Hein Vanhaezebrouck (; born 16 February 1964) is a Belgian football manager who is currently leading

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

in 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 ...

. He has a reputation of favouring an offensive style of play.

Early life

Vanhaezebrouck was born in

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Regio ...

and raised in Lauwe.

Career

Hein Vanhaezebrouck is a former player for

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 2009 ...

, KRC Harelbeke and

Sporting Lokeren Koninklijke Sporting Club Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen (; often simply called Sporting Lokeren or Lokeren) was a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Lokeren, in the province of East Flanders. The club was founded in 1923 but ce ...

, among other clubs. Vanhaezebrouck left White Star Lauwe to become the coach of

on 1 July 2006, replacing

Manu Ferrera Manu Ferrera (born 21 October 1958) is a Spanish-born football coach, best known for his career in Belgium. He works as a scout for Gent. Career As a player He started playing football at Crossing Schaerbeek, the team in which he made his debut ...

. In 2007–08 Vanhaezebrouck led Kortrijk to promotion to the first division football by winning the second division title. In the

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 ...

, Kortrijk finished in the quarter finals against

KAA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

, despite a 5–1 victory in the home game. This confrontation and the offensive play of Kortrijk aroused the interest of KAA Gent to succeed

Trond Sollied Trond Johan Sollied (born 29 April 1959) is a Norway, Norwegian Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player. He last managed K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen, Lokeren. During his playing career, Sollied ...

as head coach. However, at the end of April 2008, Vanhaezebrouck signed a contract renewal of two years (until 2010) at Kortrijk. Right there, he became well known for the acquisition of Google-striker

Istvan Bakx Istvan Bakx (born 20 January 1986) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He was a left-footed winger, and could also be used as a striker. Club career Bakx was discovered by Sparta Rotterdam in 2005, while he was playing for VV Kloetinge i ...

. Vanhaezebrouck discovered Bakx by Internet browser

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Vanhaezebrouck went to

KRC Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four champ ...

. He was fired as coach of KRC Genk on 29 November 2009. At that time, Genk was 12th in the ranking after 16 games. His successor was

Franky Vercauteren François Vercauteren (born 28 October 1956), nicknamed "The Little Prince", is a Belgian former footballer who played as a left winger. He is currently unemployed after most recently managing Antwerp. Club career Vercauteren made his first ...

. In June 2010, Vanhaezebrouck decided to return to KV Kortrijk for the 2010–11 season. The team finished tenth in the rankings. The following year, the team reached the cup final, losing 1–0 against

. On 10 May 2013, it was announced that he had re-signed with KV Kortrijk. In May 2014, he decided to leave KV Kortrijk for KAA Gent. There, he reached his biggest success, as he won, after his championships with Kortrijk in Third and Second Division, also the championship with Gent in First Division in 2015, after a 2-0 victory against

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 met European success with KAA Gent, in both the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, reaching the 2nd round (season 2015-2016), and in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, reaching the 3rd round (season 2016-2017). In October 2017 Vanhaezebrouck signed for

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

. The first season was extremely disappointing and on 17 December 2018 Vanhaezebrouck was sacked. During the 2006 World Cup, he was an analyst and commentor on

VT4 The VT-4 (), also known as the MBT-3000, is a Chinese third generation main battle tank built by Norinco for overseas export. Development During the development of Type 90-II/Al-Khalid (also known as MBT-2000) in the 1980s, the gearbox and e ...

, and has since 2016 served as analyst on Sporting Telenet.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

AA Gent *

Belgian Pro League 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 ...

: 2014–15 *

: 2021–22 Belgian Cup, 2021–22 *

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 ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Individual

* Belgian Professional Manager of the Year: 2011-12 * Belgian Sports Coach of the Year: 2015, * Best Football Coach of the Year: 2015 * Guy Thys Award: 2015 * Raymond Goethals Award: 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanhaezebrouck, Hein 1968 births Belgian footballers Belgian football managers K.A.A. Gent managers K.R.C. Genk managers K.V. Kortrijk managers R.S.C. Anderlecht managers Living people Sportspeople from Kortrijk Association football defenders Belgian Pro League managers