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 Leekens in 2019 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1949-05-18)18 May 1949 (age 76) | ||
| Place of birth | Meeuwen, Belgium | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1958–1969 | Sporting Houthalen | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1969–1970 | Dessel Sport | ||
| 1970–1972 | Crossing Club | ||
| 1972–1981 | Club Brugge | ||
| 1981–1984 | Sint Niklase | ||
| International career | |||
| 1975–1978 | Belgium | 3 | (0) |
| 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 Belgianfootball manager and former player. During his managerial career, he oversaw four national football teams: theBelgian,Tunisian,Algerian andHungarian national football teams. He also managed numerous clubs in Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Tunisia, Iran and Saudi Arabia.
Leekens debuted as a footballer in 1967 withSporting Houthalen after leaving the lower ranks of the club. He played as adefender. In 1969, he signed for one year withKFC Dessel Sport. After a brief stint atCrossing Club, he was transferred toClub Brugge. With the team, he reached the final of theUEFA Champions League in1978 againstLiverpool inWembley Stadium inLondon, where a single goal defeated them. He also won fiveBelgian leagues, aBelgian Cup and aBelgian Super Cup in 1980, one year before joiningSint-Niklase, where he retired from football in 1984.
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 withRSC Anderlecht three years after winning it with the Cercle Brugge. After trainingKV 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 trainedKV Mechelen andTrabzonspor, before returning to the Cercle Brugge andRoyal Charleroi and signing for theRE Mouscron, which was promoted to the Belgian First Division after finishing first in theBelgian Second Division.
In his first spell asBelgium national team coach, he led them to the1998 FIFA World Cup finals after a two-legged win against theRepublic of Ireland in thequalifying 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 theNetherlands,Mexico andSouth Korea.
After a brief stint as coach ofKSC Lokern andRoda JC, he was announced as the coach ofAlgeria at the end of 2002. He qualified for the2004 African Cup of Nations inTunisia. Still, he agreed with the Federation to rescind the contract for family reasons.
After his African stage, he returned to the Royal Excelsior Mouscron. Then he signed forKAA Gent for three years and again took the bench of KSC Lokeren. In 2009, it was announced that he would be the new coach ofAl-Hilal FC, but he was sacked three months after being defeated byAl-Shabab 3–0, so he coached KV Kortrijk again for one season.
On 11 May 2010, Leekens signed a contract until 2012 to take over the Belgium national team for the second time.[1] Consequently, 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 theEuro 2012 qualifying campaign.[2]
On 13 May 2012, it was announced that Leekens would coachClub Brugge for a second time,[3] but was fired a few months later after a series of successive defeats.[4]
On 27 March 2014, Leekens signed a two-year contract with theTunisian Football Federation to coach theCarthage Eagles. For his first tournament with Tunisia, Georges Leekens managed to take the team to the quarterfinals, but his team was eliminated 2–1 byEquatorial Guinea, the host country of the2015 Africa Cup of Nations. On 27 June 2015, the Tunisian federation announced having terminated its contract amicably.
In 2016, he coached theAlgerian national football team and led the team to the2017 Africa Cup of Nations inGabon. On 24 January 2017, he resigned as a coach after being eliminated in theGroup B stage.[5]
In February 2017, he was one of several managers on the vacantRwanda national team manager role shortlist.[6]
It was announced in October 2017 that Leekens would coach theHungary national team. After three losses and one draw in four matches, he was fired in June 2018.
He was appointed by Tunisian clubÉtoile du Sahel as coach on 10 October 2018, after failing in the2018 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 withAl Hilal. He managed to qualify the team for the quarter-finals of theArab Championship with African championsWydad Casablanca before leaving on 26 November due to unconvincing results in theTunisian League.[7]
After less than two months in January 2019, Leekens contracted withTractor 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.
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 inGenk.
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 | ||
Club Brugge[8]
Anderlecht
Club Brugge
Cercle Brugge[16]
Belgium
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