René Vandereycken (born 22 July 1953) is a Belgian football

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 ...

and a former player. He was the head coach of the Belgium national team from 1 January 2006 to 7 April 2009.

Club career

Vandereycken was born in Spalbeek. He played for Club Brugge,

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

and Anderlecht.

International career

As a player, he got 50 caps and scored three goals for the Belgium national team, and represented Belgium at the

Euro 1980 The 1980 UEFA European Football Championship finals tournament was held in Italy. This was the sixth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. It was the first European Championship to feature eight teams i ...

, in the final of which he scored a penalty.

Coaching career

Vandereycken coached

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 ...

as well as R.S.C. Anderlecht for some months and was fired by

K.R.C. Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four cham ...

in June 2005 after he managed to qualify the team for the

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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

. The other teams he managed were

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch language, Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghen ...

Standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

RWDM RWDM may refer to: * Royal White Daring Molenbeek, a former football club which dissolved in 2002 after financial difficulties. * RWDM47, a football club founded in 2015 to reinstate the history of the former club. See also * R.W.D.M. Brussels F.C. ...

and

Mainz 05 1. Fußball- und Sportverein Mainz 05 e. V., usually shortened to 1. FSV Mainz 05, Mainz 05 () or simply Mainz (), is a German sports club, founded in 1905 and based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. 1. FSV Mainz 05 play in the Bundesliga, the top ...

. Vandereycken is known to like the defensive play and to be a tactician. He was the head coach of the Belgium national team from January 2006 to April 2009. During this time, he was subject to a lot of criticism in the press for his tactical decisions. He was sacked on 7 April 2009 after not managing to get any points from two matches against Bosnia in World Cup qualifying.

Honours

Player

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division 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 te ...

: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1979–80 *

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 ...

: List of Belgian Cup finals, 1976–77 *

Belgian Super Cup 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 champio ...

: 1980 *

European Champion Clubs' Cup The European Champion Clubs' Cup, also known as Coupe des Clubs Champions Européens, or simply the European Cup, is a trophy awarded annually by UEFA to the football club that wins the UEFA Champions League. The competition in its older format ...

: runner-up 1977–78 *

: runner-up 1975–76 * Japan Cup Kirin World Soccer:

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

Jules Pappaert Cup Trophy Jules Pappaert or Pappaert cup is a Belgian football trophy since 1953 and is awarded annually to a club in the first, second or third division of the Belgian Pro League with the longest uninterrupted series of unbeaten games. The award is ...

: 1978 Anderlecht *

: 1984–85, 1985–86 *

: 1985 *

: runner-up 1983–84 *

Bruges Matins The Matins of Bruges ( nl, Brugse Metten) was the nocturnal massacre of the French garrison in Bruges and their supporters, a political faction in favour of French rule, on 18 May 1302 by the members of the local Flemish militia. It has been ...

: 1985 * Jules Pappaert Cup: 1983, 1985 Belgium *

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

: runner-up 1980 *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal enter ...

( fourth place) * Belgian Sports Merit Award: 1980

Manager

* Belgian Professional Manager of the Year: 1991

References

External links

Sport.be website
- News * 1953 births Living people Flemish sportspeople Association football midfielders Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian First Division A players Club Brugge KV players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin players K.A.A. Gent players Genoa C.F.C. players Serie A players Bundesliga players Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Germany UEFA Euro 1980 players UEFA Euro 1984 players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Belgian football managers K.A.A. Gent managers Standard Liège managers R.W.D. Molenbeek managers R.S.C. Anderlecht managers K.R.C. Genk managers FC Twente managers Belgium national football team managers 1. FSV Mainz 05 managers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate football managers {{Belgium-footy-midfielder-stub