Marinus Antonius Been (born 11 December 1963) 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 ...

manager and former professional player. As a footballer, Been played for

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

, Roda JC, Heerenveen, Tirol Innsbruck and Excelsior. He played in an attacking midfield position and was nicknamed "Mariodona" for his

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. As ...

skills, after

Diego Maradona Diego Armando Maradona Franco (30 October 196025 November 2020) was an Argentine professional association football, football player and manager. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, he was one of the two ...

and his first name.

Playing career

Club

Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

, Been made his professional career debut for

on 5 September 1982, in a 1–0 win over N.E.C. Been spent six years at Feyenoord from 1982 to 1988, before moving to Italian side

in July 1988. During his time in Italy, the club played in Serie A (first) and Serie B (second). After three years in Italy, Been returned to Netherlands, where he joined Roda JC and then Heerenveen. After one season at Heerenveen, Been moved to Austria, joining Tirol Innsbruck in 1992. Following his stint at Tirol Innsbruck, he returned to Excelsior where he stayed for three years before announcing his retirement. Been played his last competitive match on 17 September 1995, when

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

defeated Excelsior 4–0.

International

Been was a member of the Dutch squad at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship and played one official international match for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

on 14 November 1984 as substitute for Ton Lokhoff in the 73rd minute.

Managerial career

Been started his coaching career as assistant manager to Bert van Marwijk at

in 2000. He held this position until the summer of 2004 when Bert van Marwijk choose to leave

and head to Germany to manage

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. Been headed across Rotterdam to join Feyenoord's sister club Excelsior in 2005 and in his sole season in-charge of the club got them promoted from the Eerste Divisie 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 ...

. Along the way his team played attractive football and eventually finished seven points clear of second placed VVV Venlo.

Trinidad and Tobago

After his successful promotion season with Excelsior, Been moved to become the assistant manager to Leo Beenhakker at Trinidad and Tobago for the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

. After the World Cup, he left Trinidad and Tobago.

NEC

Been moved to NEC, taking over from Ron de Groot. De Groot resumed his original position as an assistant-coach. Been came with ambition to return the glory years back to the club. In his first season, in 2006–07, he led the club to a tenth-place finish in the

. With the signing of a few players during the summer of 2007, he molded a competitive and attractive team. However, the first half of the 2007–08 season did not go well for Been, as his side were sitting bottom of the league at the start of the new year. However, Been managed to remarkably change the fortunes of his team, as they went on a run which saw them eventually end eighth in the league standings. This earned the club a UEFA Cup Play-off berth against three other Dutch teams. Been got his team to play very attractive football, which resulted in plenty of goals. In the final play-off round against NAC Breda, his side won 6–0 at home, and 1–0 away. For the first time, Been had qualified a team for European competition. The season of 2008–09 would be the finest season to date for Been as professional manager. His side were drawn in a tough group in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

with away games at Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Zagreb, while Tottenham Hotspur and Udinese would come to

Nijmegen Nijmegen ( , ; Nijmeegs: ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and the ninth largest of the Netherlands as a whole. Located on the Waal River close to the German border, Nijmegen is one of the oldest cities in the ...

. At the start of the European campaign, his side were labeled the whipping boys of the group. However, after two losses in the group (3–2 against Dinamo Zagreb and 1–0 against Tottenham Hotspur), NEC managed to beat Spartak Moscow in Russia with a scoreline of 2–1. Lasse Schöne scoring the all important goal in that match. The final and decisive game for Been would be against Udinese; on a wonderful night for the club, he managed to get the team to a 2–0 scoreline and secure progression to the next round. They eventually lost 4–0 on aggregate to

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

in the following round, but Been had already written himself into the club's history. On 28 January 2009, NEC Nijmegen and

had reached an agreement to let Been move to Rotterdam to become the head coach there for the next season. On the occasion of his final match as manager for NEC, Been was applauded by a full Goffert Stadium, with fans singing his name and the players, board and fans giving him the honour of being one of the best managers the club has ever had. Been's farewell speech was filled with tears, however, his last words to the fans epitomized his legendary status at the club.

Feyenoord

Been joined his boyhood club

in the summer of 2009 in the hope of repairing the financially stricken club. He was given a very youthful squad to work with, which did have some experienced heads in the form of Roy Makaay, Denny Landzaat and

Giovanni van Bronckhorst Giovanni Christiaan "Gio" van Bronckhorst (born 5 February 1975) is a Dutch Association football, football manager and former player who last managed Süper Lig club Beşiktaş J.K., Beşiktaş. Originally a midfielder, he moved to left-back lat ...

. His first signing was from his old club, where he signed Dani Fernández for the right-back position. Been's first season for Feyenoord was immediately a success, as he led them to a fourth-place finish in the league and thus a place in the Europa League for the 2010–11 season. This was also the club's highest finish for a few years. In a turbulent summer, which saw all his experienced heads retire, he signed only a handful of players on free transfers or on loan. Feyenoord started the campaign in mixed form. On the opening day, they beat

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 ...

3–1 to kick off a good start to the campaign. However, the club failed to qualify for the group stages of the Europa League, after they lost 2–1 to Gent on aggregate. Up until 2011, Been had a contract that ran until 2012 with the club. On 24 October 2010, he oversaw his team losing 10–0 against PSV at the

Philips Stadion The Philips Stadion () is a Association football, football stadium in Eindhoven, Netherlands. As the home of PSV Eindhoven (Philips Sport Vereniging), it is also known as PSV Stadion. With a capacity of 35,119, it is the third-largest football s ...

, the biggest defeat in the history of Feyenoord. Despite that, and a rather disappointing final outcome that saw Feyenoord failing to qualify for European football and even in danger of relegation at some point in the season, he was confirmed at the helm of Feyenoord for the new season. On 13 July 2011, Been was confirmed to have left his post as head coach of Feyenoord, citing lack of trust and confidence from his players as the main reason for his surprise choice.

Genk

In late August 2011, Been was appointed as a new manager of

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

, signing a two-year deal with them and succeeding Franky Vercauteren, who left the club to join United Arab Emirates side Al-Jazira (who led the club winning the Belgian League and 2011 Belgian Supercup and Vercauteren led his club into play-off for UEFA Champions League). A day after being named the new Coach for Genk, Been held his first training session with the club on Wednesday 31 August. Been would join-up with Thomas Buffel at Genk, who coached Buffel from his time as assistant manager at Feyenoord. His first match as a Genk manager was a win, with Genk beating their rival Sint-Truidense 4–3. In the Champions League, Genk was placed fourth place in Group E and got three points with no win, three draws and three losses at the group stage of Champions League. Genk's first Champions League game against

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

was a 0–0 draw, clinched their first Champions League point. On 9 May 2013, he won 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 ...

with Genk. On 23 February 2014, he was sacked.

APOEL

On 26 May 2017, Been was appointed as the new manager of the reigning Cypriot champions APOEL, signing a one-year contract with the club. On 28 July 2017, after three competitive games in charge, Been was sacked by APOEL following a 1–0 away European defeat to Viitorul Constanta.

Managerial statistics

Personal life

His son Gianluca (born in 1990) also played football for

, Excelsior Rotterdam, Deltasport Vlaardingen, VV Oude Maas and BVV Barendrecht; the two of them also co-own a

Tapas Tapas () are appetisers or snacks in Spanish cuisine. They can be combined to make a full meal and are served cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as , which are battered, fried baby squid; or , spicy potatoes). In some bars ...

vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

bar called La Hermana in

Barendrecht Barendrecht () is a town and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, near Rotterdam, South Holland. The municipality had a population of in , and covers an area of of which is water. The municipality of Barendrecht also includes Barendrech ...

. Hoe is het nu met Gianluca Been ??
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Honours

Genk *

: 2012–13

Notes

References

External links

*
Profile Mario Been
at rodajcspelers.nl * {{DEFAULTSORT:Been, Mario 1963 births Living people Footballers from Rotterdam Men's association football midfielders Dutch association football commentators Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Feyenoord players Pisa SC players Roda JC Kerkrade players SC Heerenveen players FC Wacker Innsbruck players Excelsior Rotterdam players Eredivisie players Serie A players Serie B players Austrian Football Bundesliga players Eerste Divisie players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Dutch football managers Eredivisie managers Excelsior Rotterdam managers NEC Nijmegen managers Feyenoord managers K.R.C. Genk managers APOEL FC managers Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Cyprus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Austria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus 20th-century Dutch sportsmen