Valère Billen (born 23 November 1952) is a Belgian football coach. He has coached in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

where he managed Satellite FC Abidjan.

Coaching career

Swaziland national team

Appointed

Swaziland Eswatini, formally the Kingdom of Eswatini, also known by its former official names Swaziland and the Kingdom of Swaziland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by South Africa on all sides except the northeast, where ...

head coach in 2012 on a one-year contract, Billen was bought a new car by the National Football Association of Swaziland as a mode of conveyance was one of the rules his contract embodied. With a monthly salary of 100000 Swaziland lilangenis, and the Swaziland Football Association spending 40000 on his rent, the Belgian's first match was a friendly against

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

in October, losing 2–1. Two days later, he helped them achieve a 1–0 victory over Lesotho again. Praising his players for their efforts that game, his charges held Lesotho to a 0–0 stalemate in their third and final friendly in preparation for the 2014 African Nations Championship qualifying two-legged round opposing

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, losing 1–0 both legs. That same month, the former footballer stated that his desire was to work with local coaches and predicted a rise in the FIFA World Rankings, claiming that they would improve dramatically over time. In 2013, he went with the national selection to participate in the

2013 COSAFA Cup The 2013 COSAFA Cup, sponsored by South African Breweries and officially named the 2013 COSAFA Castle Cup, was the 14th edition of the COSAFA Cup, an international football competition consisting of national teams of member nations of the Council ...

, not having a presentiment of failure and predicting that they would overcome all seemingly insuperable obstacles and deliver a good showing in the tournament; however, despite a draw with

Botswana Botswana, officially the Republic of Botswana, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory part of the Kalahari Desert. It is bordered by South Africa to the sou ...

in their opener, the ''Sihlangu'' never progressed past the group stage, losing 2–0 twice to

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

and

with Billen reconsidering his job as coach. Being thrashed 10–0 by

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in a friendly worsened the trainer's position, with fans requesting for his immediate dismissal as they were not expecting such a scoreline; but, despite fan pressure, the National Football Association of Swaziland still did not sack Billen until November 2013, with local Harris Bulunga taking up the interim post. The reason they gave for his firing was that he was in Belgium too often and spent more time there rather than helping the Swaziland Football Association. The coach temporarily returned to Belgium to care for his mother, who was ill. One year succeeding his appointment, Billen criticized his Swazi coaching colleagues, saying that they never allowed him to share his ideas.

References

External links

Full CV with clubs as a player
{{DEFAULTSORT:Billen, Valere Living people 1952 births Belgian football managers Újpest FC managers K.V. Mechelen managers Sint-Truidense V.V. managers Beerschot A.C. managers Eswatini national football team managers Belgian expatriate football managers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Ivory Coast Expatriate football managers in Ivory Coast Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Eswatini Expatriate football managers in Eswatini Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Expatriate football managers in Hungary