Jan Pruijn (born 12 October 1958) is a Dutch

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 ...

coach.

Career

As a footballer, Jan Pruijn only played amateur football, playing 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 ...

the highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands. In 1985, he became the coach of

De Treffers De Treffers is an amateur football club from Groesbeek, Netherlands. The club plays in the Tweede Divisie, the highest amateur league of Dutch football. History It was founded in 1919, and its first chairman was Jan Piepenbreier. De Treffers h ...

from

Groesbeek Groesbeek () is a town and former municipality in the province of Gelderland, the Netherlands. In January 2015 the former municipality merged with Millingen aan de Rijn and Ubbergen. The larger area was known as Groesbeek until January 2016, whe ...

, with whom he won the championship in the Zondag Hoofdklasse C league three times, also winning the championship of the whole amateur league once. Between 1991 and 1994 he was the coach of N.E.C., being promoted to 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 ...

and making it to the final of the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

in 1994. Pruijn then managed De Treffers for one more year, followed by a season as manager for

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport () is a Dutch professional football club based in Helmond, North Brabant. Founded in 1967 following the acquisition of the professional license of , the club achieved promotion to the top-tier Eredivisie in 1982. After two seasons ...

. After this coaching period, he became a football consultant for clubs such as

Urawa Red Diamonds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad ( ; ''Royal Society'') in English, and Erreala or Reala in Basque language, Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Donostia / San Sebastián, ...

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

and

FC Basel Fussball Club Basel 1893, widely known as FC Basel, FCB, or just Basel, is a Swiss professional Association football, football club based in Basel, in the Basel-Stadt, Canton of Basel-Stadt. Formed in 1893, the club has been List of Swiss footba ...

, and a couple of clubs from England. He opened up youth camps in the United States, and was youth coach in various countries, coaching at Lebanese football clubs, Dutch clubs,

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

, VV Venray and

Al Ain FC Al Ain Football Club (; Arabic transliteration, transliterated: Nady al-'Ayn) is a professional Football team, football club based in the city of Al Ain, Abu Dhabi (emirate), Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. It is one of many sport sections of ...

. In 1999, he was employed by AFC Ajax as the manager of the international youth system, working with the academies in Ghana, Belgium and South Africa. In 2008, he succeeded Hans Vonk as the technical director at

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and ma ...

. In October 2009 he was briefly the interim manager for Ajax Cape Town following a brief interim stint by

Muhsin Ertuğral Muhsin Ertuğral (born 15 September 1959) is a UEFA Pro Licensed Turkish football manager. Playing career Ertuğral played for Antalyaspor before leaving his homeland and continuing his career at clubs in Belgium and Germany where he also ho ...

. Jan Pruijn was relieved at the Cape club by

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 ...

, to whom Jan would become the assistant, leading Ajax CT to second place in the South African

PSL PSL may refer to: Sport *Pakistan Super League, a Twenty20 cricket league *Palau Soccer League, top division association football league in Palau *Pilipinas Super League, a professional basketball league *Philippine Super Liga, a defunct profes ...

that season. In late 2012, Jan Pruijn occupied another interim coaching position at Ajax CT, succeeding

Wilfred Mugeyi Wilfred Mugeyi (born 4 July 1969) is a Zimbabwean former footballer whose last job was coach at South African Premier Soccer League club AmaZulu FC. During his playing days he was known as "Silver Fox" for the way he stole un-noticed behind opp ...

's interim position, following the dismissal of

Maarten Stekelenburg Maarten Stekelenburg (; born 22 September 1982) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Stekelenburg began his career at Ajax, playing 282 matches over nine seasons in his first spell there and winning nine honours ...

as coach of Ajax Cape Town. He was relieved by

Jan Versleijen Johannes Martinus Maria Versleijen (born 29 December 1955), better known as Jan Versleijen, is a Dutch professional association football coach who last managed South African PSL side Ajax Cape Town. Career Born in Venlo, Versleijen has managed ...

who took over as interim coach, before resigning prematurely, and

finishing the season with Ajax CT after being appointed Technical director of the Cape club.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pruijn, Jan 1958 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Dutch football managers NEC Nijmegen managers Helmond Sport managers Ajax Cape Town F.C. managers Cape Town Spurs F.C. non-playing staff De Treffers managers People from Overbetuwe Men's association football players not categorized by position Sportspeople from Gelderland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in South Africa 20th-century Dutch sportsmen