Georges Leekens (born 18 May 1949) is a Belgian football manager and former player. During his managerial career, he oversaw four national football teams: the Belgian, Tunisian, Algerian and Hungarian national football teams. He also managed numerous clubs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Playing career Leekens debuted as a footballer in 1967 with Sporting Houthalen after leaving the lower ranks of the club. He played as a defender. In 1969, he signed for one year with Dessel Sport. After a brief stint at Crossing Club, he was transferred to Club Brugge. With the team, he reached the final of the UEFA Champions League in 1978 against Liverpool at Wembley in London, where a single goal defeated them. He also won five Belgian leagues, a Belgian Cup and a Belgian Super Cup in 1980, one year before joining Sint-Niklase, where he retired from football in 1984.

Coaching career Beginning The same year of his retirement, Cercle Brugge signed him as coach for the next three seasons, eventually winning the Belgian Cup a year later. The same title was won with Anderlecht three years after winning it with the Cercle Brugge. After training Kortrijk, he came to Club Brugge to win the Belgian League, the Belgian Super Cup in 1990, the Belgian Cup and again the Belgian Super Cup in 1991. He also trained KV Mechelen and Trabzonspor, before returning to the Cercle Brugge and Charleroi and signing for Excelsior Mouscron, who had been promoted to the Belgian First Division after finishing first in the Belgian Second Division.

First spell in Belgium In his first spell as Belgium national team coach, he led them to the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals after a two-legged win against the Republic of Ireland in the qualifying play-off. He was sacked from his role as federal coach after a disappointing third-place finish in the World Cup group stage after failing to qualify Belgium for the second round after drawing with the Netherlands, Mexico and South Korea.

Algeria After a brief stint as coach of Lokeren and Roda JC, he was announced as the coach of Algeria at the end of 2002. He qualified for the 2004 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia. Still, he agreed with the Federation to rescind the contract for family reasons.

Back to Belgium and a short experience in the Persian Gulf After his African sojourn, he returned to Excelsior Mouscron. Then, he signed for Gent for three years, before returning to Lokeren. In 2009, it was announced that he would be the new coach of Al-Hilal, but he was sacked three months after being defeated by Al-Shabab 3–0; he subsequently coached Kortrijk again for one season.

Second spell in Belgium On 11 May 2010, Leekens signed a contract until 2012 to take over the Belgium national team for the second time. Consequently, he had to resign from his coaching role at Kortrijk.

On 12 April 2011, it was announced that Leekens's contract had been extended to 2014 after some promising results in the Euro 2012 qualifying campaign.

On 13 May 2012, it was announced that Leekens would coach Club Brugge for a second time, but was fired a few months later after a series of successive defeats.

Tunisia On 27 March 2014, Leekens signed a two-year contract with the Tunisian Football Federation to coach the Carthage Eagles. For his first tournament with Tunisia, Georges Leekens managed to take the team to the quarter-finals, but his team was eliminated 2–1 by Equatorial Guinea, the host country of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. On 27 June 2015, the Tunisian federation announced having terminated its contract amicably.

Return to Algeria In 2016, he coached the Algerian national football team and led the team to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon. On 24 January 2017, he resigned as a coach after being eliminated in the Group B stage.

In February 2017, he was one of several managers on the vacant Rwanda national team manager role shortlist.

Hungary It was announced in October 2017 that Leekens would coach the Hungary national team. After three losses and one draw in four matches, he was fired in June 2018.

Experience in African and Asian clubs He was appointed by Tunisian club Étoile du Sahel as coach on 10 October 2018, after failing in the 2018 CAF Champions League, to be his first experience with African clubs after a long period in European clubs and a short experience in Asian clubs with Al Hilal. He managed to qualify the team for the quarter-finals of the Arab Championship with African champions Wydad Casablanca before leaving on 26 November due to unconvincing results in the Tunisian League.

After less than two months in January 2019, Leekens contracted with Tractor of Iran, but his coaching period did not last long, as the contract was rescinded in May 2019.

In May 2020, nearly a year after his last coaching experience, Leekens announced his retirement to devote himself to his affairs.

Personal life Georges Leekens is the cousin of Louis Leekens, who was the Belgian National Champion of gymnastics in 1966 and is leading the top sports school for gymnastics in Genk.

Managerial statistics

Managerial record

+ Managerial record by team and tenureTeamFromToRecord Cercle Brugge1 July 198430 June 1987 Anderlecht1 July 198724 February 1988 Kortrijk1 July 198830 June 1989 Club Brugge1 July 198930 June 1991 KV Mechelen1 July 199130 June 1992 Trabzonspor1 July 199224 September 1993 Cercle Brugge1 November 199330 June 1994 Charleroi1 July 199430 June 1995 Excelsior Mouscron1 July 199523 January 1997 Belgium21 January 199720 August 1999 Lokeren29 August 199930 June 2001 Roda JC19 September 200130 June 2002 Algeria1 February 20027 July 2003 Excelsior Mouscron8 July 200318 May 2004 Gent18 May 200430 June 2007 Lokeren1 July 200730 March 2009 Al-Hilal1 April 20093 May 2009 Kortrijk28 May 200911 May 201011 May 201013 May 2012 Club Brugge13 May 20124 November 201227 March 201426 June 2015 Lokeren25 October 201526 October 2016 Algeria27 October 201624 January 201730 October 201718 June 2018 Étoile du Sahel10 October 201826 November 2018 Tractor13 January 201924 May 2019 Total

Honours

As player Club Brugge Belgian First Division: 1972–73, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78, 1979–80 Belgian Cup: 1976–77; 1978–79 (finalists) Belgian Super Cup: 1980 UEFA Cup: 1975–76 European Champion Clubs' Cup: 1977–78 Jules Pappaert Cup: 1972, 1978 Bruges Matins: 1979, 1981 Japan Cup Kirin World Soccer: 1981

As manager Anderlecht Belgian Super Cup: 1987

Club Brugge Belgian First Division: 1989–90 Belgian Cup: 1990–91 Belgian Super Cup: 1990 Amsterdam Tournament: 1990

Cercle Brugge Belgian Cup: 1985

Belgium Kirin Cup: 1999

Individual Belgian Professional Manager of the Year: 1989–90

See also List of football managers with the most matches

References

External links