Hayk Milkon

Hayk Melkonian (Armenian: Հայկ Մելքոնյան; born 24 August 1993), known in Belgium as Hayk Milkon, is a football manager who is the manager of Dender EH in the Belgian Pro League. Born in Lebanon to an Armenian family, he moved to Belgium aged 3.

Hayk Milkon

Personal information
Full name	Hayk Melkonian[1]
Date of birth	(1993-08-24) 24 August 1993 (age 32)
Place of birth	Beirut, Lebanon
Team information
Current team	Dender EH
Managerial career
Years	Team
2017	KV Zaventem
2017–2019	KFC Turnhout
2023	Club NXT
2025–	Dender EH

Early and personal life

Milkon was born in Beirut, Lebanon, to an Armenian family, and moved to Antwerp in Belgium at age 3.^[1] He stopped playing football at 17, due to injuries.^[1] In 2011, he enrolled at KU Leuven to study sports science.^[1] Milkon is a native speaker of Armenian and speaks English, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and Arabic to differing levels.^[2]

Career

In 2011, Milkon began coaching under-7s at OH Leuven, followed by the youth of VK Linden (nl), before joining Royal Antwerp to coach up to under-11s from 2013 to 2015.^[1] From 2015 to 2017 he was coaching up to under-16s at K.V. Mechelen, and achieved his UEFA Pro Licence in 2016; the following year he was hired as a scout for the Royal Belgian Football Association.^[1]

Milkon's career with senior teams began aged 23 in 2017, when he became the youngest manager in the fourth tier, for K.V. Woluwe-Zaventem.^[1] A year later he moved to KFC Turnhout in the third tier, keeping their place in the division.^[1] In 2020, he signed for KAA Gent to coach their under-15 team and be sporting director of lower age groups.^[1] In 2021, he moved to Club Brugge, initially in the youth team. In March 2023, the 29-year-old became the youngest manager in Belgian professional football, for the reserve team Club NXT in the second-tier Challenger Pro League.^[3] He became first-team assistant manager in January 2024.^[4]

On 6 September 2025, Milkon was hired by Dender EH of the Belgian Pro League, who were in last place after six games and had lost previous manager Vincent Euvrard to Standard Liège.^[5] Having just turned 32, he became the youngest manager in the league.^[2] He lost 1–0 at home to Union SG on his debut on 13 September and did not win until his ninth league game, 2–1 away to Royal Antwerp on 23 November.^[2]