Jan Van Winckel

Jan Van Winckel (born March 26, 1974) is a Belgian football coach, UEFA and AFC Pro License Instructor and a FIFA Technical Expert. He is Technical Director at the United Arab Emirates Football Association.

Van Winckel holds a UEFA Pro-licence and graduated with a Master in Sport Sciences and a Master in Business Economics from the University of Leuven. He remains faculty of the Movement Control & Neuroplasticity Research Group and is the author of various book and academic articles

Van Winckel was Assistant Coach at Al-Hilal Saudi in 2004. He held the same role at the national team of the United Arab Emirates in 2005.

In 2002, he was at the heart of Belgium's footballing renaissance with Michel Sablon, Marc Van Geersom, Werner Helsen, and Bob Browaeys.

At Olympique de Marseille, Van Winckel acted as Marcelo Bielsa's right hand and first team assistant.

After resigning at Olympique de Marseille, Van Winckel became the technical director of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation in 2015. As technical director, Van Winckel led the Saudi Arabian football team to the World Cup in Russia in 2018.

In 2019, Jan Van Winckel signed as a senior technical consultant to the United Arab Emirates Football Association. He set up the UAE FA 2nd and 3rd divisions and has launched projects to privatize football clubs in the United Arab Emirates. In 2022, he extended his contract.

In 2022, Van Winckel signed an agreement with Al-Ahli Saudi as Technical Ddvisor. He was technical director at the club from 2014 to 2015 and became vice-champion of Asia. The club was promoted back to the Saudi Pro League.

In 2023, Van Winckel was re-appointed as Technical Director of the United Arab Emirates Football Association. He appointed the Portuguese manager Paulo Bento as head coach of the national team.

As Player

 * 1994-1995: Belgian Champion University football
 * 1996-1997: Belgian Champion University football
 * 1994-1997: Belgian National University team
 * 1996-1997: Belgian National University futsal team
 * 2001-2002: 7th most valuable player Belgian Futsal Association
 * 2001-2002: 5th best goal scorer Belgian Futsal Association
 * 2001-2002: Final Belgian Cup Belgian Futsal Association
 * 2001-2002: Selected for the national futsal team

As Coach

 * 1994-2000 : Stade Leuven
 * 2000-2002 : KV Mechelen
 * 2002-2004 : Al-Hilal FC
 * 2004-2006 : United Arab Emirates national football team
 * 2006-2008 : Belgium national football team *Scout
 * 2006-2011 : Club Brugge KV
 * 2011-2012 : Beerschot AC
 * 2014-2015 : Olympique de Marseille

As Technical Director

 * 2012-2014: Al-Ahli SC (Jeddah)
 * 2015-2018 : Saudi Arabian Football Federation
 * 2022-2023: Al-Ahli SC (Jeddah)
 * 2023- : United Arab Emirates national football team

Others

 * 2015 -   : Asian Football Confederation Member of Expert Panels on Coach Education & Youth Development
 * 2015 -   : Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee Member of Mass Participation Committee and High Performance Committee

Honours

 * 1997-1998 : Belgian Champion University football
 * 2000-2002 : KV Mechelen : Winner Belgian League
 * 2002-2005 : Al-Hilal FC : Winner Saudi Crown Prince Cup and Saudi Federation Cup
 * 2005-2006 : United Arab Emirates national football team : Qualified for AFC Asian Cup and Arabian Gulf Cup and winner of Kirin Cup
 * 2006     : Swaziland national football team  : Second place COSAFA Cup
 * 2006-2011 : Club Brugge KV : Winner of Belgian Cup
 * 2013-2014 : Al-Ahli SC (Jeddah) : Vice-champion AFC Champions League
 * 2015-2017   : Saudi Arabian Football Federation  : Winner of Arabian Gulf Cup
 * 2018 : Saudi Arabian Football Federation  : Qualified for the FIFA World Cup in Russia