Arie Haan - Managerial Career

Managerial Career

Two months after retiring as a player, he became trainer of Antwerp but, in the middle of the 1985–86 season, he replaced Paul Van Himst who was fired from the club. Franky Vercauteren and Morten Olsen featured in his team alongside players like goalkeeper Munaron, Luka Peruzović, Erwin Vandenbergh, Alex Czerniatynski, Enzo Scifo and Georges Grün. In 1986, Anderlecht won the championship, after a two-legged play-off against Club Brugge. Club Brugge forced a 1–1 draw away to Anderlecht, and led 2–0 at home after thirty minutes, but Anderlecht managed to equalise. The same season, the club reached the semi finals of the European Champions' Cup, by eliminating Bayern Munich. The following season, his team retained the Belgian Championship.

After Belgium he became trainer of VfB Stuttgart in Germany on 1 July 1987. Stuttgart reached their first European cup final in 1989, the UEFA Cup, but failed to win the trophy against SSC Napoli (1–2, 3–3), a team that Diego Maradona was playing for at the time. He remained in Stuttgart until 26 March 1990. In July 1990 he became manager of 1. FC Nuremberg where he remained for a single season.

Returning to Belgium in 1991, he coached Standard Liège until the middle of the season 1993–94 and won the Belgian Cup in 1993. In the 1994–95 season he was appointed coach of PAOK FC and he remained there until October 1995, after which he returned to the Netherlands and managed Feyenoord for two seasons. In his first season Feyenoord finished 2nd in the Eredivisie.

After ten years, in December 1997, Haan enjoyed a further stint at Anderlecht, spending nine months at the club before returning to PAOK, where he remained as coach until December 1999. He went to Cyprus, to become AC Omonia manager in November 2000 but he coached the team only for two matches since he had a great offer from Austria Vienna to become the team's manager. He asked from his club to release his contract and that was accepted. He left from Austria in August 2001.

He coached the Chinese national football team for two years since December 2002. In 2004, China hosted the Asia Cup and reached the final where his team was beaten by Japan. However, his team did not qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup after their elimination from the First round of qualifications, where China lost the first position the group to Kuwait. He remained as coach of China until November 2004.

Moving to Persepolis F.C. in February 2006, he helped his team reach the Hazfi Cup final. He was fired by the club just before the 2006–07 season began as he had problems with club management. Recently, he became trainer of Cameroon national team, however he resigned less than six months into a two-year contract citing interference from the president of Cameroon Football Federation Mohammed Iya as the reason.

In December 2007, Albanian Football Federation president Armando Duka announced Haan would replace Croatia's Otto Baric as Albania head coach. He signed a two-year contract on 4 January 2008 and cancelled his contract on 15 April 2009. On 29 May 2009 it was confirmed that Haan will succeed Wei Xin as the new manager of struggling Chinese Super League side Chongqing Lifan and took over in June that year. In August 2009, Haan was suspended for three Super League matches after waving money at a referee. Chongqing Lifan were relegated at the end of the 2009 league season and Haan left for fellow Chinese Super League team Tianjin Teda F.C.. He brought the team to the second place in 2010 season, the club's highest rank ever achieved in the China Super League, which earned the team a place in the AFC Champions League in 2011. In the 2011 season of CSL, though the team only ranked 10th. at last, Haan led the team won the championship of China's FA Cup, with the score of 2-1 against Shandong Luneng Taishan F.C.. This championship is the first title Tianjin Teda achieved since its establishment in 1998.