Kees van Wonderen

Cornelis "Kees" Hendricus van Wonderen (; born 4 January 1969) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who last coached Schalke 04. During his playing career, he was mostly utilised as a centre back.

Playing career Club Van Wonderen was born in Bergen, North Holland, and played professional football for NEC, NAC Breda and Feyenoord.

While at Feyenoord, Van Wonderen won the Eredivisie in 1999 and the 2001–02 UEFA Cup, as the club beat Borussia Dortmund 3–2 in the final at De Kuip.

International He also won five caps for the Netherlands national team.

Coaching career

After his career as a professional footballer, he started as a scout at Feyenoord but left the position again after a few months. He then became assistant coach to Camiel Jager at his youth club VV Bennekom in December 2006.

In the summer of 2008 he accepted an offer from Twente to join the technical staff there under manager Steve McClaren. After two years, McClaren left Twente in the summer 2010 and following that, van Wonderen indicated that he wanted to take a step back to spend more time with his family. However, he signed a new deal with Twente in August 2010 as an assistant manager.

In October 2011, he was also added to the backroom staff of Netherlands U-16 and U-18 national teams as an assistant manager beside his job at Twente. Meanwhile, Van Wonderen and FC Twente decided to separate on 6 July 2012. However, by the request of his former Twente-colleague Alfred Schreuder who had been appointed head coach of Twente, Van Wonderen returned to the club as an assistant manager at the end of February 2013.

In the summer 2015, Van Wonderen left Twente and was appointed manager of Netherlands U-17 and U-18 national teams. At the start of the 2017/18 season, Van Wonderen was added to the technical staff of VVV-Venlo as an intern.

In March 2018, he was appointed assistant manager to Ronald Koeman for Netherlands A-team. He left this position in December 2019.

On 29 February 2020, Go Ahead Eagles confirmed that Van Wonderen would become the club's new head coach for the upcoming season. The club finished 2nd in the end of the 2020-21 season, which meant promotion to the Eredivisie.

On 21 March 2022, Van Wonderen was appointed as the new head coach of Heerenveen at the start of the 2022–23 season. On 11 March 2024, it was announced that he would leave the club at the end of the season.

On 6 October 2024, Van Wonderen became head coach of German 2. Bundesliga club Schalke 04, signing a contract until summer 2026. On 23 April 2025, Schalke 04 announced that he would leave the club at the end of the season. He was sacked on 3 May 2025.

Managerial statistics

Honours Player Feyenoord Eredivisie: 1998–99 Johan Cruyff Shield: 1999 UEFA Cup: 2001–02

Manager Netherlands U17 UEFA European Under-17 Championship: 2018 Go Ahead Eagles Promotion to the Eredivisie (2nd place)