Patrick van Leeuwen

Patrick van Leeuwen (born 8 August 1969) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Ukrainian First League club Metalist 1925 Kharkiv.

Patrick van Leeuwen

Personal information
Date of birth	(1969-08-08) 8 August 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Zoetermeer, Netherlands[1]
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv (manager)
Youth career
	DWO
1985–1991	Sparta Rotterdam
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1991–1994	Sparta Rotterdam	16	(0)
1994–1996	Helmond Sport	41	(3)
Managerial career
2000–2006	Feyenoord (youth)
2006–2013	Shakhtar Donetsk (youth)
2013–2015	Kairat (sport director)
2016–2020	Maccabi Tel Aviv (youth director)
2020–2021	Maccabi Tel Aviv
2022–2023	Zorya Luhansk
2023	Shakhtar Donetsk
2024–	Metalist 1925 Kharkiv
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Van Leeuwen joined Dutch top flight outfit Sparta Rotterdam aged 16.^[2] Growing up was receiving a lot of injuries and decided to obtain a coaching certification. Aged 21 Leeuwen obtained his A License at the Sports Academy in Holland. His professional playing career with Sparta, where he made 16 league appearances.^[3]

In 1994, van Leeuwen signed for Helmond Sport in the Dutch lower leagues.

At the age of 27, he retired.^[4]

Managerial career

After retirement, he was appointed youth manager of Feyenoord, one of the Netherlands' most successful clubs. After that, van Leeuwen was appointed youth manager of Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine via Henk van Stee, before being appointed director of Kazakhstani side Kairat.

In 2020, van Leeuwen was appointed manager of Maccabi Tel Aviv, the most successful club in Israel. In 2020–21, under his management, the team finished in second place in the Israeli Premier League and won the Israel State Cup.

On 26 October 2021 van Leeuwen was sacked due to a poor start to the regular season.^[5]

On 28 June 2022, he was appointed as a manager for Ukrainian FC Zorya Luhansk that temporarily plays out of Zaporizhzhia due to the Russo-Ukrainian War. During the 2022–23 season, Van Leeuwen won the manager of the month award for October 2022.^[6] FC Zorya Luhansk placed 3rd in the 2022–23 Ukrainian Premier League season and qualified to the 2023–24 UEFA Europa League play-off round of the competition. Patrick van Leeuwen was recognized as the best manager of the 2022–23 season by the Ukrainian Premier League.^[7]

Following his performance with Zorya, van Leeuwen was invited to Shakhtar Donetsk during the inter-season summer break.^[8] He somewhat struggled from the beginning with 5 wins and 3 draws in the first 8 games of the 2023–24 Ukrainian Premier League season. Many of the wins came with only a goal advantage, and the team earned their draws against mediocre opponents. The loss 1:2 to Vorskla Poltava was the first of the season, but it became the last game for van Leeuwen in the UPL as the Shakhtar head coach.^[9]

On 20 August 2024, Patrick van Leeuwen became the head coach of FC Metalist 1925 Kharkiv that was playing the Ukrainian First League. He signed a three-year contract.^[10] Patrick van Leeuwen was tasked to lead the club to the Ukrainian Premier League promotion.^[11] On 18 May 2025 he was "suspended" from performing his duties as the head coach.^[12]

Managerial statistics

As of 16 October 2023

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Caretaker Manager)		21 July 2020	21 August 2020	2	2	0	0	100.00
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Caretaker Manager)		24 December 2020	21 June 2021	32	22	7	3	068.75
Maccabi Tel Aviv		1 June 2021	26 October 2021	23	14	4	5	060.87
Zorya		28 June 2022	2 July 2023	32	21	4	7	065.63
Shakhtar		3 July 2023	16 October 2023	12	7	3	2	058.33
Total				101	66	18	17	065.35

Honours

Maccabi Tel Aviv

• Israel State Cup: 2020–21^[13]

Individual

• Ukrainian Premier League Manager of the Month: October 2022,^[6] April 2023^[14]