Marius Johan (Hans) Oft ( Dutch: Marius "Hans" Johan Ooft ; born June 27, 1947, Rotterdam ) is a Dutch soccer player and football coach who became the first foreigner to head the Japanese team [1] . Under the leadership of Oft, Japan won the 1992 Asian Cup for the first time, but he was fired a year later, as he could not bring Japan to the 1994 FIFA World Cup [2] .
 Hans Oft | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | Marius Johan Oft | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Citizenship |  Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | attack | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Club | completed his career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Biography
Hans started playing football at the age of six and was enrolled in the De Mussen club, where he had been playing for eleven years [3] . At the age of 18, he signed a contract with Feyenoord [4] , after which he went to serve in the army in the north of the Netherlands. In the 1966/67 season, Oft supported the second squad of the Rotterdam team, and in the summer of 1967 he moved to Vendam [5] . In the new team, the striker made his debut in a friendly match against the English Charlton [6] .
After Wendam, Hans played for Cambury and Heerenveen . He ended his career in 1976 at the age of 29 due to an injury. According to Oft, he was always interested in coaching, he received his first license in 1973. Immediately after the end of his career, he became a coach of the youth team of the Netherlands .
Oft first visited Japan in 1979. Japan's youth team needed a coach before the tournament in Bellinzona , Switzerland . So Oft signed his first contact with the Japanese team. In 1981, he led a coaching conference in Shimizu , and Jubilo Iwata asked him to temporarily take up the position of coach. Oft spent two months at the club, this was his first experience as a coach in club football. In 1984, he became a coach at Sanfreche Hiroshima , where he worked for four and a half years. After almost five years in Japan, he returned to the Netherlands to become Utrecht Technical Director.
In 1992, he returned to Japan as a coach of the national team and stayed on the post for two years. He won the 1992 Asian Cup with the team and was close to the final of the 1994 World Cup. Then, in the decisive match against Iraq, the team in the last minutes of the match could not win ( draw 2: 2 ), this meeting was dubbed the “agony in Doha ”. After that, he worked with Jubilo Iwata (1994-1997) for three years, and also spent a year at Kyoto Sanga . After a three-year hiatus in January, he became the Urava Red Diamonds coach. In 2008, he returned to Gubilio Iwata for one season, after which he retired.
Notes
- ↑ Mubarak, Hassanin. Japan National Team Coaches . RSSSF (September 25, 2003). Date of treatment July 17, 2009.
- ↑ Yoon, Hyung-Jin. Asian Nations Cup 1992 Final Tournament - Full Details . RSSSF (July 3, 2005). Date of treatment July 17, 2009.
- ↑ Profile: Hans Ooft - football manager, part 1. (eng.) . Sol Times . Date of treatment January 15, 2015.
- ↑ Hans Ooft gaat naar Feijenoord. (nid.) . Het Vrije Volk . Date of treatment January 15, 2015.
- ↑ Feijenoorder Ooft naar Veendam. (nid.) . Nieuwsblad van het Noorden . Date of treatment January 15, 2015.
- ↑ Veendam - Charlton bij 1: 1 afgelast. (nid.) . Nieuwsblad van het Noorden . Date of treatment January 15, 2015.
Links
- Hans Ooft - A Dutchman in Japan . uefa.com (June 13, 2002).
- Statistics on the website cambuur-archief.nl (inaccessible link) (nid.)