Henk de Jong (born 27 August 1964) is a Dutch professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager who is the head coach of club Cambuur.

Early life and career

De Jong studied at the Central Institute for Sports Education (CIOS) in

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

, where his instructors included

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch football coach. He is known for his long association with Frisian club Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national team during 2011 and then rejoined Heerenveen's youth prog ...

, and his peers included

Wiljan Vloet Wiljan Vloet (born 10 September 1962) is a Dutch football manager, executive and former player. He serves as the sporting director of FC Den Bosch. Playing career As a footballer, Vloet never played for a professional club. He started his caree ...

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, and Jan de Jonge. He played for Drachtster Boys until age 19 before joining

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

's first team, but a knee injury ended his playing career prematurely.

Managerial career

De Jong's coaching career began at Drachtster Boys, where he coached the youth teams for seven years before taking charge of the first team in the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

for three years. In 1997, he moved to Sunday Hoofdklasse club

Sneek Sneek (; ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city southwest of Leeuwarden and the seat of the former municipality of Sneek in the province of Friesland, Netherlands. As of 2011 it is the seat of the municipality of Súdw ...

. Two years later, in 1999, he joined

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

as an assistant coach under

Fritz Korbach Fritz Korbach (18 July 1945 – 14 August 2011) was a German professional football player and manager. He was particularly well known in the Netherlands, where he served eleven different teams, including FC Wageningen, FC Zwolle, FC Volendam, ...

. After one season, De Jong left the club and spent two years as an assistant coach at

, where he helped the youth teams win national titles. He then moved to

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, where he served as coach of the reserves and as assistant to the first team under

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before returning to the amateur level to coach

Harkemase Boys Harkemase Boys is a football club from Harkema, Netherlands. The club plays in the Derde Divisie since 2016, when it won a section championship in the Hoofdklasse. History On 27 October 2021, they became one of 3 Derde Divisie teams to advance ...

. His time at Harkemase Boys was marked by success, as he led the team to championships in the

Eerste Klasse The Eerste Klasse () started as the 1st tier of football in the Netherlands and is now the 6th tier. The league is divided into ten divisions. These divisions correspond to the six districts of the Royal Dutch Football Association: each district i ...

and Hoofdklasse, and in his final season, he achieved promotion to the

Topklasse The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), 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 is placed between the Tweede Div ...

as runners-up. In May 2009, he won the named

Rinus Michels Award The Rinus Michels Award is an annual prize in Dutch football. It is supported by the official football coaches union ("Coaches Betaald Voetbal"). The award is named after Rinus Michels, who was named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999. Categor ...

for Manager of the Year in Amateur Football. In early 2011, De Jong joined Cambuur as an assistant coach. At the end of the 2012–13 season, he became interim head coach and guided the club to the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

title. Despite his success, De Jong narrowly missed passing a professional football coaching course by one point, preventing him from coaching in the

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 ...

. Instead, he worked as the assistant to Dwight Lodeweges. De Jong was then appointed manager of Cambuur in April 2014, succeeding Lodeweges who had left the club after it was announced he would become the manager of the biggest rival of Cambuur, Heerenveen. He returned to Cambuur in July 2019 after two years in charge of

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 ...

. In October 2022, De Jong abruptly resigned as Cambuur's coach, citing health reasons. A year prior, in December 2021, De Jong had a brief absence due to a diagnosed

cyst A cyst is a closed sac, having a distinct envelope and division compared with the nearby tissue. Hence, it is a cluster of cells that have grouped together to form a sac (like the manner in which water molecules group together to form a bubb ...

in his head. In March 2022, Cambuur announced that health concerns prevented De Jong from completing the 2021–22 season. In March 2023, the club disclosed that De Jong had undergone a successful surgery to remove the cyst. On 10 October 2023, De Jong resumed his role as Cambuur's coach, taking over after the dismissal of

Sjors Ultee Sjors Ultee (born 23 May 1987) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of club TOP Oss. Managerial career Ultee was briefly an amateur footballer, but at a young age was planning on becoming a sports do ...

Honours

Cambuur *

: 2012–13, 2020–21 Individual *

: 2008–09, 2021

References

External links

*
Henk de Jong profile
at the SC Cambuur website {{DEFAULTSORT:Jong, Henk de 1964 births Living people People from Drachten Sportspeople from Friesland Dutch men's footballers SC Heerenveen players Men's association football players not categorized by position 20th-century Dutch sportsmen Dutch football managers SC Cambuur managers De Graafschap managers VV Sneek Wit Zwart managers Eredivisie managers Eerste Divisie managers Rinus Michels Award winners SC Heerenveen non-playing staff