Eric Maria Gerets[1] (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈeːrɪk ˈxeːrəts];[a] born 18 May 1954) is a Belgian football manager and former player.

A a right-back, he started his playing career as an amateur for his local team AA Rekem, before achieving success with Standard Liège and PSV.

Nicknamed "The Lion (of Flanders)", Gerets was regarded as one of the top right-backs in Europe at his peak and is considered one of the greatest players in Belgian football history.

As a coach, Gerets is one of six managers – along with José Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti, Giovanni Trapattoni, Tomislav Ivić and Ernst Happel – to have won top domestic league championships in at least four countries.

Gerets began his career playing for amateur side AA Rekem before joining then titleholders Standard de Liège.

In 1985, Gerets joined PSV playing together with Ruud Gullit, Frank Arnesen, Huub Stevens and Willy van de Kerkhof followed by Brazilian star Romário.

The tournament is remembered for the inspired performance of the offensively-minded Belgium (around rising stars such as Jan Ceulemans, Eric Gerets, Jean-Marie Pfaff and Erwin Vandenbergh) who unexpectedly reached the final, only losing to West Germany (1–2) by a Hrubesch goal two minutes from time.

At the 1982 World Cup, Belgium, captained by Gerets, recorded one of their most famous victories with a 1–0 win over defending champions Argentina in the first game of the tournament held at Camp Nou with a goal by Erwin Vandenbergh, and an excellent defensive display to hold off a young Diego Maradona.

Four years later, they achieved their best World Cup run at that time in 1986 when they placed fourth under command of players like Jan Ceulemans, Jean-Marie Pfaff and captain Gerets.

Belgium surprisingly won against favourites the Soviet Union with stars such as Igor Belanov and Rinat Dasayev (3–4) after extra time.

[5] Less than a month after leaving Morocco, he accepted a contract offer to become the head coach of Qatari defending champions Lekhwiya on 9 October 2012.

Gerets departed Lekhwiya and became the head coach of the United Arab Emirates team Al Jazira Club on 20 May 2014.