Ton Lokhoff

Ton Lokhoff
Lokhoff as assistant of Red Bull Salzburg in 2011
Personal information
Full name Antonius Johannes Jacobus Lokhoff
Date of birth (1959-12-25) 25 December 1959 (age 64)
Place of birth Breda, Netherlands
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Samsunspor (assistant)
Youth career
1976–1978 NAC Breda
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1978–1982 NAC 98 (11)
1982–1986 PSV 126 (19)
1986–1988 Nîmes 63 (12)
1988–1991 Feyenoord 79 (7)
1991–1996 NAC 159 (29)
Total 525 (78)
International career
1984–1985 Netherlands 3 (0)
Managerial career
1996–2003 NAC Breda (assistant)
2003–2005 NAC Breda
2006–2009 Excelsior
2009–2011 Red Bull Salzburg (assistant)
2012–2013 VVV-Venlo
2013–2014 PAOK (assistant)
2014 VfB Stuttgart (assistant)
2014–2017 VfL Wolfsburg (assistant)
2017–2021 VfL Wolfsburg II (assistant)
2024– Samsunspor (assistant)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Antonius Johannes Jacobus "Ton" Lokhoff (born 25 December 1959) is a Dutch football manager and former player, currently serving as assistant coach and interim head coach of NAC Breda.

Playing career

Lokhoff is named Mister NAC due to his long-time association with hometown club NAC from Breda,[1][2] where he played from 1978 to 1982 and later from 1991 to 1996. He moved to PSV in 1982, where he experienced the high point of his playing career. At the club he became Eredivisie champion in 1986, alongside players such as Ruud Gullit, Frank Arnesen and Eric Gerets, among others. In this period he also played two international matches for the Netherlands national team; against Austria and Hungary.

Lokhoff then moved to French club Nîmes Olympique, before returning to the Netherlands to play for Feyenoord and later coming back to finish his career with childhood club NAC in 1991.[3] He played his last match in Breda on 11 August 1996 against Brazilian club Grêmio at the inauguration of the new NAC home ground, Fujifilm Stadion, since named Rat Verlegh Stadion.[4]

Coaching career

Lokhoff started his coaching career again at NAC Breda, first working as an assistant coach to managers Wim Rijsbergen, Herbert Neumann, Ronald Spelbos, Kees Zwamborn and Henk ten Cate, before serving as the club's head coach from 1 July 2003. He was sacked on 30 December 2005 due to disappointing results.

Lokhoff was then appointed the head coach of Excelsior in the summer of 2006, where he succeeded Mario Been who had achieved promotion to the Eredivisie with the club.[5] In 2007, Excelsior managed to maintain themselves in the league under the leadership of Lokhoff, but a year later Excelsior suffered relegation to the second-tier Eerste Divisie. After a season of coaching Excelsior in the second-tier Lokhoff left the club as his contract expired. He was then replaced by Alex Pastoor who managed to lead the club to promotion to Eredivisie.[6] In September 2009 he was named as an assistant trainer for FC Red Bull Salzburg under fellow Dutchman Huub Stevens.[7] After the latter was dismissed from his position on 11 April 2011, Lokhoff left his position the following day, choosing to remain loyal to Stevens.[8]

In December 2011, Lokhoff signed a contract from January 2012 until the end of the season with VVV-Venlo. He succeeded Belgian manager Glen De Boeck who had ended his contract because of a lack of confidence in achieving with the current squad.[9] After the team suffered relegation in June 2013, Lokhoff was sacked.[10] He then joined Huub Stevens again as assistant manager of Greek club PAOK, rekindling their cooperation of Red Bull Salzburg between 2009 and 2011.[11]

On 10 March 2014, Lokhoff joined Stevens as assistant manager of VfB Stuttgart.[12] From March 2014, he began working as an assistant coach at VfL Wolfsburg.[13] First under manager Dieter Hecking, later under Valérien Ismaël. When Andries Jonker became head coach in 2017, Lokhoff moved to the position of assistant of the Wolfsburg second team, VfL Wolfsburg II.[14]

References

  1. ^ "Fans verkiezen Lokhoff tot 'Mister NAC'". fcupdate.nl (in Dutch). 7 February 2007. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  2. ^ Blanco, Yadran (26 June 2020). "NAC belt met Mister NAC Ton Lokhoff: 'Nog een jaartje Wolfsburg en dan zien we wel verder'". BN DeStem (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  3. ^ Fox, Carola (3 December 2008). "Ton Lokhoff: Ik vertel geen lulverhalen". Breda Vandaag (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  4. ^ "Sportieve zakenmand ontdekt avondje NAC". NRC Handelsblad (in Dutch). 12 August 1998. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  5. ^ "Excelsior gaat met Ton Lokhoff Eredivisie in". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 10 April 2006. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  6. ^ "Feyenoord stalt Pastoor als hoofdcoach bij Excelsior". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 21 May 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  7. ^ "Lokhoff gaat verder onder de vleugels van Stevens". Voetbal International (in Dutch). 10 September 2009. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  8. ^ "Ook Ton Lokhoff weg bij Red Bull Salzburg". Rijnmond (in Dutch). 13 April 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  9. ^ "Ton Lokhoff volgt Glen De Boeck op bij VVV-Venlo". Nieuwsblad (in Dutch). 24 December 2011. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  10. ^ "Ontslag bij VVV 'volslagen verrassing' voor Ton Lokhoff". Trouw (in Dutch). 6 June 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  11. ^ "Lokhoff naar PAOK als assistent van Stevens". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 18 June 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  12. ^ Blanco, Yadran (11 March 2014). "Ton Lokhoff volgt Huub Stevens naar VFB Stuttgart". BN DeStem (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Neuer Assistenztrainer in Wolfsburg". Bundesliga (in German). 1 July 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  14. ^ Rampas, Fabian (20 June 2017). "Ziehl bleibt Trainer der VfL-Reserve". Regional Heute (in German). Retrieved 23 October 2020. Rüdiger Ziehl verlängert seinen Vertrag bis 2018 und bleibt somit Cheftrainer des VfL Wolfsburg II. Ton Lokhoff wird ihm als Co-Trainer assistieren.