Hans Croon (25 May 1936 – 5 February 1985) was a Dutch

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

who won the 1976 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup Final with

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 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, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

Managerial career

As well as Anderlecht, Croon coached in the Netherlands and Belgium with DWS, VER, HVC,

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. Nicknamed "de Palingboeren", the club was founded ...

K.S.V. Waregem Koninklijke Sportvereniging Waregem was a Belgium, Belgian football club that existed between 1925 and 2001. It played three spells at the Belgian First Division A, highest level in the Belgian football league system each separated by a single s ...

, Lierse S.K. and

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

. His Anderlecht side won the 1976 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup with a 4–2 victory over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

on 5 May 1976 at Heysel Stadium in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

. He also won the Belgian Cup in 1976 with Anderlecht. He left Belgium and moved to

, and coached the team until 1978. He later succeeded compatriot

Kees Rijvers Cornelus Bernardus Rijvers (born 27 May 1926) is a Dutch former footballer who was active as a midfielder and later as coach for PSV Eindhoven and the Netherlands national team. He was born in Breda. Playing career Rijvers made his debut at N ...

at Beringen, with whom he suffered relegation from the Eerste Klasse. In 1995, it was reported that Croon was persuading players to take drugs during his short tenure at FC VVV. Then VVV player Mikan Jovanovic confirmed the report, stating he was one of three players to take performance-enhancing pills.

Personal life

After retiring from the football world, the spiritual Croon joined the

Bhagwan movement The Rajneesh movement are people inspired by the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (1931–1990), also known as Osho, particularly initiated disciples who are referred to as "neo-sannyasins". They used to be known as ''Rajneeshees'' or "Orang ...

and named himself ''Shunyam Avyakul''.Column - Wie denkt er nog aan Shunyam Avyakul?
- Voetbal International

Death

He died in February 1985 in a Rotterdam hospital at the age of 48 following a car crash near Arnemuiden a week earlier.

Honours

Manager

SV Waregem

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, 1972-73 ; RSC Anderlecht *

: List of Belgian Cup finals, 1975-76 * UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, European Cup Winners' Cup: 1975–76 (

winners Winners Merchants International L.P is a chain of off-price Canadian department stores owned by TJX Companies. It offers brand name clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, fine jewelry, beauty products, and housewares. Products are at a 20-60 ...

)

References

1936 births 1985 deaths Sportspeople from Malang Dutch football managers AFC DWS managers SV SVV managers FC Volendam managers K.S.V. Waregem managers Lierse S.K. managers R.S.C. Anderlecht managers NEC Nijmegen managers VVV-Venlo managers K. Beringen F.C. managers Road incident deaths in the Netherlands Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Rajneesh movement {{Netherlands-footy-bio-stub