 16th Congress' sine die adjournment. On July 21, 2016, Smit became a naturalized Filipino citizen with the lapsing into law of the bill now known as Republic Act No. 10914, which was regarding his naturalization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Hans 1958 births Living people People from Jakarta Filipino football managers Filipino people of Indonesian descent University of the Philippines alumni Philippines women's national football team managers University Athletic Association of the Philippines men's footballers Naturalized citizens of the Philippines Filipino people of Dutch descent Indonesian people of Dutch descent Indo people