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Johan Antonius "Han" Berger (born 17 June 1950) is a Dutch association football coach and former player.


Managerial career


FC Utrecht

Berger is the youngest head coach ever in the history of professional football in the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. After suffering a severe knee injury, his playing career ended at the age of 22 and he was appointed youth and assistant coach at his hometown side
FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...
. When the then head coach Jan Rab was dismissed in January 1976, Berger was chosen above Pim van de Meent to be appointed head coach of FC Utrecht at the age of 25. After that he coached 637 games in the Dutch
Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...
, being particularly successful with FC Utrecht and
FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...
, leading them to a number of
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 ...
campaigns. Under his management
Cambuur Leeuwarden SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...
in 1998 won the 1st division play-offs for promotion to the Eredivisie. He left the club that summer. From 1998 till August 2000 Berger was in charge of the national youth teams program of the
Royal Dutch Football Association The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues ( Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and w ...
(KNVB) and head coach of the Netherlands Under 21 and Olympic Team and in 2004 he coached
Oita Trinita is a Japanese football club located in Ōita, Capital of Ōita Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football. Name origin The club's name, ''Trinita'', is the Italian translation of the word ' ...
in the Japanese
J-League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...
.


Australia

As director of football at FC Utrecht and
De Graafschap Vereniging Betaald Voetbal De Graafschap, simply known as De Graafschap () is a professional association football club based in Doetinchem, Netherlands. The team competes in the , the second level of the Dutch football league system. Founded o ...
he acquired a reputation for implementing successful technical strategies, particularly in the field of youth development. Because of this he was offered the role of technical director of the
Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...
. He held this position from January 2009 till July 2014. In 2010 Berger also had a short spell as caretaker manager of the Socceroos. On 17 April 2014 Berger was appointed as a member of Directors on the board of Sydney FC. On 24 June 2016 it was announced that Berger was appointed as technical director at Sydney FC.


Personal life

Berger's son
Ruud Ruud and Rud are surnames of Norwegian origin. Both are also Norwegian place names of numerous farmsteads named Rud or Ruud from Old Norse ''ruð'' meaning clearing. Ruud is also a Dutch masculine given name meaning "famous wolf" although it is als ...
is a retired professional footballer, who played for FC Utrecht when Han was the club's technical director.FC Utrecht verhuurt Ruud Berger
– Voetbal International


Managerial statistics


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berger, Han 1950 births Living people Footballers from Utrecht (city) Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Velox SC players Dutch football managers FC Utrecht managers FC Groningen managers AZ Alkmaar managers Fortuna Sittard managers FC Dordrecht managers Sparta Rotterdam managers SC Cambuur managers Oita Trinita managers Australia men's national soccer team managers J1 League managers Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Japan Expatriate soccer managers in Australia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Australia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Japan Association football technical directors 20th-century Dutch sportsmen