Nicky Hayen (born 16 August 1980) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

football manager and former professional footballer who is currently head coach at

Challenger Pro League The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

club

Club NXT Club NXT is the youth academy of Belgian football club Club Brugge. The most senior team of Club NXT acts as Club Brugge's reserve team, and competes in the Challenger Pro League, the second flight of Belgian football. History On 1 July 2020 ...

Career

From 1999 on, Hayen played nine seasons at the highest level of Belgian professional football with

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The mun ...

, before moving to

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

in the second division in the Netherlands for two seasons. He returned to Belgium in 2010 by joining

Oud-Heverlee Leuven Oud-Heverlee Leuven (), also called OH Leuven or OHL, is a Belgian football club from the city of Leuven. It was created in 2002 from the merger of three clubs, '' F.C. Zwarte Duivels Oud-Heverlee'', whose registration number it inherited, '' ...

and was part of the team achieving promotion to the

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 tea ...

. In the summer of 2012, he was loaned out for one season to Antwerp, but when the season ended he was released and became player-coach at Dender EH in the

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division ( nl, Derde klasse, french: Division III) was the third highest level in Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each ( A and B) at the same level. This competition, originally known as the Belgian Promotion ...

. In February 2014, he was relieved of his coaching duties at Dender EH due to bad result, but stayed with the team as player. On 31 December 2021, Hayen was announced as manager of

Cymru Premier The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 200 ...

club Haverfordwest County on an initial 18-month contract. This was duly extended for a further 12 months upon confirmation of safety towards the end of the 2021-2022 season, after an excellent run of form. Hayen was the first Belgian manager to work in the Cymru Premier. He left the club in June 2022 to return to Belgium to take up a position as manager of Club Brugge's under-23 team,

References

1980 births Living people Belgian men's footballers Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Sint-Truidense V.V. players RBC Roosendaal players Oud-Heverlee Leuven players Royal Antwerp F.C. players F.C.V. Dender E.H. players Eerste Divisie players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Men's association football forwards Sint-Truidense V.V. managers S.K. Beveren managers Belgian football managers Haverfordwest County A.F.C. managers Expatriate football managers in Wales Sportspeople from Sint-Truiden Footballers from Limburg (Belgium) Club Brugge KV non-playing staff {{Belgium-footy-forward-stub