Robert Verbeek

Robert Verbeek (born 26 July 1961) is a Dutch former soccer player and subsequently a manager. Verbeek is the younger brother of former Australia manager Pim Verbeek. As a player he featured for Sparta Rotterdam, where he retired at the age of 31.

Verbeek is an experienced coach whose strength lies in the development of youth players. He started his coaching career following his retirement as a youth coach at Sparta Rotterdam and also worked for amateur teams NRC Ommoord(1985–1988), Neptunus and Unitas. In 1988 he was appointed by PSV Eindhoven, where he worked as a coach for a total period of eight years.^[1] In this period he assisted coaches like Guus Hiddink and Sir Bobby Robson. He worked with famous players like Romario and Ronaldo,^[1] who became famous after their spell with PSV. From 1996 to 2000 he started as a head coach and managed FC Dordrecht, but did not book any notable results and the team balanced in half way positions in the Eerste Divisie.

In 2000 he coached Amsterdam based ambitious amateur side FC Türkiyemspor, but moved to the United Arab Emirates a year later to coach both Al-Jazeera Club and Al-Shabbab. On 1 January 2004 he returned to the Netherlands and started at FC Dordrecht for the second time, this time to replace Jos van Eck. In March 2005 he decided to leave the club due to disappointing results and to try his luck abroad. FC Dordrecht had already appointed Jurrie Koolhof as their new manager for the upcoming season. As a result he was appointed by the Singaporean football association, where he coached the Singapore under 15 and under 16 squads. In 2007 he was in charge of J. League club Omiya Ardija.^[2]

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