Interview with Victor Hermans: Legendary Futsal Coach
Victor Hermans is a football legend and one of the most respected coaches in the world as he continues to spread his love of Futsal to all those who are willing to learn.
Victor is a true Futsal legend and has made a global impact with his high-level coaching, mentoring and passion at both the international and the grassroots level.
Victor was an outstanding Futsal player and was named player of the tournament in the 1989 in the first FIFA World Futsal Championship which was held in the Netherlands.
Victor has since gone on to be a renowned coach with teams from all around the world and is often sought as an expert to give FIFA and UEFA Futsal coaching sessions.
Hermans achieved great success with Iran whom he lead to the men's Asian Futsal championships in 2001 and with Thailand where he lead the Thais to four successive ASEAN Futsal Championship (AFF) gold medals from 2012 to 2016 as well as a Sea Games Gold Medal.
Such was his influence on Thai Futsal, the "War Elephants", reached the last sixteen for the first time in 2012 when Thailand hosted the Futsal World Cup.
Hermans is a passionate supporter of grassroots football and believes in the power of sports to help people, from all backgrounds, reach their potential.
Hermans has spread his knowledge to the Philippines to help develop Futsal in a nation more known for basketball.
Hermans in conjunction with the Henry V. Moran Foundation, the MVP Sports Foundation, Inspire Sports Academy, and the Philippine Football Federation will help build from the ground up as the Philippines have no national team and no leagues but a lot of potential, energy and a willingness to learn.
Thank you to Victor Hermans for taking the time to chat about Futsal and his career!
Hermans first shared about his time in the Netherlands where he first discovered his love of Futsal in its earliest form and one of his greatest memories as a player.
"In my time (as a player), we played with other rules with the ball, etc. Now it is a 'Low Bounce' ball. In an international match, for the Netherlands, in Hungary, I assisted with a lob ball. My coach was completely impressed. Afterwards he said 'I have never seen this!' and for me it was just an assist."
Hermans was an accomplished Futsal player and many people, including people from Ajax, wondered why he did not make the full transition to an eleven a side pitch.
"We played a tournament, which also included field teams, and eventually had to face Ajax. Afterwards, the then coach came to me and asked why I did not play field football. Nice compliment and yes I was definitely a professional player in Futsal."
Hermans has excelled both as a coach and as a player and says his experiences as a player have helped him develop as a coach as he can take aspects of his playing career and apply them to his coaching style.
"Yes, I definitely like it as a player and also as a coach. Playing Futsal and coaching is something that you will grow in due to your age.
As a player, you become more and more experienced when you play many matches under pressure. You develop until the age of 27 and after that you start to play more and more on experience.
As a coach you react more impulsively, if you are a young coach and make decisions that you would not make after a few years and consider them again."
Hermans has an impressive global track record and leaves his mark everywhere he goes. Iran made their Futsal World Cup debut in 1992 at the Hong Kong tournament where they first gained a taste of the game; the initial success of finishing third spurred them on further.
Under the guidance of Hermans, Iran won the AFC Asian championships and it was also in 2001, that the Iranian Women's Futsal team played their first international against Azerbaijan. The legacy remains as the women's team eventually won the AFC's Women's Futsal championships.
"It started in Iran. I had been there with FIFA several times since 1993 to give seminars / courses. Iran's players quality was top notch; both strong and coachable. In the end Iran asked if I wanted to act as a coach in the 2000 AFC tournament! In Iran, I was able to do the entire setup. Now I still get the questions to come back as a coach at a club. The national coach has been a good student of mine so I don't want to think about that but if he needs me, he can always call me. I have been back for a league game and it is of a high level and still with the same game style that I trained with them."
In Thailand, Hermans is a living legend for his years of endless success which, in turn, helped raise the level of overall Thai football on a national level.
"I came to Thailand and found a league that was only played in Bangkok. In Thailand, the players were smaller, but faster and more agile. The first success was an AFF tournament that I won and we started to play the Futsal league all over Thailand; not everyone was happy with that move, and there were no players for the national team, but it is about the sport's story and development. My first Thailand international match was watched on television by 6 million people and last one, out in Uzbekistan, by 21 million people."
Hermans cites finding the correct players; those who are teachable, hardworking and willing to adapt to be the most important aspect in terms of player selection.
"In both cases, finding players was the most important thing for me."
Futsal has evolved and changed since Hermans graced the field as a player and he happily shared what some of the biggest evolutionary changes have been.
"Yes, Futsal has changed just like 11 a side field football. Players must act faster, must be faster and be physically strong (does not mean tall, look at Messi, for example) and think for the team such as not being too selfish like rounding players, etc."
Futsal, with the help of Hermans, now has millions of players from all ages all around the world playing; where and with who they can. The endless practice will no doubt raise the standard of play and new countries will emerge as a force. Hermans was happy to share his opinion on the matter.
"I hope so (new champions will emerge) and in Colombia 2016, was the first time Argentina were champions. I still think that the better countries will keep developing and the new countries have to fight hard to catch up. In Europe, it is still the same countries at the top: Spain, Portugal and Russia.
In Asia, it is always Iran and Japan while in Africa, it is only Egypt and Morocco. In North and South America, it is always Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and sometimes Canada. The USA has fallen back far after Hong Kong."
Thank you!
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