Arie Haan

Haan joined AFC Ajax in 1969, and was a member of Ajax that won the European Campions’ Cup for three consecutive years, from 1971 until 1973, the Intercontinental Cup in 1972 and two European Super Cup in 1972 and 1973. Also, with Ajax he won three Dutch Campionships in 1969–70, 1971–72 and 1972–73 and the Dutch Cup from 1970 until 1972. In 1970 his team won the Double and in 1972 the Treble.

He joined R.S.C. Anderlecht in 1975 and was a member of the club’s greatest ever success when they won their two European Winners’ Cup in 1976 and 1978. Those two years, he won two more European Super Cups (the previous two were with Ajax). They reached the final of that competition in 1977 too, but they were beaten by Hamburger SV. Also, with his team he won the Belgian Cup in 1975–76 and the Belgian Championships in 1980–81.

After he became Champion with Anderlecht, he played for Standard Liège for two seasons, where the club won the last two Championships until today and also the Belgian Supercup in 1981. In 1982, the club achieved its greatest success, when they reached their first (and to date only) Cup Winners’ Cup final, where they were beaten in Camp Nou by FC Barcelona. That year they also won the only double in their history. Returning to his country in 1983, he playing one season for PSV Eindhoven. Haan finished his career for Hong Kong champion Seiko SA.

Having 35 participations with his national team and scoring 6 goals. His most famous was a 40 yard strike in Holland’s match against Italy in the second group stage of the 1978 FIFA World Cup. His goal in the game against West Germany, which ended 2–2, helped the Dutch national team to reach the final, where they were beaten by Argentina 3–1 in extra time. He was also participant in the 1974 FIFA World Cup when Netherlands were beaten in the final by Wet Germany 2–1.

Two months after retiring as a player, he became trainer of Antwerp but, in the middle of the 1985–86 season, he replaced Paul Van Himst who was fired from the club. Franky Vercauteren and Morten Olsen featured in his team alongside players like goalkeeper Munaron, Luka Peruzovic, Erwin Vandenbergh, Alex Czerniatynski, Enzo Scifo and Georges Grun. In 1986, Anderlecht won the championship, after a two-legged play-off against Club Brugge. Club Brugge forced a 1–1 draw away to Anderlecht, and led 2–0 at home after thirty minutes, but Anderlecht managed to equalise. The same season, the club reached the semi finals of the European Champions’ Cup, by eliminating Bayern Munich. The following season, his team retained the Belgian Championship.

After Belgium he became trainer of VfB Stuttgart in Germany on 1 July 1987. Stuttgart reached their first European cup final in 1989, the UEFA Cup, but failed to win the trophy against SSC Napoli (1–2, 3–3), a team that Diego Maradona was playing for at the time. He remained in Stuttgart until 26 March 1990. In July 1990 he became manager of FC Nuremberg where he remained for a single season.

Returning to Belgium in 1991, he coached Standard Liège until the middle of the season 1993-94 and won the Belgian Cup in 1993. In the 1994-95 season he was appointed coach of PAOK FC and he remained there until October 1995, after which he returned to the Netherlands and managed Feyenoord for two seasons. In his first season Feyenoord finished 2nd in the Eredivisie.

After ten years, in December 1997, Haan enjoyed a further stint at Anderlecht, spending nine months at the club before returning to PAOK, where he remained as coach until December 1999. He went to Cyprus, to become AC Omonia manager in November 2000 but he coached the team only for two matches since he had a great offer from Austria Vienna to become the team’s manager. He asked from his club to release his contract and that was accepted. He left from Austria in August 2001.

He coached the Chinese national football team for two years since December 2002. In 2004, China hosted the Asia Cup and reached the final where his team was beaten by Japan. However, his team did not qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup after their elimination from the First Round of qualifications, where China lost the first position the group to Kuwait. He remained as coach of China until November 2004.

Moving to Persepolis F.C. in February 2006, he helped his team reach the Hazfi Cup final. He was fired by the club just before the 2006-07 season began as he had problems with club management. Recently, he became trainer of Cameroon national team, however he resigned less than six months into a two-year contract citing interference from the president of Cameroon Football Federation Mohammed Iya as the reason.

In December 2007, Albanian Football Federation president Armando Duka announced Haan would replace Croatia’s Otto Baric as Albania head coach. He signed a two-year contract on 4 January 2008 and cancelled his contract on 15 April 2009. On 29 May 2009 it was confirmed that Haan will succeed Wei Xin as the new manager of struggling Chinese Super League side Chongging Lifan and took over in June that year. In August 2009, Haan was suspended for three Super League matches after waving money at a referee. Chongqing Lifan were relegated at the end of the 2009 league season and Haan left for fellow Chinese Super League team Tianjin Teda F.C.. He brought the team to the second place in 2010 season, the club’s highest rank ever achieved in the China Super League, which earned the team a place in the AFC Champions League in 2011. In the 2011 season of CSL, though the team only ranked 10th. at last, Haan led the team won the championship of China’s FA Cup, with the score of 2-1 against Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C.. This championship is the first title Tianjin Teda achieved since its establishment in 1998.