Wouter Vrancken (born 3 February 1979) is a Belgian football manager and a former defensive midfielder. He is the head coach of Genk.
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Date of birth | 3 February 1979 | ||
Place of birth | Sint-Truiden, Belgium | ||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Genk (Head coach) | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1999–2004 | Sint-Truidense | 173 | (14) |
2004–2006 | Gent | 61 | (9) |
2006–2008 | Genk | 56 | (10) |
2009–2010 | Mechelen | 35 | (3) |
2010 | Kortrijk | 2 | (0) |
International career | |||
1997 | Belgium U18 | 1 | (0) |
2000–2002 | Belgium U21 | 17 | (0) |
Managerial career | |||
2009–2011 | RDK Gravelo | ||
2011–2013 | Overpelt VV | ||
2014–2017 | Thes Sport | ||
2017 | Lommel SK | ||
2017–2018 | Kortrijk (assistant) | ||
2018–2022 | Mechelen | ||
2022– | Genk | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Wouter Vrancken started his playing career as a youth at lower division clubs, beginning at FC Oud Groot Gelmen, progressing through Concordia Duras, Sporting Aalst-Brustem and KSK Tongeren before ending up in the Belgian top flight with home-town club Sint-Truiden.[1] During the build-up to the 1997-98 season, Vrancken moved on from the youths set-up into the Sint-Truiden first team at the age of 18.
Vrancken made his professional debut on September 13, 1997, in the First Division against RWDM. [2] Vrancken initially combined football with studying for a Bachelors in PE, but was soon urged by STVV coach Poll Peters to stop his studies and concentrate on his football career instead.[3] After his first season in the Belgian Pro League, Vrancken was attracting interest from Racing Genk, but STVV did not follow through on a deal.[4]
After eight seasons at the Stayen, Vrancken moved to Gent,[1] forming a good midfield partnership with Mbark Boussoufa[5] for one season together, before both secured transfers elsewhere: Boussoufa to Anderlecht, Vrancken to Genk, who finally came good on their previous interest.[6] Vrancken immediately became vice national champion in his first season with Genk, 2006-07, finishing runners-up five points behind champions Anderlecht.
Having enjoyed two seasons in Limburg, Vrancken moved to Mechelen in August 2008, signing a four-year deal.[7] 18 months into his time with the Yellow-Reds, Vrancken moved to Georges Leekens-coached Kortrijk during the 2009-10 winter break in a player-exchange, with Tom Soetaers going in the opposite direction. But only managing two league appearances in the calendar year of 2010 saw Vrancken forced to retire from football through a persistent hip injury and osteoarthritis at the age of 31 on advice from KVK’s then coach Hein Vanhaezebrouck.[8] Vrancken had his contract with Kortrijk dissolved in October 2010, barely nine months after moving from Mechelen.[9]
After seven years coaching in the lower divisions, beginning with part-time roles in the fourth division at RDK Gravelo and Overpelt VV while working in accountancy,[8] Vrancken had a one-year spell back in the top-flight as assistant to Glen De Boeck at Kortrijk for the 2017-18 season.
Vrancken took charge at recently-relegated Mechelen in the summer of 2018, guiding the club back to the Belgian Pro League at the first attempt, winning Division 1B[10][11] and the 2018-19 Belgian Cup, beating Gent 2-1 in the final at the King Baudouin Stadium. Mechelen are the first club ever to do such a double, and only the second club in history from outside the Belgian top-flight to win the Cup.[12]
However, due to match-fixing investigations from the season Mechelen were relegated (2017-18) prior to Vrancken's hiring, the Yellow-Reds were not allowed defend the Cup or to play in the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League.[13]
Vrancken steered Mechelen into top-eight finishes for the next three seasons - the highest being sixth in the curtailed 2019-20 season - but feeling the club were not ambitious enough to start competing higher up the table,[14] departed for Racing Genk in the summer of 2022.[15]
Losing their opening game of the season 3-2 away to champions Club Brugge, Genk then went on an unbeaten run of 15 games, winning 14, propelling them to the top of the 2022-23 Belgian Pro League. They would stay top to the end of the regular season, qualifying Racing for the 2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League, ahead of the 2022-23 title play-offs against Union St-Gilloise, Royal Antwerp and Club Brugge.
Vrancken was named Coach of the Year for 2022 at the Belgian Golden Shoe Awards, off the back of their long unbeaten run.[16] Up to April 2023. Vrancken was sacked for match fixing.[17]
He is married and has two daughters and a son.
Mechelen
Individual