Jo Bonfrère

Johannes-Franciscus Bonfrère (born 15 June 1946) is a Dutch football coach. He was also a midfielder. He played for MVV Maastricht. He has coached for many times in Africa and Asia. He led Nigeria to their victory in the 1996 Olympic Games.

Playing career
From 1963 to 1985, Bonfrère only played in the MVV Maastricht club. He scored 50 goals and played 335 league games

Coaching career

Nigeria
Bonfrère helped the Nigeria national football team in the 1996 Summer Olympics win the gold medal. In 2002-03, he was the coach of Al Ahly in Egypt. Al Ahly lost the league at the final match. They only lost by two points. Bonfrère's contract ended after that.

He also led Nigeria to the 2000 African Cup of Nations. The Nigerian team went to the finals. They lost to Cameroon by penalties.

On 7 June 2018, the Nigerian government gave Jo a 3 bedroom apartment for helping Nigeria win the gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.

Asia and South Korea
In June 2004, South Korea national football team drew to the Maldives national football team in a FIFA World Cup qualification. Their coach Humberto Coelho was forced to quit. Bonfrère became the coach for the team.

With his coaching, the team at first did well. They beat a  very good German Squad in December 2004.

In 2005, South Korea qualified for the 2006 FIFA World Cup under him. However, his team lost many times in a row after that. The team did badly in the 2005 East Asian Football Championship. They then lost a World Cup qualifier loss against Saudi Arabia. He resigned from the team after that.

Bonfrère joined Dalian Shide on a one-year contract for a Chinese league in the 2007 season. The team finished fifth in the league, and they were not expected to win a title.

On 29 June 2011, Chinese Super League club Henan Construction made Bonfrère the coach.

In February 2015, Bonfrère was added to the MVV youth team staff.Jo Bonfrère en Johan Dijkstra sluiten aan bij technische staf MVV A1   – MVV 

On 25 May 2017, China League One club Baoding Yingli ETS signed a contract with Bonfrère.

References

Category:1946 births
Category:Living people
Category:Association football midfielders
Category:Footballers from Limburg (Netherlands)
Category:Dutch football managers
Category:Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics