Hans van Breukelen

Johannes Franciscus "Hans" van Breukelen (; born 4 October 1956) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He was the technical director of the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) from 2017 until 2018.

Van Breukelen grew up in De Bilt, where he played in the BVC youth academy. In 1976, he moved to Utrecht, where he played 142 matches. After two years with Nottingham Forest, Van Breukelen moved to PSV Eindhoven in 1984. With PSV, he won six league titles and three domestic cups. In 1988, Van Breukelen also won the European Cup as part of the Treble after saving Benfica's sixth penalty in the shoot-out. In the Netherlands, he was named Goalkeeper of the Year four times.

Van Breukelen played 73 caps for the Netherlands national team. At UEFA Euro 1988 with the Netherlands, Van Breukelen stopped a penalty in the final. He also appeared at the 1990 World Cup and UEFA Euro 1992. After his career, he became an entrepreneur in different non-football business ventures, although he served as director of football at FC Utrecht and was a member of the PSV board of directors from 2010 to 2016.

Hans van Breukelen is one of five European players to ever win a Treble with their club and a cup with their national team in the same year. The other four players are his teammates Berry van Aerle, Ronald Koeman, Gerald Vanenburg and Wim Kieft.

Early years Van Breukelen, born in Utrecht, started playing club football at amateur team BVC from De Bilt in 1964. In 1974, he reached the BVC first team at age 17. A few months later, Van Breukelen was transferred to Utrecht. In his youth, he studied to become a teacher; even after he signed for Utrecht, he finished his study in pedagogy and taught in schools.

Club career

Utrecht and Nottingham Forest Van Breukelen started out in the Utrecht reserve team, but soon became the club's third goalkeeper behind Blagoje Istatov and Jan Stroomberg. He would later become the first-choice between the sticks for four years.

In the 1980–81 season, Utrecht reached the third place (its highest ever position to date) and a year later, Van Breukelen and his team reached the KNVB Cup final. During the season, Nottingham Forest and Van Breukelen had increasing arguments about his frequent international call-ups. Not willing to sacrifice his spot in the Dutch team, he decided to leave England after the 1983–84 season. In a match between Feyenoord and PSV in 1987, Van Breukelen was involved in an error that became known in the Netherlands as ‘het polletje van Van Breukelen’ (‘Van Breukelen's tussock’). When he bounced the ball from his hands on a clump of grass, it swirled in an unwanted direction. Van Breukelen rushed to collect the ball but this was deemed unlawful by the referee, as goalkeepers cannot repeatedly pick up the ball. The awarded last-minute free kick was converted by Feyenoord, making the score 1–1.

The subsequent public (and media) mockery resulted in difficult times for Van Breukelen, but he recovered in time for the 1987–88 season; the high point of his career. In the European Cup final against Benfica, the match remained goalless so penalties had to decide the outcome. After PSV converted their sixth penalty, Benfica's Antonio Veloso's low kick in the left corner was parried away by Van Breukelen; a save that brought PSV the European Cup victory. For his performances, he also won the Dutch Goalkeeper of the Year award in 1988; an award he would win four times in total. Van Breukelen and PSV also won the Dutch cup in 1990 and two more league titles in 1991 and 1992.

During the 1993–94 season, Van Breukelen publicly voiced criticism towards the behaviour of his teammate Romário. It resulted in a fine from PSV for the goalkeeper. Also, three yellow cards for minor offences caused a suspension for an important match against Ajax. In early 1994, Van Breukelen (with his retirement pending) hoped that PSV would offer him the position of general manager at the club, but PSV chose Frank Arnesen instead. He then requested the role of second goalkeeper for next season but the club also rejected that idea. Ajax offered him the second goalkeeper role, but Van Breukelen refused to play for them, and chose to retire. On 6 October 1994, Van Breukelen was honoured with a testimonial match from PSV. The European Cup-winning PSV team from 1988 played against two teams: the 1988 European Championship winning Netherlands team in the first half, and a selection of the best PSV players in history in the second half. In total, Van Breukelen represented PSV in 308 Eredivisie matches, 37 cup matches and 46 European matches. Van Breukelen returned as the first choice in the next match. During the qualification round, he conceded only one goal in his seven matches, contributing to the first Dutch major tournament since 1980. At Euro 1988, the Netherlands narrowly progressed through the group stage but managed to beat rivals West Germany in the semi-finals (2–1). The Netherlands were named European champions after winning the final against the Soviet Union (2–0). Van Breukelen caused a penalty in that match, but saved the subsequent attempt by Igor Belanov. Later, he was named best goalkeeper of the tournament.

Van Breukelen and the national team qualified for the 1990 World Cup, but were knocked out by West Germany in the second round. In the West Germany match, Rudi Völler collided with Van Breukelen, who confronted Völler vocally. A brawl ensued, resulting in Völler (and Frank Rijkaard) being sent off. Desiring a return to football, Van Breukelen increasingly hoped for an offer from a team. Twente approached him to become their general manager in 1996, but Van Breukelen refused. In 1997, he was appointed as director of football at Utrecht. He embarked on a concept called the ‘Challenger-plan’, which stated Utrecht's style of play and main targets.

Van Breukelen returned to his role as an entrepreneur and in 2000, he founded his own company HvB Management, specialized in conducting lectures and trainings for businesses. Since 2005, he served as the director of Sports and Technology, a Dutch foundation working on innovation in the two areas. In July 2010, Van Breukelen joined the PSV Eindhoven board of directors. His appointment was endorsed by the 'Vereniging PSV' (association PSV), who have a partial say in the board membership. After his disappointment with PSV's football performances in 2013, Van Breukelen hoped to instigate a change of management direction and club culture. He contacted Guus Hiddink, several other former PSV players and sponsors to aid his cause.

In June 2016, van Breukelen was appointed technical director of the Dutch FA. He left this position in 2018.

He appeared in a 2023 episode of the television show The Masked Singer.

Career statistics

Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals

1976–77

1977–78

1978–79

1979–80

1980–81

1981–82

1982–83

Total 142!!0!!6!!0

1982–83

1983–84

Total 61!!0!!8 !!0 !!0 IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper: Silver ball 1988 IFFHS World's Best Goalkeeper: Bronze ball 1992