Jacobus Johannes Martinus Paulus "Jean-Paul" van Gastel (; born 28 April 1972 in Breda,

North Brabant North Brabant ( nl, Noord-Brabant ; Brabantian: ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to the w ...

) is a retired football

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 ...

from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, who obtained five caps for the Dutch national team, scoring twice. Currently, he is the Head Coach of

Guangzhou City Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

in the

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional association ...

Club career

Van Gastel started his professional career in 1990 with Willem II, where he stayed for six seasons, before moving to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

. There he won the Dutch title (1999). He moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in 2001 and played for

Ternana Calcio Ternana Calcio, commonly referred to as Ternana, is an Italian football club based in Terni, Umbria. The club was founded in 1925 and refounded in 1993. In its history, Ternana has twice played in Serie A (in the 1972–73 and 1974–75 seas ...

(

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

) and

Como Calcio 1907 Como 1907, commonly referred to as Como, is an Italian football club based in Como, Lombardy, Italy. The club currently plays in Serie B, the second tier of Italian football, following promotion from the 2020–21 Serie C season. The club was fo ...

(

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

). He ended his career in 2003 with De Graafschap.

Coaching career

In the end as a player, he worked from 2004 to 2005 as Head Coach of the U-19 team of Willem II. On 30 June 2005, he began his coaching career with the U-19 of

. During his stint at

as an assistant coach, he alongside

Giovanni van Bronckhorst Giovanni Christiaan van Bronckhorst (born 5 February 1975) is a Dutch football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Rangers. Formerly a midfielder, he moved to left-back later in his career. ...

won 5 trophies at the De Kuip, including an Eredivisie and KNVB Cup. Then in 2020, he joined alongside

in joining

Guangzhou R&F Guangzhou City Football Club (广州城) is a Chinese professional football club that competes in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Guangzhou, Guangdong, and their home venu ...

as an assistant coach. After that season, he became head coach of the club after van Bronckhorst's resignation. In the 2021 season of the

, he led

to a ninth-place finish in the regular standings and a seventh-place finish in the championship round. Including notable matches versus Qingdao 4–2,

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in the Chaoyang District in Beijing and their hom ...

5–0, and their city rivals,

Guangzhou FC Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese Association football, football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Associati ...

by 2-2 and 3-3 respectively. On May 11, 2022, his Twitter account announced that he penned a one-year extension for Guangzhou City.

Honours

Player

* Feyenoord **

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 ...

: 1998–99 ** Johan Cruyff Shield:

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 shoot ...

Manager

Feyenoord *

: 2016–17 *KNVB Cup: 2015–16, 2017–18 * Johan Cruyff Shield:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

References

*
Profile
1972 births Living people Dutch footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Netherlands international footballers Association football midfielders Eredivisie players Serie B players Expatriate footballers in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Willem II (football club) players Feyenoord players Ternana Calcio players Como 1907 players De Graafschap players Footballers from Breda Guangzhou City F.C. managers Guangzhou City F.C. non-playing staff Feyenoord non-playing staff Association football coaches {{Netherlands-footy-midfielder-stub