Hans-Peter Van Sprew Smit (born June 29, 1958) is an Indonesian-born Filipino football coach. He was an assistant coach of the

Philippine national football team The Philippines national football team () represents the Philippines in men's international football, governed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and has been playing internationally since 1913. Prior to World War II, the Philippines ...

, which participated at the

1996 Tiger Cup The 1996 AFF Championship, sponsored by Asia Pacific Breweries and officially known as the 1996 Tiger Cup, was the inaugural edition of the AFF Championship. It was hosted by Singapore from 1 to 15 September 1996 with all 10 nations of Southeas ...

. He is the current head coach of the

DLSU Lady Booters The De La Salle Lady Booters are the varsity women's football team of the De La Salle University. They compete at the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), as well as at the PFF Women's League (PFFWL), the top flight domestic ...

which plays in the

University Athletic Association of the Philippines The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univ ...

(UAAP), as well as at the

PFF Women's League The PFF Women's League (PFFWL) is the top-flight of women's association football in the Philippines. The league was launched by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) in 2014, with its first season held from 2016 to 2017. It has featured vari ...

Early life and education

Smit was born as an Indonesian citizen in Jakarta, Indonesia but moved to the Philippines at age 6. Smit attended the

University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...

for his college and pursued a sports major program after considering to pursue a course in

Human Resource Management Human resource management (HRM) is the strategic and coherent approach to the effective and efficient management of people in a company or organization such that they help their business gain a competitive advantage. It is designed to maximize e ...

and

Mass Communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large population segments. It utilizes various forms of media as technology has made the dissemination of information more efficient. Primary examples o ...

. He represented his school as a varsity player at the UAAP Football Championships. He voluntarily chose to drop out from the university to focus on his coaching career.

Coaching career

Smit started his coaching career in football at age 21 making him the youngest football coach in the country at that time. He began his coaching career with the newly formed

De La Salle Santiago Zobel School The De La Salle Santiago Zobel School, also referred to by its acronym DLSZ or De La Salle Zobel ( Filipino: Paaralang De La Salle Santiago Zobel), is a private Catholic basic education institution for boys and girls run by the Philippine Di ...

football team in 1981. He also became the youngest Athletic Director in the country when he initiated a varsity program for the Alabang-based

. Smit coached the schools' boys' team. Among the other teams Smit had coached is

Kaya Kaya may refer to: People *Kaya (given name) * Kaya (surname) Places *Kaya, Burkina Faso, a town in Burkina Faso, capital of the department * Kaya Airport, serving the town * Kaya Department, a department or commune of Sanmatenga Province in cen ...

and the National Capital Region youth team. Smit led the

to the top of its group at the elimination round of the UAAP Season 77 football tournament in 2015. In 2016, he served as the first head coach of the team at the

mentoring the team in the 2016-17 season. He guided the team in its 3–0 win against

OutKast Outkast (sometimes written as OutKast) was an American hip-hop duo formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1992, consisting of Big Boi (Antwan Patton) and André 3000 (André Benjamin, formerly known as Dré). Widely regarded as one of the greatest an ...

on their first match of the second round of the league's season which assured them of the league title. Smit also organizes football festivals, leagues and national championships. He is an official Match Commissioner for the

Philippine Football Federation The Philippine Football Federation (PFF) is the governing body of association football in the Philippines. Established as the Philippine Amateur Football Association (PAFA) in 1907, the PFF is one of the oldest national football associations in ...

and certified by the

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

International

Smit had a brief stint as head coach of the Philippine women's national team in 2008. He replaced

Marlon Maro Marlon Maro (born June 21, 1965) is a Filipino football coach and former international football player. He was the head coach of the Philippines women's national football team in 2021. Club career Maro played as a player for U.S F.C., US. Int ...

who last led the team at the

2007 Southeast Asian Games The 2007 Southeast Asian Games (), officially known as the 24th Southeast Asian Games, were a Southeast Asian multi-sport event held in Nakhon Ratchasima province, Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat), Thailand. This was the sixth time Thailand hosted the ...

. Smit led the team at the 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup qualifiers. He was replaced by Joey Villarino the same year who was first tasked to guide the team at the

2008 AFF Women's Championship The 2008 AFF Women's Championship was held from 8 to 20 October 2008, hosted by Vietnam. All games were played at the Thanh Long Sports Centre in Ho Chi Minh City. The hosts managed to get through to the final, but failed to win the title after l ...

Personal life

Smit is married to Carmencita Carlos Smit a natural-born Filipino and has four children who are all likewise born Filipino.

Naturalization

A bill was filed on March 17, 2015 before the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

by Senators Pia and

Alan Cayetano Alan Peter Schramm Cayetano ( Tagalog pronunciation: ajɛˈtano born October 28, 1970) is a Filipino lawyer, diplomat, and politician serving as a senator since 2022 and previously from 2007 to 2017. He was the Senate Minority Leader from 20 ...

regarding the granting of

Philippine citizenship Philippine nationality law details the conditions by which a person is a nationality, national of the Philippines. The two primary pieces of legislation governing these requirements are the 1987 Constitution of the Philippines and the 1939 Re ...

to Hans Smit for staying more than 50 years in the country and for his contribution to Philippine football. On June 6, 2016, the bill was approved in the Senate in the third and final reading, in time for the 16th Congress' sine die adjournment. On July 21, 2016, Smit became a naturalized Filipino citizen with the lapsing into law of the bill now known as Republic Act No. 10914, which was regarding his naturalization.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Hans 1958 births Living people People from Jakarta Filipino football managers Filipino people of Indonesian descent University of the Philippines alumni Philippines women's national football team managers University Athletic Association of the Philippines men's footballers Naturalized citizens of the Philippines Filipino people of Dutch descent Indonesian people of Dutch descent Indo people