Reinhard Jozef Petrus Meulensteen (born 25 March 1964) is a Dutch former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and coach who is currently assistant coach of the Australia national soccer team. He spent the early parts of his career working in the Netherlands before taking up managerial roles with the Qatari youth team, as well as clubs

Al-Ittihad Al-Ittihad (Arabic: الاتحاد "The Union"), sometimes transliterated as Al-Etihad or Al-Ettihad may refer to: Sports Football Libya *Al-Ittihad Club (Tripoli), a football club based in Bab Ben Gashier * Al Ittihad Gheryan, a football club bas ...

and

Al-Sadd Al Sadd Sports Club ( ar, نادي السد الرياضي, lit=Dam Sports Club) is a Qatari sports club based in the Al Sadd district of the city of Doha. It is best known for its association football team, which competes in the ...

. He then spent 12 years, split either side of a year stint at Brøndby, with

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

side Manchester United in various non-managerial capacities. Following his departure from the club in 2013, Meulensteen was in charge for short spells at

Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founded ...

, Fulham and

Maccabi Haifa Maccabi Haifa ( he, מכבי חיפה) is one of the biggest sports clubs in Israel and a part of the Maccabi association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Haifa which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as Football ...

Managerial career

Early career

While still playing, Meulensteen became a youth coach at NEC Nijmegen. In June 2006, he signed a three-year contract with

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

club Brøndby IF to become manager of the club, but resigned after six months. On 18 January 2007, Meulensteen rejoined Manchester United as technical skills development coach mainly to work with the first team. After the departure in July 2008 of their assistant manager,

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirat ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

as their

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

manager, Meulensteen took over as first team coach, with

Mike Phelan Michael Christopher Phelan (born 24 September 1962) is an English professional football coach and former player who is currently a coach at Manchester United. Born in Nelson, Lancashire, he spent most of his playing career at Burnley, Norwich ...

being promoted to assistant manager. Both assumed their new roles on 13 August 2008. During his time as first-team coach, he helped Sir Alex Ferguson secure the

title in 2008–09,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

and

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

; the Community Shield in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, 2010, 2011, the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

in 2008–09 and 2009–10; the UEFA Champions League in 2007–08 and FIFA Club World Cup in

. Manchester United confirmed his departure from the club on 26 June 2013, after incoming manager David Moyes decided to bring in his own coaching team. On 1 July 2013, Meulensteen signed a contract with

FC Anzhi Makhachkala Football Club Anzhi Makhachkala (russian: link=no, Футбо́льный клуб «Анжи́» Махачкала́, ), known simply as FC Anji, was a Russian professional football club based in the Dagestani capital of Makhachkala. Founde ...

joining Guus Hiddink as an assistant coach. Hiddink left Anzhi after only two games into the 2013–14 Russian Premier League season, allowing Meulensteen to step up to head coach. After 16 days in charge, Meulensteen was sacked and replaced by Gadzhi Gadzhiyev.

Fulham

Meulensteen returned to England in November 2013 to take up the position of head coach under Martin Jol at Fulham. Less than three weeks later, Jol was sacked by Fulham after five consecutive league defeats, with Meulensteen taking over as manager. His first match as Fulham manager was a 2–1 loss to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

on 4 December, where

Ashkan Dejagah Seyed Ashkan Dejagah ( fa, سید اشكان دژآگه, born 5 July 1986), known as Ashkan Dejagah, is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Persian Gulf Pro League club Foolad. He represented Germany at youth level ...

scored the only goal for Meulensteen's side. Fulham won their first match under Meulensteen days later on 8 December, beating Aston Villa 2–0 with goals from Steve Sidwell and

Dimitar Berbatov Dimitar Ivanov Berbatov ( bg, Димитър Иванов Бербатов; born 30 January 1981) is a Bulgarian former professional footballer. A striker, he captained the Bulgaria national team from 2006 to 2010, and is the country's all-ti ...

. On 14 February 2014, Fulham hired

Felix Magath Wolfgang Felix Magath (; born 26 July 1953) is a German football manager and former player. The most notable spell of his playing career was with Hamburger SV, with whom he won three Bundesliga titles, the 1977 European Cup Winners' Cup Final a ...

to replace Meulensteen as manager, sacking Meulensteen four days later. In November 2014, he was hired as a consultant by the Philadelphia Union from Major League Soccer.

Maccabi Haifa

On 9 August 2016, Meulensteen was presented as head coach by

from

Israeli Premier League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

. His appointment lasted just over six months, and then resigned as head coach on 13 February 2017.

Kerala Blasters

On 14 July 2017, Meulensteen was appointed as head coach of

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

side

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

. The club parted ways with Meulensteen after poor start of the season. He resigned as head coach on 2 January 2018.

Personal life

Meulensteen's daughter Pien is a television presenter and reporter in the UK, whilst his son

Melle Melle may refer to: People * Basil Melle (1891–1966), South African cricketer * Gil Mellé (1931–2004), American artist, jazz musician and film composer * John van Melle (1887–1953), Dutch-born South African author * Melle Mel (born 19 ...

is also a footballer.

References

External links

Brøndby IF profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meulensteen, Rene 1964 births Living people People from Boxmeer Dutch footballers Association football midfielders Dutch football managers Dutch expatriate football managers Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Al Sadd SC managers Al-Gharafa SC managers FC Anzhi Makhachkala managers Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Fulham F.C. managers Maccabi Haifa F.C. managers Kerala Blasters FC head coaches Premier League managers Israeli Premier League managers Expatriate football managers in Denmark Expatriate football managers in Qatar Expatriate football managers in Russia Expatriate football managers in England Expatriate football managers in Israel Indian Super League head coaches Danish Superliga managers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Dutch expatriate sportspeople in India Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Russia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Israel Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Footballers from North Brabant NEC Nijmegen players NEC Nijmegen non-playing staff Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Australia