Henk Houwaart (born August 31, 1945) is a Dutch

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 ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

and a former football player. Born in

the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, Houwaart began his career in 1963 as a footballer playing for

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

until 1967, when he left the club to play for

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

. After being selected once for the Dutch national team, he continued his career in 1969 in Belgium to play for

Club Brugge K.V. (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

and in his first season his team won 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 ...

and 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 ...

in 1973. He was transferred to

Royal Antwerp F.C. Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

in 1975 but six months later, he sustained an injury in a UEFA Cup match against

Śląsk Wrocław Wrocławski Klub Sportowy Śląsk Wrocław Spółka Akcyjna, commonly known as WKS Śląsk Wrocław, Śląsk Wrocław () or simply Śląsk, is a Polish football club based in Wrocław that plays in Ekstraklasa, the highest level of the Polish fo ...

that ended his career.

Coaching career

However, he did not stop his football career and began to work as a trainer. Beginning his career as a trainer of

K.S.V. Roeselare Koninklijke Sport Vereniging Roeselare, abbreviated to KSV Roeselare (),''V.'' in isolation: ., also known in French as KSV Roulers, was a Belgian football club from the city of Roeselare in West Flanders. Its matricule was 134. It last played ...

in 1977, the following season he became trainer of Eendracht Aalst. K.V. Kortrijk was his next club in 1979 and after finishing second in

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Associa ...

his team promoted to First Division. In 1983, he moved to

Cercle Brugge K.S.V. 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 Divisi ...

; however, Houwaart's aim was to become trainer of Club Brugge and one year later he moved there. He won his first trophies with this club, the

in 1986 and 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 ...

the same year. He also won his first Championship as a coach in the 1987–88 season and the same season his team played in UEFA Cup and reached the semi-finals, when they were eliminated by

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as Espanyol, is a professional sports club based in Barcelona, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish football league sy ...

in extra time. He was fired in 1989 after bad results and he returned to his former club K.V. Kortrijk. He then moved to Greece to be the coach of AO Xanthi. After one year in Greece, he returned to Belgium and returned for two years to Cercle Brugge until

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. His next team was K.R.C. Harelbeke, and he helped them to promote to the first division. He stayed there six years, from

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

until

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. After six years coaching K.R.C. Harelbeke, he went to

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 ...

, but few months after, he was fired after a home defeat of the team in

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 ...

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

. For the second time in his career he left Belgium, this time he moved to Cyprus in November 2000 and became coach of

Omonia Nicosia Athletic Club Omonia Nicosia ( el, Αθλητικός Σύλλογος Oμόνοιας Λευκωσίας, ΑΣΟΛ; ''Athlitikos Sillogos Omonias Lefkosias'', ''ASOL''), commonly known as Omonia Nicosia, or simply Omonia (" Harmony"; also tran ...

. Despite that Omonia was the most successful team in Cyprus, they had not won the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

in eight years. Omonia were seven points behind

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta ( el, Ανόρθωση Αμμοχώστου, translit=Anorthosi Ammochostou), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Anorthosis Famagusta multi-sport club fou ...

, who were champions the previous four years and another year seemed lost for Omonia. After Houwaart's departure, Omonia performance changed rapidly and they won the

after 8 years and a few months later they won the

Cyprus Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is us ...

. After a bad beginning in the 2001–02 season, Houwaart quit as coach and went back to Belgium and to Royal Antwerp for the remaining season. He coached

Sporting West Ingelmunster-Harelbeke KRC Harelbeke is a Belgian association football, football club based in Harelbeke, West Flanders. It is the result of the merger between the former club with the same name K.R.C. Zuid-West-Vlaanderen and K.S.V. Ingelmunster in 2002. The club w ...

in 2002–03. He moved to Cyprus again, this time for

AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou ( el, Αθλητική Ένωση Λεμεσού, translation=Athletic Union of Limassol) commonly known as AEL, is a Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL also maintain ...

during the middle of the season 2003–04. Since the day he began coaching AEL Limassol, his team was unbeaten and reached the

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

final. The unbeaten record ended in that final against

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

, when his team lost 2–1. Six months later, he returned to his first Cypriot team, AC Omonia and won the Cypriot Cup after beating

Digenis Morphou Digenis Akritas Morphou ( el, Διγενής Ακρίτας Μόρφου) is a Cypriot sports club from Morphou, founded on 23 April 1931.

in the final 2–0. A few months later, they won the

again. In the Super Cup, Omonia beat Anorthosis Famagusta 5–4 on penal ties after a 2–2 result. The 2005–06, Omonia was contenter for the Championship title, however the team performed badly and he resigned again from Omonia. Since then, he moved to

Sint-Truidense V.V. Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (, is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden in Limburg. Sint-Truiden plays in the Belg ...

in February 2006, where he saved them from relegation. He is now Head Coach from Belgian lower division team

Royal Knokke F.C. Royal Knokke Football Club is a Football in Belgium, Belgian association football club based in Knokke, West Flanders. History The club was founded in 1905. In 2016–17, Knokke won the Belgian Second Amateur Division, Second Amateur Division ...

References

External links

*
Biography at Club Brugge
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houwaart, Henk 1945 births Living people Footballers from The Hague Association football midfielders Dutch footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Netherlands international footballers ADO Den Haag players San Francisco Golden Gate Gales players FC Twente players Club Brugge KV players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Expatriate footballers in Belgium Eredivisie players Belgian Pro League players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Dutch football managers K.V. Kortrijk managers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. managers Club Brugge KV head coaches K.A.A. Gent managers Royal Antwerp F.C. managers AC Omonia managers AEL Limassol managers Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Greece Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Greece Xanthi F.C. managers S.C. Eendracht Aalst managers Aris Limassol FC managers K.S.V. Roeselare managers United Soccer Association players K.R.C. Zuid-West-Vlaanderen managers Dutch expatriate football managers