Ron Jans

Ron Jans (Dutch pronunciation: [rɔˈɲɑns]; born 29 September 1958) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, who is the head coach of Utrecht.

Ron Jans

Jans as Utrecht head coach in 2023
Personal information
Date of birth	(1958-09-29) 29 September 1958 (age 66)
Place of birth	Zwolle, Overijssel, Netherlands
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Utrecht (head coach)
Youth career
	RKSV Zwolle
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1976–1983	PEC Zwolle	157	(44)
1982–1984	Groningen	63	(16)
1984–1987	Roda JC	99	(10)
1987–1988	Mazda Motors	16	(1)
1988–1991	BV Veendam	54	(5)
Total		389	(76)
Managerial career
1991–1993	SJS Stadskanaal
1993–1996	ACV
1996–2000	Achilles 1894
2000–2002	BVO Emmen (assistant)
2002–2010	Groningen
2010–2012	Heerenveen
2012	Standard Liège
2013–2017	PEC Zwolle
2019–2020	FC Cincinnati
2020–2023	Twente
2023–	Utrecht
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Coaching career

Groningen

Born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Jans joined Groningen on 2002, and was the longest-serving head coach in the whole Eredivisie, being instrumental in the club's recent successes, including two consecutive UEFA Cup qualifications in 2005 and 2006. During his time at Groningen, Jans was known for his witty comments during press conferences and his positive attitude towards the press. He was formerly active as a German language teacher. He also appeared regularly in the Dutch television channel Nederland 3 as a UEFA Champions League analyst for the 2009–10 season.^[1]

In November 2009, he announced he would leave Groningen at the end of the 2009–10 season, after eight years in charge of the club, citing his desire for a new experience as the main reason behind his choice.^[2]

Heerenveen

In February 2010, Heerenveen officials agreed terms with the Groningen coach for next season, the 51-year-old joined his new club at the end of the season to replace Jan de Jonge.^[3] The move was quite a controversy as Heerenveen and Groningen are great rivals in the Eredivisie. Jans was seen as a Groningen ace and the supporters did not think much of his step to the rivals. After the news came out, the fans showed a banner saying: "You never knew how to replace someone." With this message, they showed their dislike of the move of the manager on the one hand, and sneered at how he sometimes substituted players that hardly made any sense.

Jans' first season in charge of Heerenveen was mostly considered as disappointing, as he only managed to achieve an unimpressive twelfth place in the league table and was also criticized due to a number of controversial choices. His second season turned out however to be much better, thanks to his ability to get the most out of forwards Bas Dost, Luciano Narsingh and Oussama Assaidi and drive the team into the battle for the league title by April 2012. In January 2012, it was revealed that Jans would depart from Heerenveen at the end of the season, with former Dutch superstar player Marco van Basten taking over from him.^[4] He led Heerenveen to direct UEFA Europa League qualification by the end of the season.

Standard Liège

He signed to Standard Liège on 29 May 2012,^[5] but agreed with the club to end his contract on 22 October after Standard was at that time 12th in the Belgian Pro League.

PEC Zwolle

Jans joined PEC Zwolle in 2013. In his first season, he won the KNVB Cup after beating Ajax 5–1 in the final. In the 2014–15 season, he led PEC Zwolle to the cup final once again, and also winning the Johan Cruijff Schaal

FC Cincinnati

On 26 July 2019, The Athletic reported that Jans had been hired as the head coach of American club FC Cincinnati, and would replace interim coach Yoann Damet as soon as he obtained a work visa.^[6] FC Cincinnati officially announced the hiring on 5 August 2019, ending a months-long coach search that began with their firing of Alan Koch in May 2019. This was Jans' second time working with FC Cincinnati general manager Gerard Nijkamp, who had hired Jans in 2013 when he was technical director of PEC Zwolle.^[7] Jans' contract was set to expire on 31 December 2020, with Nijkamp having previously indicated that their coach hire would be a "short-term solution" to be re-evaluated ahead of the 2021 season.^[8][9]

On 17 February 2020, Jans resigned from his head coach position at FC Cincinnati amidst an investigation into his alleged use of a racial slur.^[10]

Twente

Jans was appointed as head coach of Twente on 17 June 2020. Upon the expiration of his contract, along with that of technical director Jan Streuer, the pair was released from the club. His final game saw the team qualify for the UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round with a 2-1 aggregate score against Sparta Rotterdam in the final of the European competition playoffs on 11 June 2023.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 3 November 2024^[11]

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nation	From	To	Record								Ref
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Groningen		21 October 2002	30 June 2010	310	128	66	116	455	435	+20	041.29	[12]
Heerenveen		1 July 2010	29 May 2012	75	33	21	21	164	122	+42	044.00	[13]
Standard Liège		29 May 2012	22 October 2012	12	5	1	6	24	23	+1	041.67	[14]
PEC Zwolle		30 June 2013	20 June 2017	159	61	36	62	251	244	+7	038.36	[15]
FC Cincinnati		4 August 2019	17 February 2020	10	1	4	5	8	20	−12	010.00	[16]
Twente		17 June 2020	30 June 2023	116	56	31	29	194	128	+66	048.28	[17]
Utrecht		11 September 2023	present	45	24	12	9	77	56	+21	053.33
Total				727	308	171	248	1,173	1,028	+145	042.37	—

Honours

Manager

PEC Zwolle

• KNVB Cup: 2013–14
• Johan Cruyff Shield: 2014

References

1. "Been, Jans en Beenhakker als NOS-analitici" (in Dutch). Het Parool. 8 July 2009. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
2. "Jans to end long Groningen reign". UEFA.com. 12 November 2009. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
3. Ron Jans named as new boss of Heerenveen – Europe – ESPN Soccernet
4. "Ron Jans weg bij Heerenveen" [Ron Jans leaves Heerenveen] (in Dutch). Algemeen Dagblad.
5. "Ron Jans aan de slag bij Belgische topclub Standard Luik" [Ron Jans hired by Belgian top club Standard Liège] (in Dutch). Voetbal International. 29 May 2012. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
6. Rueter, Jeff; Stejskal, Sam (26 July 2019). "Sources: FC Cincinnati to hire Ron Jans as next head coach". The Athletic. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
7. Baer, Benjamin (4 August 2019). "FC Cincinnati name Ron Jans head coach". MLSsoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
8. Pfahler, Laurel (5 August 2019). "'It can only go better': FC Cincinnati confident new coach...". The Athletic. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
9. Brennan, Pat (5 July 2019). "FC Cincinnati GM Gerard Nijkamp: Next coach to be 'short-term solution'". Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Retrieved 15 August 2019.
10. Brennan, Pat (18 February 2020). "FC Cincinnati: Ron Jans resigns as head coach". Cincinnati Enquirer. Gannett Company. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
11. "Ron Jans career sheet". footballdatabase. footballdatabase. Retrieved 17 April 2020.
12. "FC Groningen: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
13. "SC Heerenveen: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
14. "Standard Liège: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
15. "PEC Zwolle: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
16. "FC Cincinnati: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
17. "FC Twente: Matches". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 19 June 2020.

External links

• Profile (in Dutch)