New evidence casts doubt over AFC Leopards coach Pitier De Jongh's qualifications

AFC coach De Jongh during their KPL match against Western Stima on 02-07-2014 at Nyayo Stadium.PHOTO/DENNIS OKEYO

AFC Leopards coach Pietier De Jongh will be in-charge of just his second derby when he guides the team against arch-rivals Gor Mahia on Sunday with doubts already being raised about his abilities. When Leopards won the first leg match 3-1 in June, De Jongh was raised to cult hero, but fans will be shocked to learn that the man who engineered that win was kicked out of Hungary early this year for allegedly presenting a fake UEFA Pro Licence.

New evidence casting doubts on De Jongh’s qualifications emerged last week with reports that he was fired as Technical Director of Hungary Club Budapest Honved Academy after he presented a fake UEFA Pro Licence early this year.
The job in Budapest needed someone with either a UEFA Pro Licence or Elite Youth Diploma. These are some of the highest coaching qualifications in Europe.
This raises further questions as to whether AFC Leopards officials carried out due diligence before hiring the Dutchman in May or they were just desperate to get a foreigner for the job.
Correspondence in our possession indicate that the Hungary Football Federation (HFF) doubting the authenticity of De Jongh’s UEFA Pro Diploma wrote to their Dutch counterparts KNVB in a bid to authenticate the document.
An email message from the head of education at Hungary Football Federation László Szalai written on April 2 to KNVB says: “We have the following information and data about H.Pieter de Jongh, you can find the Diploma and licence validity attached.
“But the problem is, that the name is not H.G de Jongh and in your letter you say he has only got UEFA “A” Diploma, but Mr. de Jongh showed us a UEFA PRO diploma. And for his job position in Hungary he should have UEFA PRO or UEFA ELITE YOUTH diploma.
“Please give me some answer, what do you think about the diploma of Mr. de Jongh and what do you think about de signature in the diploma? I find this situation rather strange.”
In their reply on April 15, 2014, KNVB said: “This is not a diploma of the KNVB. So it is a counterfeit and therefore not a valid diploma. We will inform our legal department. If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.”
Early this week, Szalai from the Hungary Football Federation (HFF) confirmed that De Jongh was banned from coaching in his country.
In an email correspondence with Game Yetu he confirmed that the Dutchman had presented a UEFA Pro Diploma certificate issued by KNVB, but this was rejected as fake by the latter.
“When we asked KNVB about the validity of his Diploma, the answer was that Peter de Jongh doesn’t have a PRO diploma, his PRO diploma is counterfeit.
“His hungarian club (Budapest Honvéd FC ) send him away and the Dutch Federation began a legal procedure,” he said.
A KNVB official who sought anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter confirmed that he’s suspended for forgery.
“He got his A Licence in the 80s, but he’s controversial for lying about his CV when he was employed in Hungary (He forged his Diploma to Pro which he never had). He has never coached or done anything except training amateur teams. That’s an old school fraud, Leopards should have cruised through the internet before hiring him,” said the official.
“He’s banned for forgery and it’s all over the internet. Just try to google De Jongh and Budapest where he’s exposed for cheating with his diploma. He’s just a disgrace to Dutch coaching.”

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