Hendrik Pieter de Jongh (born 8 December 1970) is a Dutch football manager who has coached several professional football clubs around the world including Budapest Honvéd, Kenyan Premier League side A.F.C. Leopards and F.C. Cape Town. De Jongh was most recently manager of Somalia.

Pieter de Jongh
Personal information
Full name Pieter de Jongh a.k.a. "The Champ"
Date of birth (1970-12-08) 8 December 1970 (age 53)[1]
Place of birth Asperen, Netherlands[1]
Team information
Current team
Silver Strikers (manager)
Managerial career
Years Team
1990–1994 RKC Waalwijk (youth coach)
1994–1997 KNVB (youth coach)
1997–1999 VV VRC
1999–2000 Heerjansdam
2001–2004 De Zuidvogels
2005 RKSV Schijndel
2006–2007 FC Dordrecht (assistant coach)
2007 Vitesse Delft
2008–2009 SC Woerden
2009–2010 AZ Alkmaar (trainee assistant youth)
2011 ASV Dronten
2012 SDC Putten
2012–2013 Moldova Olympic
2013–2014 Budapest Honvéd (academy director)
2014–2015 AFC Leopards
2015–2016 FC Cape Town
2016–2017 Ulaanbaatar City
2017–2018 Eswatini
2019 Highlanders
2020 Platinum
2022 Somalia
2023- Silver Strikers

Career

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De Jongh was born in Asperen, Netherlands. He only played in amateur soccer.

De Jongh was beginning his managerial career at RKC Waalwijk as a youth coach, before becoming a youth coach for the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). He moved on to manage vv VRC in Veenendaal, FC Dordrecht's reserve team and Vitesse Delft before becoming the trainee assistant coach in the youth academy of AZ in the Eredivisie. He then went to Hungary to become the academy director of Budapest Honvéd.[1][2]

Budapest Honvéd

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In December 2013 he signed his contract ready to commence duties as the new technical director for Budapest Budapest Honvéd.[3] During his tenure, he strived to bring the Dutch philosophy to the academy.[citation needed]

A.F.C. Leopards

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On 15 May 2014, Kenyan Premier League giants A.F.C. Leopards announced that De Jongh was set to take over at the club, subject to personal terms.[4] He landed in Kenya and completed his move to the club on 17 May.[5]

De Jongh's first match at the helm of Ingwe was a Nairobi derby league match against arch-rivals Gor Mahia. He guided his team to a 3–1 win, and after the match praised his team's spirit going into the game.[6] One of his great achievements with the club was getting them to 2014 CECAFA Nile Basin Cup finals for the first time in history.[7] Ugandan side Victoria University.[8] but went ahead to receive the award for best runner up coach of the tournament.

Fans and management alike disagreed with his tactical methods and selections [9][10] However, De Jongh said he was not worried about the fans [11] because his method worked during the team's performances in the Nile Basin Cup, the derby win, and pulling the club up from last in the ranking to 6th. KPL Top 8 Cup .

On 28 December 2014, soon after the win over Bandari,[12] club chairman Allan Kasavuli announced that De Jongh would no longer be working as head coach, in what he termed as a poor season that saw the team finish the 2014 season as 6th from last, with 32 points in 16 matches.[13] He became the 14th coach to have his contract terminated without notice by the club in five years.[14]

In January 2015, De Jongh returned to training with A.F.C. Leopards, claiming there was no prior notice before his dismissal [15] and months of unpaid salary, a case he took forward to the sports tribunal and won a year later [16]

F.C. Cape Town

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After leaving F.C leopard he moved to South Africa [17] where he joined F.C. Cape Town[18] as their new head coach until later in the year.

Ulaanbaatar City F.C.

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In 2016, he signed a 3-month contract at club Ulaanbaatar city F.C. in Mongolia's capital as its head coach[19] He brought a breath of fresh air to football in Mongolia as he made structural changes that saw the club thrive even after he left.

Rwanda Football Federation

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In 2016 De jongh was appointed the technical director of Rwanda Football Federation[20] He worked to improve football in Rwanda from grassroot. Organizing country wide scouting for young talent that [21] He also worked to improve women's football, taking part in grass root festival and working closely with the head coach of the women's national team. He resigned citing unprofessionalism.[22]

Swaziland National team

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In 2017 he signed as the head coach of Eswatini national football team of Swaziland.[23] After the assassination of the vice chairman Mr. Victor Gamedze who was one of the few that supported his vision, he decided to leave the team at 124 in the ranking from 142.

Highlanders F.C

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In 2019 he took over the managerial position at Highlanders F.C.[24] He led Highlanders F.C. to victory in the 2019 Chibuku Super Cup Final (30 November 2019) over Ngezi Platinum Stars [25] with 16 unbeaten matches under his belt the club qualified for the CAF Confederations Cup. He also took home the coach of the month title [26]

F.C. Platinum

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He joined F.C. Platinum [27] in January 2020. His first game was against Al Ahly SC in the champions league drawing 1-1 [28] In March 2020 F.C. Platinum was set to play De Jongh's former team highlanders for the super challenge. His team won with a 2–0 victory.[citation needed]

Somalia

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In February 2022, de Jongh was appointed manager of the Somalia national football team.[29] On 22 May 2022, following a 5–1 Africa Cup of Nations qualification preliminary round loss against Eswatini on aggregate, de Jongh resigned from his role.[30]

Malawi

In February 2022, De Jongh signed a two years contract with a Malawian Super League outfit Silver Strikers [1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Hendrik Pieter de Jongh Kispesten folytatja" (in Hungarian). NB1.hu. 6 January 2014. Archived from the original on 9 August 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  2. ^ "Dutchman Pieter de Jongh unveiled as new AFC Leopards coach". Soka25east.com. 20 May 2014. Archived from the original on 26 July 2014. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Hendrik P. De Jongh comes to MFA". honvedfc.hu. 6 January 2014.
  4. ^ Wilson Mathu (15 May 2014). "AFC's new coach set to land". Futaa.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  5. ^ Jeff Kinyanjui (17 May 2014). "Ingwe coach jets in". Futaa.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  6. ^ Luke Oluoch (8 June 2014). "De Jongh hails team spirit in derby win". Futaa.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  7. ^ Andrew Oryada (3 June 2014). "AFC Leopards storm CECAFA Nile basin cup final". africanfootball.com.
  8. ^ "Nile Basin Cup: Victoria University beat AFC Leopards to lift Basin Cup". CECAFA. 4 June 2014. Archived from the original on 11 July 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
  9. ^ Mercy Njueh (10 July 2014). "Ingwe fans frustrated with team selection". Futaa.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  10. ^ Vincent Opiyo (9 July 2014). "Ingwe players question De Jongh tactical approach". Futaa.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  11. ^ Vincent Opiyo (14 July 2014). "De Jongh not worried with demanding AFC fans". Futaa.com. Retrieved 23 July 2014.
  12. ^ "Bandari 2-3 AFC Leopards: Ingwe grab top eight finish". Goal.com. 8 November 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  13. ^ "Troubled AFC Leopards send Dutch coach De Jongh packing". Daily Nation. 28 December 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2015.
  14. ^ Gilbert Wandera (6 January 2015). "AFC Leopards sets new record after firing 14 coaches in five years!". The Standard. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  15. ^ Gilbert Wandera (21 January 2015). "'I am not walking away yet': De Jongh insists he is still AFC coach, attends training sessions". The Standard. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  16. ^ "Kenya Premier League orders afc leopards to pay De Jongh". March 2015.
  17. ^ Patrick Korir (23 June 2015). "Former Leopards coach on F.C Cape Town radar". soka.co.ke.
  18. ^ Kurt Laduma (21 August 2015). "F.C cape town confirms new signings". soccerladuma.co.za. Retrieved 22 September 2015.
  19. ^ Marco Bagozzi (13 April 2016). "Giacomo Ratto, un italiano ad Ulaanbaatar". opinione-pubblica.com.
  20. ^ Peter Kamasa (2016). "FERWAFA appoint Hedrikus Pieter as technical director". newtimes.co.rw.
  21. ^ "Live your goals grass root festival". igihe.com. 2016.
  22. ^ David Isabirye (2016). "Hendrikus De Jongh resigns as Rwanda director of football". kawowo.com.
  23. ^ "De Jongh Named Swaziland coach". kickoff.com. 2017.
  24. ^ Festus Chuma (25 September 2019). "former Eswatini coach De Jongh Joins highlanders". ducorsports.com.
  25. ^ "Highlanders to decide on caf confed cup". Soccer24.co.zw. 2 December 2019.
  26. ^ "Bosso duo bag October PSL awards".
  27. ^ "De Jongh unveiled as fc platinum head coach". zbcnews.co.zw. 6 January 2020.
  28. ^ Michael Madyira (11 January 2020). "caf champions league fc platinum deny al ahly win". goal.com.
  29. ^ "Somalia announce Pieter de Jongh as new head coach". CECAFA. 7 February 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022.
  30. ^ "Pieter de Jongh alweer gestopt als bondscoach van Somalië". Regio-Voetbal (in Dutch). 25 May 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2022.
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