Eric Meijers (born 6 August 1963) is a Dutch football manager.

Coaching career

Meijers is mostly known for his ten-year spell as head coach of Achilles '29, which he turned into a mainstay of Dutch amateur football and a national

Topklasse The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

in 2012, for which he was awarded the Rinus Michels Award as best amateur coach of the year. His successes in 2012 won him interest from

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

professionals

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport is a professional association football club based in the city of Helmond, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. The club was founded on 27 June 1967, as ...

, who hired him as new head coach for the 2012–13 season in a one-year contract. Thanks also to five wins in the first five games of the seasons, Helmond ended the season in an impressive fourth place, but was defeated by Sparta Rotterdam in the promotion playoffs. Meijers could not repeat his positive performances in the following seasons, as he was dismissed in September 2013 due to poor results after a home loss to

Almere City FC Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, and hosts home matches at the Yanmar Stadion. The club builds on former c ...

. In January 2014, it was announced Meijers would return into amateur football, replacing Hans Kraay, Jr. at ambitious

club

JVC Cuijk JVC Cuijk is a Dutch association football club from Cuijk Cuijk (; dialect: ''Kuuk'') is a town in the northeastern part of the province of North Brabant, Netherlands. It is the successor of a Roman settlement on the west bank of the Meuse, 13& ...

, effective from the following 2014–15 season. On 9 November 2014, it was announced that he would return to Achilles '29 after the season to succeed François Gesthuizen, who had made the move to professional football. In 2017, he relegated with Achilles '29 to the Tweede Divisie. After the club struggled with bankruptcy for its professional and first team refused to practice, Meijers immediately stepped down from his position on 11 January 2018. Meijers gained national fame in September 2018 because of a trailer for the documentary ''Voetbal is oorlog'' (Football is war) about the relegation year with Achilles '29. Starting November 2018 he began coaching

VVSB VVSB (Voetbal Vereniging Sint Bavo) is an amateur association football club from Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands. It currently plays in the Derde Divisie. History The club was founded on October 26, 1931 and has played exclusively at the amateur l ...

. He left the position on 14 November 2019 to become the manager of Tweede Divisie club SV Spakenburg. On 8 November 2021, Meijers was sacked by Spakenburg, with the club sitting in seventeenth position in the Tweede Divisie.Amateurclub Spakenburg ontslaat trainer Eric Meijers
gelderlander.nl, 8 November 2021

References

1963 births Living people Footballers from Nijmegen Dutch footballers Dutch football managers Achilles '29 managers Helmond Sport managers Association footballers not categorized by position SV Spakenburg managers VVSB managers {{Netherlands-footy-bio-stub