Georges Leekens

Georges Leekens
	Leekens in 2019
Personal information
Date of birth	18 May 1949 (age 75)
Place of birth	Meeuwen, Belgium
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1958–1969	Sporting Houthalen
Senior career*
Years	Team
1969–1970	Dessel Sport
1970–1972	Crossing Club
1972–1981	Club Brugge
1981–1984	Sint Niklase
International career
1975–1978	Belgium
Managerial career
1984–1987	Cercle Brugge
1987–1988	Anderlecht
1988–1989	Kortrijk
1989–1991	Club Brugge
1991–1992	KV Mechelen
1992–1993	Trabzonspor
1993–1994	Cercle Brugge
1994–1995	Charleroi
1995–1997	Excelsior Mouscron
1997–1999	Belgium
1999–2001	Lokeren
2001–2002	Roda
2003	Algeria
2003–2004	Excelsior Mouscron
2004–2007	Gent
2007–2009	Lokeren
2009	Al Hilal
2009–2010	Kortrijk
2010–2012	Belgium
2012	Club Brugge
2014–2015	Tunisia
2015–2016	Lokeren
2016–2017	Algeria
2017–2018	Hungary
2018	Étoile du Sahel
2019	Tractor
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Georges Leekens (born 18 May 1949) is a Belgian football manager and former player. During his managerial career, he was in charge of four national 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 made his debut 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 KFC 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 in Wembley Stadium in London where they were defeated with a single goal. He also won five Belgian leagues, a Belgian Cup and a Belgian Super Cup in 1980, one year before joining the Sint-Niklase in which 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 won with RSC Anderlecht three years after winning it with the Cercle Brugge. After training KV 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 the KV Mechelen, Trabzonspor. Back to the Cercle Brugge and Royal Charleroi before signing for the RE Mouscron, who was promoted to the Belgian First Division after finishing first in the Belgian Second Division.

First spell in Belgium

In his first spell as coach of the Belgium national team 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 Netherlands, Mexico and South Korea.

Algeria

After making a brief pass as coach of KSC Lokern and Roda JC, he was announced as coach of Algeria at the end of 2002, which he qualified for the 2004 African Cup of Nations in Tunisia, but reached an agreement with the Federation to rescind the contract for family reasons.

Back to Belgium and a short experience in the Persian Gulf

After his African stage, he returned to the Royal Excelsior Mouscron, then he signed for KAA Gent for three years and again he would take the bench of KSC Lokeren. In 2009, it was announced that he would be the new coach of Al-Hilal FC but he was sacked after three months after being defeated against Al-Shabab 3–0 so he coached KV 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.^[1] As a consequence he had to resign from his coaching role at K.V. 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.^[2]

On 13 May 2012, it was announced that Leekens would coach Club Brugge for a second time,^[3] but he was fired a few months later after a series of successive defeats.^[4]

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 quarterfinals, his team being 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 he made the team to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon. On 24 January 2017, he resigned being a coach after being eliminated in Group B stage.^[5]

In February 2017 he was one of a number of managers on the shortlist for the vacant Rwanda national team manager role.^[6]

Hungary

In October 2017 it was announced, 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 to the quarter-finals of the Arab Championship with African champions Wydad Casablanca before leaving on 26 November for unconvincing results in the Tunisian League.^[7]

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 own affairs.

Personal life

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

Managerial statistics

Managerial record

As of 16 May 2019

Managerial record by team and tenure
Team	From	To	Record
Team	From	To	G	W	D	L	Win %
Cercle Brugge	1 July 1984	30 June 1987	128	45	37	46	035.16
Anderlecht	1 July 1987	24 February 1988	51	31	11	9	060.78
Kortrijk	1 July 1988	30 June 1989	37	11	17	9	029.73
Club Brugge	1 July 1989	30 June 1991	79	46	22	11	058.23
KV Mechelen	1 July 1991	30 June 1992	36	15	14	7	041.67
Trabzonspor	1 July 1992	24 September 1993	45	24	14	7	053.33
Cercle Brugge	1 November 1993	30 June 1994	21	7	7	7	033.33
Charleroi	1 July 1994	30 June 1995	37	12	11	14	032.43
Excelsior Mouscron	1 July 1995	23 January 1997	36	17	10	9	047.22
Belgium	21 January 1997	20 August 1999	28	10	10	8	035.71
KSC Lokeren	29 August 1999	30 June 2001	98	43	28	27	043.88
Roda JC	19 September 2001	30 June 2002	36	14	7	15	038.89
Algeria	1 February 2002	7 July 2003	6	2	1	3	033.33
Excelsior Mouscron	8 July 2003	18 May 2004	34	15	14	5	044.12
Gent	18 May 2004	30 June 2007	105	55	20	30	052.38
KSC Lokeren	1 July 2007	30 March 2009	68	22	27	19	032.35
Al-Hilal	1 April 2009	3 May 2009	5	4	0	1	080.00
KV Kortrijk	28 May 2009	11 May 2010	44	29	12	3	065.91
Belgium	11 May 2010	13 May 2012	19	8	7	4	042.11
Club Brugge	13 May 2012	4 November 2012	22	10	5	7	045.45
Tunisia	27 March 2014	26 June 2015	19	7	8	4	036.84
KSC Lokeren	25 October 2015	26 October 2016	38	12	11	15	031.58
Algeria	27 October 2016	24 January 2017	6	2	2	2	033.33
Hungary	30 October 2017	18 June 2018	4	0	1	3	000.00
Étoile du Sahel	10 October 2018	26 November 2018	7	3	4	0	042.86
Tractor	13 January 2019	24 May 2019	15	7	5	3	046.67
Total			1,024	451	305	268	044.04