Henricus Adrianus Josephus "Hans" Smolders (born 15 September 1960) is a Dutch politician, former professional ice hockey player and entrepreneur.

Since then, Smolders has been active in local politics in his hometown of Tilburg, having been a member of the municipal council for most of this period.

[1] Smolders sold his company, called "Smol Koeling", in 2001, causing him to declare himself financially independent.

[1][3] During that same time, Smolders was an ice hockey player for the Tilburg Trappers, playing a total of 341 games between 1977 and 1986.

As Fortuyn's driver, Smolders witnessed the event, and he followed the suspect afterwards until Van der Graaf was arrested by the police.

Shortly after his election, he left the Forum for Democracy in protest against the party releasing a poster comparing the COVID-19 lockdown measures to the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.

In April 2004, Smolders said a man showed up at his home armed with a gun, saying he should leave politics.

[14] Vreeman resigned because of the scandal surrounding the Midi Theater in October 2009 after a censure motion by the municipal council.

[21] Smolders appeared on the ballot during the 2019 Dutch provincial elections as lijstduwer of Forum for Democracy (FvD) in the province North Brabant.

[22] Smolders received 20,833 preferential votes, enough to become a member of the States of North Brabant, and was sworn in on March 28.

[22] In 2007, the mayor, Ruud Vreeman, filed charges against Smolders for leaking confidential information about alleged drug trade in a nightclub.

[27] In October 2009, Smolders was investigated after he was accused of leaking a report about the Midi Theater to several media outlets.

The report, which criticized mayor Vreeman for holding back information about cost overruns, was made public three days after the leaking occurred.

According to the accusation, Smolders had asked a developer a €75,000 bribe to vote in favor of a project to build a shopping mall in Tilburg.