Hans Somers (born 9 March 1978) is a Belgian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player who is currently the manager of the Under-21 team of

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 ...

Playing career

Somers started his professional career with

Lierse Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

, where he played for five seasons, and was a regular in three of those seasons. 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 ...

, his strengths were in the passing game. During his time at

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

, he became renowned for his long

throw-in A throw-in is a method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball has exited the side of the field of play. It is governed by Law 15 of The Laws of the Game. Award When the ball goes out of play past the touch-line ...

. After his stint at Lierse, Somers left for Turkey where he started playing for

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

. There too, he became an established starter in midfield. After three seasons with Trabzonspor, Somers moved to the Dutch

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 2004 where he played for Utrecht. One of his most memorable moments at the club came in the

2004 Johan Cruyff Shield The ninth edition of the Johan Cruyff Shield ( nl, Johan Cruijff Schaal) was held on 8 August 2004 between 2003–04 Eredivisie champions Ajax and 2003–04 KNVB Cup winners FC Utrecht. FC Utrecht won the match 4–2. Match details ...

against Ajax; his official debut for the club. Somers came on as a substitute when Utrecht were losing 2–1, and promptly scored twice to put them 3–2 up. They went on to win 4–2. In the regular season, however, he would score only twice in 27 appearances, something he would repeat in the following seasons. After leaving Utrecht, Somers became a player-assistant at Belgian lower-league club KSV Schriek in October 2011.

Managerial career

Somers started his career as head coach of

Hasselt Hasselt (, , ; la, Hasseletum, Hasselatum) is a Belgian city and municipality, and capital and largest city of the province of Limburg in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is known for its former branding as "the city of taste", as well as its ...

. He has since worked as a coach in the

youth academy.

Honours

Lierse *

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 ...

: 1998–99 Belgian Cup, 1998–99 *

Belgian Super Cup 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 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

Trabzonspor *

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupası ...

: 2002–03, 2003–04 Utrecht *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

References

External links

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Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Somers, Hans 1978 births Living people Belgian footballers Association football midfielders FC Utrecht players Lierse S.K. players Trabzonspor footballers Belgian Pro League players Süper Lig players Eredivisie players Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Sportspeople from Mechelen Footballers from Antwerp Province Belgian football managers K.R.C. Genk non-playing staff