Robert Patrick Maaskant (; born 10 January 1969) is a Dutch former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and current manager, who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Maaskant played for Go Ahead Eagles, Emmen,

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

Zwolle Zwolle () is a city and municipality in the Northeastern Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of Overijssel and the province's second-largest municipality after Enschede with a population of 130,592 as of 1 December 2021. Zwolle is on ...

and Excelsior.

Managerial career

A former assistant at Go Ahead Eagles and Zwolle, Maaskant was named head coach of

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

for the 1999–2000 season. He worked there for three years, before joining Go Ahead Eagles. Maaskant worked in

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, ...

for seven months, came back to Roosendaal, and then moved on to

Willem II Willem II may refer to: People * William II, Prince of Orange (1626–1650), stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands * William II of the Netherlands (1792–1849), King of the Netherlands Other uses * Willem II (football club), a Du ...

in the summer of 2004. He was sacked on 21 November 2005 and replaced by

Kees Zwamborn Kees Zwamborn (born 28 March 1952) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. Zwamborn was born in Alblasserdam, South Holland. From 1978 to 1985, he played both in the Eredivisie and Eerste divisie as well as in th ...

. On 4 January 2006, Maaskant was re-instated as the manager of RBC Roosendaal, as the successor of Dolf Roks. Maaskant was sacked in 2007 and signed a one-year contract with

MVV Maastricht Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eers ...

for the 2007–08 season with an option to extend it for two more years. In February 2008, he left MVV and signed for

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 Eerste Divi ...

to be the auxiliary coach of Ernie Brandts. In the summer of the same year, as soon as Brandts left the Bredase club, Maaskant took the spot. Maaskant had two rather successful seasons at NAC Breda. In the first season, NAC qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

. In Maaskant's second season at NAC, the club nearly missed play-offs for the UEFA Cup. From May 2010 onwards, it appeared that NAC had financial problems. Directly afterwards, he raised his concerns via the press and Maaskant wasn't able to afford new players. On 21 August 2010, NAC and Maaskant made public that he would leave NAC Breda for Polish football club

Wisła Kraków Towarzystwo Sportowe Wisła Kraków Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Wisła Kraków (), is a Polish professional football club based in Kraków. It currently competes in the I liga, the second level of Polish football league system. ...

, signing a two-year deal. Maaskant won the Polish championship in his first season at Wisła Kraków. However, he missed the qualification to the

2011–12 UEFA Champions League The 2011–12 UEFA Champions League was the 57th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 20th season in its current Champions League format. As part of a trial that started in the 2009–10 UEFA Europa Lea ...

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

. On 7 November 2011, a day after Wisła's first away loss against city rival Cracovia since 28 years, Wisła Kraków announced that they had parted ways with Maaskant. On 1 May 2012, Maaskant joined Texas Dutch Lions as an advisor and head coach. On 23 May 2012, Maaskant signed as head coach for

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

. This was possible because of a clause in his Dutch Lions contract, that allowed him to leave early. Groningen announced on 11 March 2013 that it would not be renewing its one-year contract with Maaskant. In June 2013, Maaskant signed a one and a half-year contract with Belarusian side Dinamo Minsk. In January 2014, Maaskant signed a one-year contract with the

Columbus Crew The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as on ...

in the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

to be their assistant coach. On 2 January 2015, it was announced that Maaskant had returned as head coach of

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

side NAC Breda. On 25 March 2017, Maaskant was appointed manager of Go Ahead Eagles for the remainder of the 2016–17 season. Maaskant was appointed director of football at Almere City on 24 March 2018. He left the position at the end of the 2018–19 season to become manager of

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, followin ...

.Robert Maaskant nieuwe trainer VVV
omroepflevoland.nl, 17 June 2019

Honours

Wisła Kraków *

Ekstraklasa Poland Ekstraklasa (), meaning "Extra Class" in Polish, named PKO Ekstraklasa since the 2019–20 season due to its sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is the top Polish professional league for men's association football teams. Contested by 18 ...

: 2010–11

References

External links

Robert Maaskant
at Wanadoo.nl {{DEFAULTSORT:Maaskant, Robert 1969 births Living people Footballers from Schiedam Dutch footballers Association football midfielders Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Scotland Eerste Divisie players Scottish Football League players Go Ahead Eagles players FC Emmen players Motherwell F.C. players PEC Zwolle players Excelsior Rotterdam players Dutch football managers Columbus Crew non-playing staff Eredivisie managers Eerste Divisie managers RBC Roosendaal managers Go Ahead Eagles managers Willem II (football club) managers MVV Maastricht managers NAC Breda managers Wisła Kraków managers FC Groningen managers FC Dinamo Minsk managers VVV-Venlo managers PEC Zwolle non-playing staff Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Poland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate football managers in Belarus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belarus Expatriate soccer managers in the United States Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United States