Hein Vanhaezebrouck (; born 16 February 1964) is a Belgian football manager. Most recently he was head coach of

Belgian Pro League 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 ...

club

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (; English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Gent or by their nickname ' (), is a Belgian professional sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football tea ...

. He has a reputation of preferring a defensive style of play.

Early life

Vanhaezebrouck was born in

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; or ''Kortrik''; ), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region, Flemish Provinces of Belgium, province of We ...

and raised in Lauwe.

Career

Hein Vanhaezebrouck is a former player for

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 20 ...

, KRC Harelbeke and

Sporting Lokeren Koninklijke Sporting Club Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen (), often simply called Sporting Lokeren or Lokeren, was a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Lokeren, in the province of East Flanders. The club was founded in 1923 but cea ...

, among other clubs. Vanhaezebrouck left White Star Lauwe to become the coach of

on 1 July 2006, replacing

Manu Ferrera Manu Ferrera (born 21 October 1958) is a Spanish-born football coach, best known for his career in Belgium. He works as a scout for Gent. Career As a player He started playing football at Crossing Schaerbeek, the team in which he made his debut ...

. In 2007–08 Vanhaezebrouck led Kortrijk to promotion to the first division by winning the second division title. In the

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 ...

, Kortrijk were beaten in the quarter finals against

KAA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (; English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Gent or by their nickname ' (), is a Belgian professional sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football tea ...

, despite a 5–1 victory in the home game. KAA Gent expressed interest in him as a possible successor to

Trond Sollied Trond Johan Sollied (born 29 April 1959) is a Norwegian football manager and former player. He last managed Lokeren. During his playing career, Sollied was a defender who won the Norwegian top flight five times. He also played for Norway's na ...

as head coach. However, at the end of April 2008, Vanhaezebrouck renewed his contract for two years (until 2010) at Kortrijk. He became well known for the acquisition of Google-striker

Istvan Bakx Istvan Bakx (born 20 January 1986) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer. He was a left-footed Midfielder#Winger, winger, and could also be used as a Striker (association football), striker. Club career Bakx was discove ...

. Vanhaezebrouck discovered Bakx using

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google or Google.com) is a search engine operated by Google. It allows users to search for information on the World Wide Web, Web by entering keywords or phrases. Google Search uses algorithms to analyze an ...

. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Vanhaezebrouck went to

KRC Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk or Racing Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four championship title ...

. He was fired as coach of KRC Genk on 29 November 2009. At that time, Genk was 12th in the ranking after 16 games. His successor was

Franky Vercauteren François Vercauteren (born 28 October 1956), nicknamed "The Little Prince", is a Belgian former footballer who played as a left winger. He is currently the sports director of the Royal Belgian Football Association. Club career Vercauteren ma ...

. In June 2010, Vanhaezebrouck decided to return to KV Kortrijk for the 2010–11 season. The team finished tenth in the rankings. The following year, the team reached the cup final, losing 1–0 against

. On 10 May 2013, it was announced that he had re-signed with KV Kortrijk. In May 2014, he decided to leave KV Kortrijk for KAA Gent. There, he reached his biggest success, as he won, after his championships with Kortrijk in Third and Second Division, also the championship with Gent in First Division in 2015, after a 2-0 victory against

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 ...

, and met European success with KAA Gent, in both the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

, reaching the 2nd round (season 2015-2016), and in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, reaching the 3rd round (season 2016-2017). In October 2017 Vanhaezebrouck signed for

RSC Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, commonly abbreviated to RSC Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional association football, football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Div ...

. The first season was extremely disappointing and on 17 December 2018 Vanhaezebrouck was sacked. During the 2006 World Cup, he was an analyst and commenter on

VT4 The VT-4 (), also known as the MBT-3000, is a Chinese modernized main battle tank built by Norinco for overseas export. Development During the development of Type 90-II/Al-Khalid (also known as MBT-2000) in the 1980s, the gearbox and engin ...

, and has since 2016 served as analyst on Sporting Telenet.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

AA Gent *

: 2014–15 *

: 2021–22 *

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, ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

Individual

* Belgian Professional Manager of the Year: 2011-12 * Belgian Sports Coach of the Year: 2015, * Best Football Coach of the Year: 2015 * Guy Thys Award: 2015 * Raymond Goethals Award: 2015, 2023 * Honorary citizen of

Menen Menen (; ; or ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality located in the Belgium, Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Menen proper and the towns of Lauwe (Belgium), Lau ...

: 2015

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vanhaezebrouck, Hein 1964 births Belgian men's footballers Belgian football managers K.A.A. Gent managers K.R.C. Genk managers K.V. Kortrijk managers R.S.C. Anderlecht managers Living people Footballers from Kortrijk Men's association football defenders Belgian Pro League managers 20th-century Belgian sportsmen