Thijs Libregts (; born 4 January 1941) 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 and former player, who played professionally as a defender in the 1950s. His daughter

Patricia Patricia is a feminine given name of Latin language, Latin origin. Derived from the Latin word ''Patrician (ancient Rome), patrician'', meaning 'noble', it is the feminine form of the masculine given name Patrick (given name), Patrick. Another we ...

was one of the Netherlands' leading

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

players in the 1980s and 1990s.

Club career

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 ...

, Libregts began his playing career at

Excelsior Rotterdam Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known as Excelsior, is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024– ...

, where he played from 1958 to 1962. From Excelsior he moved to Rotterdam's larger team

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 ...

, where he remained until 1968. After six years at Feyenoord, Libregts returned to Excelsior where he played until 1972 when he announced his retirement.

Managerial career

Libregts' first coaching position was at Excelsior Rotterdam, where he worked from 1975 to 1980. Excelsior were relegated in Libregts' first season, but they won promotion in 1978–79. From Excelsior he moved to

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

, whom he took to second place 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 ...

in 1981–82. In 1983 Libregts moved to Feyenoord, where he won a league and cup double in his first season. At Feyenoord Libregts he was involved in a race row after he was alleged to have referred to

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a former Dutch Association football, footballer and subsequent manager. Regarded among the greatest footballers of all time, he was also noted for his Utility player#Association football, abili ...

as "blackie" and criticised him for being lazy, though Libregts defended himself by claiming that it was merely a nickname. In November 1984 Libregts moved to Greece with

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki (), is a major Greece, Greek multi-sport club founded on 25 March 1914 in Thessaloniki. Nicknamed ''God of War'', Aris was one of the strongest Greek clubs during t ...

, where he remained until 1986. In the 1986–87 season he joined

PAOK PAOK (, Πανθεσσαλονίκειος Αθλητικός Όμιλος Κωνσταντινοπολιτών, ''Panthessalonikeios Athlitikós Ómilos Constantinopoliton'', ''Pan-Thessalonian Athletic Club of Constantinopolitans''), commonly ...

, but his stay was brief and in December 1987 he switched to

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

. Libregts was appointed as

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 ...

manager in 1988 as he took over from

Rinus Michels Marinus Jacobus Hendricus "Rinus" Michels (; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutch Association football, football player and coach. He list of one-club men in association football, played his entire career for AFC Ajax, Ajax, which he ...

as coach of the European champions. The Netherlands easily qualified for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

, but Libregts was replaced by

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker (; 2 August 1942 – 10 April 2025) was a Dutch football player and coach. Nicknamed "Don Leo" for his role in Spanish football, he had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. After his amateur pl ...

before the tournament itself. From 1991 to 1994 he was a coach with Iraklis Thessaloniki in Greece and from 1994 to 1995 returned to coach

. Having been dismissed by Olympiakos, Libregts took charge of the Nigeria national team in August 1998, who he managed until October 1999. After two years out of work Libregts joined

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

in October 2001 where he remained until August 2002Die Trainer
/ref> and whom he led to the

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

, as well as to the victory in Supercup. In August 2002 he was replaced by

Walter Schachner Walter "Schoko" Schachner (born 1 February 1957) is a football manager and former player, who played as a forward. He made 64 appearances scoring 23 goals for the Austria national team. As he always brought chocolate to the games when he was ...

and he has been without a club since then.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Libregts, Thijs Living people 1941 births Men's association football defenders Footballers from Rotterdam Dutch football managers Dutch expatriate football managers Dutch men's footballers Excelsior Rotterdam players Feyenoord players Excelsior Rotterdam managers PSV Eindhoven managers Feyenoord managers Eredivisie players Eredivisie managers Netherlands national football team managers Super League Greece managers Aris Thessaloniki F.C. managers Olympiacos F.C. managers Iraklis F.C. (Thessaloniki) managers PAOK FC managers Grazer AK managers Expatriate football managers in Greece Nigeria national football team managers Expatriate football managers in Nigeria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Nigeria 20th-century Dutch sportsmen