As a player, the Belgian specialist enjoyed an impressive career, having worn the shirts of some of Belgium’s biggest clubs, including Standard Liège, Genk and KAA Gent, before continuing his career abroad. He also played for Borussia Mönchengladbach in Germany and Trabzonspor in Turkey. His name often appeared in the Belgium national team squad as well, and he was part of the squad at the 2002 World Cup.

As an internationally recognised player, he also built his coaching career in an excellent and purposeful way. In his homeland, he worked as an assistant coach at Gent and Standard Liège, while between those two spells he also worked at Al-Raed and Al-Ahli. He joined ETO FC in the summer of 2024, at the same time as Steven Vanharen, and from the very beginning he brought a distinctly fresh approach to the staff. Over the past two seasons, Bernd Thijs played a key role in refining set pieces and the small tactical details. His constantly motivating character and experience also had a formative impact on the players.

Bernd Thijs leaves ETO as a Hungarian champion, and we wish him every success in the next stage of his career!