Nicky Hayen

Nicky Hayen (born 16 August 1980) is a Belgian football manager and former professional footballer who is currently head coach at Club Brugge.

Career
From 1999 on, Hayen played nine seasons at the highest level of Belgian professional football with Sint-Truiden, before moving to RBC Roosendaal in the second division in the Netherlands for two seasons. He returned to Belgium in 2010 by joining Oud-Heverlee Leuven and was part of the team achieving promotion to the Belgian Pro League. In the summer of 2012, he was loaned out for one season to Antwerp, but when the season ended he was released and became player-coach at Dender EH in the Belgian Third Division. In February 2014, he was relieved of his coaching duties at Dender EH due to bad result, but stayed with the team as player.

On 31 December 2021, Hayen was announced as manager of Cymru Premier club Haverfordwest County on an initial 18-month contract. This was duly extended for a further 12 months upon confirmation of safety towards the end of the 2021–22 season, after an excellent run of form. Hayen was the first Belgian manager to work in the Cymru Premier. He left the club in June 2022 to return to Belgium to take up a position as manager of Club Brugge's under-23 team, Club NXT. On 18 March 2024, he was appointed as caretaker manager of Club Brugge, following the dismissal of Ronny Deila.

Hayen turned Brugge's fortunes around, and won the Belgian championship after a 0-0 draw against Cercle Brugge. He signed a permanent deal as a coach of Club Brugge on 3rd of June 2024.