John van den Brom

Joseph Anthonius John van den Brom (born 4 October 1966) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is scheduled to take charge of his former club Vitesse on 1 July 2024.

As a player, he played for Vitesse, Ajax, De Graafschap and Istanbulspor. After his playing career, Van den Brom became a manager. He worked as a head coach for AGOVV Apeldoorn (2007–2010), ADO Den Haag (2010–2011), Vitesse (2011–2012) and Anderlecht (2012–2014). After managing AZ for five years, he moved to take charge of FC Utrecht from the 2019–20 season.

Club career
Born in Amersfoort, Netherlands, Van den Brom started his career at the amateurs of APWC in Amersfoort before signing as a professional footballer for Vitesse in 1986. After seven seasons with Vitesse, playing 225 games and scoring 80 goals, he made the move to Dutch giants Ajax, where he played for two seasons before moving abroad with Turkish side Istanbulspor. He returned to Vitesse after one season, and spent another five seasons there before signing for De Graafschap for his final season, retiring from playing in 2003.

International career
Van den Brom made two appearances for the Dutch national team. He played in the 8–0 win against Malta and the 6–0 win against San Marino. He scored one goal.

Managerial career
After his playing career he became head scout of De Graafschap and head coach of amateur side Bennekom, before becoming coach of the second team at Ajax, on 29 April 2004. From 2007 to 2010 he served as head coach of small Eerste Divisie club AGOVV Apeldoorn with impressive results, also winning a place in the promotion playoffs in his last season in charge. In May 2010 he was presented as new head coach of Eredivisie club ADO Den Haag, with whom he qualified for the 2011–12 Europa League. In June 2011, Van den Brom was named as head coach of his old club Vitesse. Again, he managed to qualify for the Europa League.

He signed with Belgian side Anderlecht on 29 May 2012 as head coach. He was sacked on 10 March 2014.

On 27 September 2014, it was announced that Van den Brom had signed a deal with AZ to succeed Marco van Basten as the new manager. After managing AZ for five years, he moved to take charge of FC Utrecht from the 2019–20 season.

In November 2020 van den Brom was announced as the new manager of Belgian First Division A side Genk following Jess Thorup's departure. He was sacked by Genk on 6 December 2021.

On 31 March 2022, van den Brom was announced as the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al-Taawoun.

On 19 June 2022, he was announced as the manager of defending Polish Ekstraklasa champions Lech Poznań, replacing Maciej Skorża who left the team for personal reasons. He had a tumultuous start to his tenure, as Lech remained winless in the first four league games and crashed out of the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round after losing to Azerbaijani side Qarabağ 2–5 on aggregate. However, Lech rebounded, and van den Brom led the team to a successful UEFA Europa Conference League campaign, reaching second place in the group stage which included Villarreal, Austria Wien and Hapoel Be'er Sheva, eliminating Bodø/Glimt and Djurgårdens IF in the knockout stages, before losing in the quarter-finals to Fiorentina, 4–6 on aggregate.

Lech's 2023–2024 campaign got off to a rocky start, crashing out of Conference League third qualifying round against Slovak side Spartak Trnava (3–4 on aggregate). On 16 December 2023, Lech drew 2–2 at Radomiak Radom, losing the win in the 96th minute. With that result, Lech scored 10 points in the last eight games of the year, and headed off for the winter break sitting 3rd in the league table, with an eight-point deficit to leaders Śląsk Wrocław. The following day, van den Brom was dismissed.

On 1 May 2024, shortly after Vitesse's relegation to Eerste Divisie was confirmed, the club announced van den Brom would return to managing them from the 2024–25 season onwards. Almost 11 years since his exit, he signed a one-year deal.

As player
Vitesse
 * Eerste Divisie: 1988–89

Ajax
 * Eredivisie: 1993–94, 1994–95
 * Dutch Supercup: 1993, 1994
 * UEFA Champions League: 1994–95

As manager
Anderlecht
 * Belgian Pro League: 2012–13
 * Belgian Super Cup: 2012, 2013

Genk
 * Belgian Cup: 2020–21

Individual
 * Ekstraklasa Coach of the Month: September 2022