Marinus Dijkhuizen (born 4 January 1972) 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 Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

and former player who is head coach of club

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 ...

. As a player, Dijkhuizen had notable spells as a forward in his native Netherlands with

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

, Cambuur and

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbrevia ...

. He retired as a player in 2009 and entered management with Dutch lower league clubs VV Montfoort and then VV De Meern. Since 2014, Dijkhuizen has managed Excelsior (twice),

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

, Cambuur and De Graafschap.

Playing career

Dijkhuizen was born in

's-Gravenzande s-Gravenzande is a town in the province of South Holland, in the Netherlands. It is a part of the municipality of Westland, and lies about southwest of The Hague. Until 2004 it was a separate municipality and covered an area of 20.77 km2 (of ...

. A forward, he spent the majority of his 14-year professional career in the top two divisions of Dutch football, most notably with two spells at both

and Cambuur. He was a part of the SC Cambuur team which secured promotion 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 ...

in the 1997–98 season and later played top-flight football with

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. He had a loan spell with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

during the 2000–01 season. He retired at the end of the 2008–09 season after a

player-coach A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

spell at hometown club 's-Gravenzande SC.

Coaching career

's-Gravenzandse SV

In 2008, Dijkhuizen took up a coaching role at

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 ...

club 's-Gravenzandse SV, the club where he began his career. He left the club in 2009.

Utrecht

During the 2012–13 Eredivisie season, Dijkhuizen worked as a forward coach at former club Utrecht. In January 2018, he returned to the club as assistant to manager Jean-Paul de Jong and remained in the role until January 2020.

Managerial career

VV Montfoort

Dijkhuizen began his managerial career with Eerste Klasse Saturday club VV Montfoort in 2009. He led the club to two successive promotions in the 2009–10 and 2010–11 seasons, taking the club 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 ...

. He departed at the end of the 2011–12 season.

VV De Meern

Dijkhuizen signed a two-year contract with

Derde Klasse The ('Third Class') is the eighth tier of football in the Netherlands Football is the most popular sport in the Netherlands. Association football, Football was introduced to the Netherlands by Pim Mulier in the 19th century when in 1879, a ...

Sunday club VV De Meern in January 2012. After officially starting work on 1 July 2012, he managed the club until December 2013.

Excelsior

On 1 January 2014, Dijkhuizen was announced as manager of

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 ...

club Excelsior on a contract running until the end of the 2013–14 season. He took over from

Jon Dahl Tomasson Jon Dahl Tomasson (; born 29 August 1976) is a Danish football manager and former player. He is the current manager of the Sweden national team. A forward, his most notable run of football came in his first stint at Feyenoord, with whom he wo ...

, who had departed for Eredivisie club

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

. Starting out in seventh position in the table, Dijkhuizen encouraged the club to be more attacking and pushed striker Lars Veldwijk further forward. Veldwijk's 17 goals since the Dijkhuizen's arrival helped fire the Kralingers to third-place in the table and promotion to the Eredivisie, after a 4–2 aggregate victory over

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. The club endured a difficult 2014–15 season in the top-flight, finishing one place above the relegation zone, though a new defensive style contributed to 14 draws, the most in the division. Dijkhuizen departed the club in May 2015, despite having signed a new two-year contract in December 2014.

Brentford

On 1 June 2015, Dijkhuizen was announced as head coach of English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

, replacing

Mark Warburton Mark Warburton (born 6 September 1962) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who is currently the Sporting Director and Head of Soccer for Sporting Club Jacksonville ...

. He installed former SC Cambuur teammate Roy Hendriksen as his assistant. Dijkhuizen had a difficult first week of the 2015–16 season and began the campaign with a crippling lack of players through injury and outgoing transfers, which caused disharmony amongst the club's supporters. Problems with a poor pitch at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a association football, football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground was in a predominantly resi ...

compounded the injury problems. After two wins, two draws and five defeats from the first nine matches of the season, Dijkhuizen and Hendriksen parted company with Brentford on 28 September 2015. Brentford co-director of football Rasmus Ankersen later revealed that the club "made a mistake" in hiring Dijkhuizen and that the decision to part company "was based on three months of training and there were some fundamental processes, in terms of getting a full football operation to work to its maximum, that weren't at the level we wanted them to be".

NAC Breda

On 26 October 2015, Dijkhuizen was announced as head coach of Eerste Divisie club

. He guided the club to the third round of the promotion/relegation playoffs, but lost over two legs to the promoted club Willem II. With the club struggling to compete after 18 matches of the 2016–17 season, Dijkhuizen was sacked on 23 December 2016.

Cambuur

On 9 May 2017, Dijkhuizen returned to Eerste Divisie club Cambuur and took up the position of head coach on a one-year contract. He was sacked on 28 November 2017, after taking just 14 points from the opening 15 matches of the 2017–18 season.

Return to Excelsior

On 29 January 2020, Dijkhuizen returned to Eerste Divisie club Excelsior on a -year contract. Following the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

-affected 2019–20 season and a finish outside the playoffs in 2020–21, Dijkhuizen secured promotion to the Eredivise with victory over

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

in the

2021–22 Eredivisie The 2021–22 Eredivisie was the 66th season of Eredivisie, the premier football competition in the Netherlands. It began on 14 August 2021 and concluded on 15 May 2022. Teams Cambuur (promoted after a five-year absence), Go Ahead Eagles and ...

promotion/relegation playoff Final. He signed a new one-year contract in April 2022 and a further 18-month extension in December 2022. A narrow finish above the relegation places in the 2022–23 season was followed by a relegation playoff final defeat in 2023–24. Dijkhuizen departed the club by mutual consent in June 2024.

De Graafschap

On 6 January 2025, Dijkhuizen signed a -year contract with Eerste Divisie club

Other work

From 2008 to 2012, Dijkhuizen worked as an analyst for Excelsior, researching and providing data on the club's upcoming opponents.

Personal life

Dijkhuizen's brother Marc is also involved in football and the pair worked together on the coaching staff at 's-Gravenzandse SV during the 2008–09 season.

Career statistics

Honours

As a player

Cambuur *

play-offs: 1997–98 Excelsior * Eerste Divisie: 2005–06

As a manager

VV Montfoort *

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 ...

third-place promotion: 2010–11 *

third-place promotion: 2009–10 Excelsior * Eerste Divisie play-offs: 2013–14 *

promotion/relegation play-offs: 2021–22

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dijkhuizen, Marinus 1972 births Living people People from 's-Gravenzande Men's association football forwards Dutch men's footballers Excelsior Maassluis players Excelsior Rotterdam players SC Cambuur players FC Utrecht players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players FC Emmen players TOP Oss players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Scottish Premier League players Dutch football managers Eredivisie managers Eerste Divisie managers Excelsior Rotterdam managers Brentford F.C. managers NAC Breda managers SC Cambuur managers Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England English Football League managers Footballers from South Holland De Graafschap managers