Raymond Verheijen (born 23 November 1971) is a Dutch professional football coach who is currently the assistant manager to the Welsh national side. Verheijen's current contract expires at the end of 2011.[1]
Verheijen has been a member of the coaching staff of the national teams of the Netherlands, Russia and South Korea, attending three World Cups and three European Championships.[2] He has also worked with a number of European club sides, including Barcelona of Spain, Zenit Saint Petersburg of Russia, and English teams Chelsea F.C and Manchester City.[2] He has also been a personal fitness coach to Craig Bellamy.[3]
In 1998, Verheijen published his Complete Handbook of Conditioning for Soccer.[4]
Verheijen was appointed to the position of Assistant Manager to the Welsh national side in February 2011,[5] and in March 2011 made the news for his use of Twitter.[6] Following the death of Gary Speed, Verheijen announced he would like to become the new Wales manager,[7] comments which were described as "selfish" by ex-player Iwan Roberts.[8]
Primarily a fitness coach, Verheijen has publicly criticsed the training methods of a number of English teams, such as London-based clubs Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur,[9] as well as former club Manchester City.[10] Earlier in his career, Verheijen publicly criticised the coaching methods of Dutch team Feyenoord,[11] but returned there to advise on pre-season build up in July 2011.[12]