René Vandereycken (born 22 July 1953) is a Belgian retired professional footballer and manager. During his playing career, he played as a midfielder. He was the head coach of the Belgium national team from 2006 to 2009.

Club career

Vandereycken was born in Spalbeek. He played for Club Brugge, Genoa and Anderlecht.

International career

Vandereycken earned 50 caps and scored three goals for the Belgium national team. He represented the country at the 1980 UEFA European Championship, where they reached the final, in which he scored a penalty in a 2–1 loss to West Germany.

Coaching career

Vandereycken coached Twente as well as Anderlecht for some months and was fired by Genk in June 2005 after he managed to qualify the team for the UEFA Cup. He also managed Gent, Standard Liège, RWD Molenbeek and Mainz 05. Vandereycken is known to like the defensive play and to be a tactician. He was the head coach of the Belgium national team from January 2006 to April 2009. During this time, he was subject to criticism in the press for his tactical decisions. He was sacked on 7 April 2009 following poor results in their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, including two back-to-back losses against Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Honours

Player

Club Brugge Anderlecht Belgium

Manager

Individual