Johannes-Franciscus Bonfrère (born 15 June 1946) is a Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of Athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...

and former

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

who spent his playing career with

MVV Maastricht Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently ...

. In a long coaching career Bonfrère managed several teams in Africa and Asia. He guided

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

to their victory in the

1996 Olympic Games The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Playing career

Between 1963 and 1985 Bonfrère scored 50 goals in 335 league appearances for

, his only club.

Coaching career

Nigeria

Bonfrère led

Nigeria national football team The Nigeria national football team represents Nigeria in Men's international Association football, football. Governed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), they are three-time Africa Cup of Nations (Africa Cup of Nations, AFCON) winners, w ...

to the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

gold medal in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. He was the coach of

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

in Egypt in 2002/03 where he lost the league at the final match with a difference of two points. His contract was terminated after that. He also led

to the

2000 African Cup of Nations The 2000 African Cup of Nations was the 22nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa ( CAF). It was co-hosted by Ghana and Nigeria, who jointly replaced Zimbabwe as host. Just like in 1998, the field ...

co-hosted by

and

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

. Bonfrère led the Nigerian team to the finals, where they lost to

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

by penalties. On 7 June 2018, Jo was offered a 3 bedroom apartment by the Nigerian government as part of the promise made by late General Sanni Abacha after winning the gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics for Nigeria.

Asia and South Korea

He was hired to coach the

South Korea national football team The South Korea national football team (; recognized as Korea Republic by FIFA) represents South Korea in men's international Association football, football and is governed by the Korea Football Association, a member of FIFA and the Asian Foot ...

in June 2004 to replace

Humberto Coelho Humberto Manuel de Jesus Coelho (born 20 April 1950) is a Portuguese retired footballer and manager. In a career mainly associated with Benfica, the central defender also competed professionally in France and the United States, during a 16- ...

, who was forced to quit after a draw with the

Maldives national football team The Maldives national football team (Maldivian language, Dhivehi: ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭ ގައުމީ ފުޓްބޯލް ޓީމް) represents the Maldives in international association football, football and is controlled by the Football Associat ...

in a

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

. The Dutch coach got off to a promising start by crushing a highly rated German squad of World Cup stars such as

Michael Ballack Michael Ballack (; born 26 September 1976) is a German former professional footballer. He was selected by Pelé as one of FIFA's 100 Greatest Living Players, and as the UEFA Club Midfielder of the Year in 2002. He won the German Footballer of ...

and

Oliver Kahn Oliver Rolf Kahn (; born 15 June 1969) is a German football executive and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. He started his career in the Karlsruher SC Junior team in 1975. Twelve years later, Kahn made his debut match in t ...

, 3–1, with a young Korean team in a friendly match in December 2004. In 2005, South Korea qualified for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

under him, but a string of disappointing losses thereafter fueled fan and media ire against Bonfrère. He resigned on 23 August that year after poor results in the East Asian Football Championship and a World Cup qualifier loss against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...

Korea Football Association The Korea Football Association () is the governing body of football and futsal within South Korea. It sanctions professional, semi-professional and amateur football in South Korea. Founded in 1933, the governing body became affiliated with ...

then hired

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas "Dick" Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former association football, football player and coach. He is currently the manager of the Curaçao national football team. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a ...

as its third Dutch coach, and Advocaat angered his predecessor by saying he will be another

Guus Hiddink Guus Hiddink (; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. Retired as player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading both c ...

, not Bonfrère. Bonfrère joined former

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Super League (), commonly known as the Chinese Super League or the CSL (), also known as the China Resources Beverage Chinese Football Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Ch ...

champions

Dalian Shide Dalian Shide was a professional Chinese football club based in Dalian, Liaoning province, China who played in China's football league system between 1955 and 2012. Their home stadiums were the 55,843 capacity Dalian People's Stadium and then lat ...

on a one-year contract in the 2007 league season. Despite the team finishing fifth in the league, they were never in contention to win the title and opted not to extend his contract. On 29 June 2011, another

club Henan Construction announced that Bonfrère would lead the team on a 1+1 contract and fight for staying in the Super League. In February 2015, Bonfrère was added to the MVV youth team staff. On 25 May 2017,

China League One The Chinese Football League 1 (), also known as China League One or Chinese Jia League (), is the second level of professional football in China, under the Chinese Super League. The league is under the auspices of the Chinese Football Association ...

club Baoding Yingli ETS signed a one-year contract with Bonfrère.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonfrère, Jo 1946 births Living people People from Eijsden-Margraten Dutch people of French descent Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers Eredivisie players MVV Maastricht players Dutch football managers MVV Maastricht managers Nigeria national football team managers Qatar national football team managers Al Wahda FC managers United Arab Emirates national football team managers Al Ahly SC managers South Korea national football team managers Dalian Shide F.C. managers Henan F.C. managers Dutch expatriate football managers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Nigeria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Dutch expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Nigeria Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in Egypt Expatriate football managers in South Korea Expatriate football managers in China 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup managers 2004 AFC Asian Cup managers Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for Nigeria 2000 African Cup of Nations managers Nigeria women's national football team managers Footballers from Limburg (Netherlands) Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Dutch expatriate sportspeople in China Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Egypt Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 20th-century Dutch sportsmen

Playing career

Coaching career

Nigeria

Asia and South Korea

See also

References