.jpg) Van den Brom in 2016 managingAZ | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joseph Anthonius van den Brom | ||
| Date of birth | (1966-10-04)4 October 1966 (age 59) | ||
| Place of birth | Amersfoort, Netherlands | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| APWC | |||
| AFC Quick 1890 | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1986–1993 | Vitesse | 225 | (80) |
| 1993–1995 | Ajax | 44 | (7) |
| 1995–1996 | Istanbulspor | 22 | (3) |
| 1996–2001 | Vitesse | 99 | (13) |
| 2002–2003 | De Graafschap | 42 | (4) |
| Total | 432 | (107) | |
| International career | |||
| 1990–1993 | Netherlands | 2 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2003–2004 | Bennekom | ||
| 2004–2007 | Jong Ajax | ||
| 2007–2010 | AGOVV | ||
| 2010–2011 | ADO Den Haag | ||
| 2011–2012 | Vitesse | ||
| 2012–2014 | Anderlecht | ||
| 2014–2019 | AZ | ||
| 2019–2020 | Utrecht | ||
| 2020–2021 | Genk | ||
| 2022 | Al-Taawoun | ||
| 2022–2023 | Lech Poznań | ||
| 2024–2025 | Vitesse | ||
| 2025– | Twente | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Joseph AnthoniusJohnvan den Brom (born 4 October 1966) is a Dutch professionalfootball manager and formerplayer who is currently the manager ofEredivisie sideFC Twente.
As a player, he played forVitesse,Ajax,De Graafschap andIstanbulspor. After his playing career, Van den Brom became a manager. He worked as a head coach forAGOVV Apeldoorn (2007–2010),ADO Den Haag (2010–2011), Vitesse (2011–2012) andAnderlecht (2012–2014). After managingAZ for five years, he moved to take charge ofFC Utrecht from the 2019–20 season.
Born inAmersfoort, Netherlands, Van den Brom started his career at the amateurs of APWC in Amersfoort before signing as a professional footballer forVitesse in 1986. After seven seasons with Vitesse, playing 225 games and scoring 80 goals, he made the move to Dutch giantsAjax, where he played for two seasons before moving abroad with Turkish sideIstanbulspor.[1] He returned to Vitesse after one season, and spent another five seasons there before signing forDe Graafschap for his final season, retiring from playing in 2003.
Van den Brom made two appearances for theDutch national team.[2] He played in the 8–0 win againstMalta and the 6–0 win againstSan Marino. He scored one goal.
After his playing career he became head scout of De Graafschap and head coach of amateur side Bennekom,[3] before becoming coach of the second team at Ajax, on 29 April 2004. From 2007 to 2010 he served as head coach of smallEerste Divisie clubAGOVV Apeldoorn with impressive results, also winning a place in the promotion playoffs in his last season in charge. In May 2010 he was presented as new head coach ofEredivisie clubADO Den Haag,[4] with whom he qualified for the2011–12 Europa League. In June 2011, Van den Brom was named as head coach of his old clubVitesse.[5] Again, he managed to qualify for theEuropa League.
Van den Brom was appointed head coach ofRSC Anderlecht in 29 May 2012.[6]
In his first season, he led the team to win theBelgian Pro League title, also qualifying for theUEFA Champions League group stage. Anderlecht impressed domestically with attacking football and a strong focus on developing young talents. His second season was more turbulent. The club struggled in the league’s early stages and failed to progress beyond theChampions League group stage. Despite a late improvement, the board felt results and performances were not meeting expectations. As a result, Van den Brom was sacked on 10 March 2014 after a series of disappointing results.[7]
van den Brom was appointed head coach of AZ Alkmaar on 27 September 2014.[8]
In his first season, he guided AZ to an impressive third place in theEredivisie, which earned the club qualification for the UEFA Europa League. Over the following seasons, Van den Brom built a competitive and attacking side, consistently finishing in the top half of the table and regularly qualifying for European competitions. One of his highlights came in the 2017–18 season, when AZ finished third again and reached theKNVB Cup final, which they lost againstFeyenoord Rotterdam.
By the 2018–19 season, after nearly five years in charge, results had become more inconsistent, and both Van den Brom and the club felt it was time for a new challenge. He announced his departure in March 2019, finishing the season before officially leaving.[9]
John van den Brom was announced as head coach ofFC Utrecht on 1 July 2019.[10] During the2019–20 Eredivisie season, he led the team to a 6th-place finish, securing a spot in European competition. Van den Brom parted ways with the club on 9 November 2020, to take charge ofGenk.[11]
In November 2020, Van den Brom was announced as the new manager ofBelgian First Division A sideGenk, followingJess Thorup's departure.[12] He was sacked by Genk on 6 December 2021.[13]
On 31 March 2022, Van den Brom was announced as the manager ofSaudi Professional League clubAl-Taawoun.[14]
On 19 June 2022, he was announced as the manager of defending PolishEkstraklasa championsLech Poznań, replacingMaciej Skorża who left the team for personal reasons.[15] He had a tumultuous start to his tenure, as Lech remained winless in the first four league games and crashed out of the UEFA Champions Leaguefirst qualifying round after losing to Azerbaijani sideQarabağ 2–5 on aggregate.[16] However, Lech rebounded, and Van den Brom led the team to a successfulUEFA Europa Conference League campaign, reaching second place in the group stage which includedVillarreal,Austria Wien andHapoel Be'er Sheva,[17] eliminatingBodø/Glimt andDjurgårdens IF in the knockout stages,[18] before losing in the quarter-finals toFiorentina, 4–6 on aggregate.[19]
Lech's2023–2024 campaign got off to a rocky start, crashing out of Conference League third qualifying round against Slovak sideSpartak Trnava (3–4 on aggregate). On 16 December 2023, Lech drew 2–2 atRadomiak Radom, losing the win in the 96th minute. With that result, Lech scored 10 points in the last eight games of the year, and headed off for the winter break sitting 3rd in the league table, with an eight-point deficit to leadersŚląsk Wrocław. The following day, Van den Brom was dismissed.[20]
On 1 May 2024, shortly afterVitesse's relegation toEerste Divisie was confirmed, the club announced Van den Brom would return to managing them from the 2024–25 season onwards. Almost 11 years since his exit, he signed a one-year deal.[21]
During the 2024–25 season, Vitesse went through a turbulent period marked by severe financial troubles and a threatened license. Despite starting with a heavy 39-point deduction, van den Brom's young and largely homegrown squad managed to collect 41 points on the field, which would have placed them around 15th without the deduction. At the end of the season, the club decided not to extend his contract, aiming for a fresh start with a new coach.[22]
On 15 September 2025,FC Twente officially announced the appointment of van der Brom as their new head coach, on a contract for the remainder of the2025–26 Eredivisie season.[23]
| Club | Season | League | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vitesse | 1986–87 | Eerste Divisie | 36 | 17 |
| 1987–88 | Eerste Divisie | 25 | 10 | |
| 1988–89 | Eerste Divisie | 36 | 6 | |
| 1989–90 | Eredivisie | 33 | 14 | |
| 1990–91 | Eredivisie | 33 | 8 | |
| 1991–92 | Eredivisie | 32 | 10 | |
| 1992–93 | Eredivisie | 30 | 15 | |
| Ajax | 1993–94 | Eredivisie | 27 | 2 |
| 1994–95 | Eredivisie | 17 | 5 | |
| Istanbulspor | 1995–96 | 1. Lig | 22 | 3 |
| Vitesse | 1996–97 | Eredivisie | 28 | 5 |
| 1997–98 | Eredivisie | 15 | 1 | |
| 1998–99 | Eredivisie | 26 | 1 | |
| 1999–00 | Eredivisie | 24 | 6 | |
| 2000–01 | Eredivisie | 6 | 0 | |
| De Graafschap | 2000–01 | Eredivisie | 16 | 2 |
| 2001–02 | Eredivisie | 23 | 2 | |
| 2002–03 | Eredivisie | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 432 | 107 | ||
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| AGOVV Apeldoorn |  | 1 July 2007 | 30 June 2010 | 120 | 45 | 22 | 53 | 037.50 |
| Den Haag | | 1 July 2010 | 29 June 2011 | 40 | 20 | 7 | 13 | 050.00 |
| Vitesse | | 1 July 2011 | 30 May 2012 | 42 | 20 | 9 | 13 | 047.62 |
| Anderlecht |  | 30 May 2012 | 9 April 2014 | 98 | 54 | 18 | 26 | 055.10 |
| AZ Alkmaar | | 29 September 2014 | 30 June 2019 | 216 | 116 | 41 | 59 | 053.70 |
| Utrecht | | 1 July 2019 | 9 November 2020 | 40 | 20 | 9 | 11 | 050.00 |
| Genk | | 9 November 2020 | 6 December 2021 | 65 | 30 | 13 | 22 | 046.15 |
| Al-Taawoun |  | 31 March 2022 | 7 May 2022 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 028.57 |
| Lech Poznań |  | 19 June 2022 | 17 December 2023 | 82 | 41 | 23 | 18 | 050.00 |
| Vitesse | | 1 July 2024 | 9 May 2025 | 39 | 11 | 11 | 17 | 028.21 |
| FC Twente | | 15 September 2025 | Present | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 44.44 |
| Total | 758 | 363 | 158 | 237 | 047.89 | |||
Vitesse
Ajax
Anderlecht
Genk
Individual