René Vandereycken (born 22 July 1953) is a Belgian retired professional

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 lea ...

and manager. During his playing career, he played as a

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 ...

. He was the head coach of the Belgium national team from 2006 to 2009.

Club career

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

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and

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

International career

Vandereycken earned 50 caps and scored three goals for the Belgium national team. He represented the country at the 1980 UEFA European Championship, where they reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, in which he scored a penalty in a 2–1 loss to

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Coaching career

Vandereycken coached Twente as well as

for some months and was fired by

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

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

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

. He also managed Gent,

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

, RWD Molenbeek and Mainz 05. 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 criticism in the press for his tactical decisions. He was sacked on 7 April 2009 following poor results in their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, including two back-to-back losses against

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Honours

Player

Club Brugge *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

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

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1976–77 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

: 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 Association football, football club that wins the UEFA Champions League. The competiti ...

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 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

* Jules Pappaert Cup: 1978 Anderlecht *Belgian First Division: 1984–85, 1985–86 *Belgian Super Cup: 1985 *UEFA Cup runner-up: 1983–84 * Bruges Matins: 1985 *Jules Pappaert Cup: 1983, 1985 Belgium *

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

runner-up:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

fourth place: 1986 * Belgian Sports Merit Award: 1980

Manager

Individual * Belgian Professional Manager of the Year: 1991

References

External links

Sport.be website
- News * 1953 births Living people Footballers from Hasselt Men's association football midfielders Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's international footballers Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian Pro League players Club Brugge KV players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Blau-Weiß 1890 Berlin players K.A.A. Gent players Genoa CFC players Serie A players Bundesliga players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate football managers 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 (1909) 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 Belgian expatriate sportspeople in West Germany Expatriate men's footballers in West Germany 20th-century Belgian sportsmen {{Belgium-footy-midfielder-stub