Turkey Super Lig club Besiktas have appointed former Rangers manager, Giovanni van Bronckhorst as its new manager, the club said on Wednesday.
In a post on its social media channel, Besiktas wrote, “We are pleased to confirm that Giovanni van Bronckhorst will become the new manager of Beşiktaş JK men’s football team from the beginning of the 2024/25 season.”
Born in Rotterdam to Victor van Bronckhorst, an Indonesian-Dutch father, and Fransien Sapulette, an Indonesian mother, he began playing for a local amateur youth team in Rotterdam, Linker Maas Oever, from age six.
He joined the youth academy at Feyenoord the following year. At 15, he was offered a professional contract at Feyenoord. He won the Dutch Youth League with Feyenoord in 1991, but struggled to break into the first team.
He was loaned to RKC Waalwijk (1993-1994) before returning Feyernoord to establish himself. In 1998, he joined Rangers and after three years he signed a three-year deal at Arsenal.
Van Bronckhorst then went on loan at Barcelona for one season (2003-2004) before signing for the Catalan side in 2004.
After three years at Barcelona, Van Bronckhorst returned to Feyenoord in 2007 and ended his playing career in 2010.
On July 21, 2011, he was announced as assistant to then Feyenoord manager Ronald Koeman. As manager, he won the Eredivisie with Feyenoord in 2016-17, the KNVB in 2015–16, 2017–18 and Johan Cruyff Shield in 2017, 2018.
In January 2019, Van Bronckhorst announced that he would be leaving Feyenoord after the 2018–19 season.
He signed for Chinese Super League side Guangzhou R&F and finished 11th in his only season there.
Van Bronckhorst made a return to Rangers as manager winning the Scottish Cup in 2021–22 and finishing as runner-up in the 2021-22 UEFA Europa League. Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Rangers 5–4 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time in the final played at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium in Seville, Spain.
Van Bronckhorst was sacked by Rangers on 21 November.
