Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Following the announcement of the appointment of Belgian Yannick Ferreira to coach the White Castle in Egypt, Zamalek, media reports focused on his biography as a player and coach. According to Wikipedia, Yannick retired at the age of 23 and was also the subject of interest from a first-division club in the Egyptian Premier League. According to Brussels media reports, neither Al-Ahly, Zamalek, nor Pyramids were among those interested. Ferreira said during the interview during the coronavirus pandemic that he did not remember the name of the club. He also noted that he was paid five times more in Saudi Arabia than he was in Belgium, despite spending a month unemployed before arriving in Saudi Arabia. Regarding his biography, Yannick is the son of a Spanish father and an Italian mother. He was born in Belgium but did not obtain Belgian citizenship until 1992. His football career was short. He was in his twenties with KSK Beveren and later played for a period with third-division club AFC Tubize. In 2002, he retired from playing and moved to the modest SK Lombeck-Leidekerke. After one season, he moved to RSD GATE. In October 2003, Ferreira ended his short playing career and focused on his studies in physical education.
His Coaching Begins
Ferreira did not leave football behind after retiring. In 2004, he became a youth coach at RSC Anderlecht. He later conducted video analysis for coach Michel Preud'homme while working with Gent, where he also moved to join Saudi club Al-Shabab in 2011.
Sporting Charleroi
In the summer of 2012, Ferreira joined Charleroi. Because he did not hold an official UEFA professional coaching license, he was theoretically an assistant to head coach Luka Perozovic. Perozovic was largely uninvolved with the club, and Ferreira was the head coach. He resigned from his position as head coach on February 14, 2013.
STVV
On May 24, 2013, Ferreira was appointed the new head coach of second-division club Sint-Truiden, succeeding Guido Brebholz. During his tenure at STVV, he finished third in the second division, eleven points behind the leaders. The 2014/15 season was a success, with the club topping the second division. A few months later, in September 2015, he moved to Standard Liège, where he succeeded the sacked Slavoljub Muslin.
Standard Liège
The 2015/16 season did not start well for Standard: except for a 3-2 cup win over KVV Cuxhaven, the coach started with one of 15 league games, which meant Standard finished last after a 2-1 defeat to Westerlo in the eleventh round. However, the club recovered and narrowly missed out on qualifying for the first play-off. The club also won the Belgian Cup, defeating Club Brugge 2-1 in the final. Despite this, the relationship between Ferreira and the board of directors became ambiguous, and on September 6, 2016, he was dismissed and replaced by Aleksandar Janković. KV Mechelen
Immediately after his dismissal from Standard, KV Mechelen, the club Janković had left for Standard, decided to offer Ferreira a contract immediately as a replacement. On September 12, 2016, he signed a two-year contract. His tenure with KV Mechelen also ended quickly: thirteen months after his appointment, he was fired on October 23, 2017. At that time, Mechelen was second from bottom with eight points from eleven matches. In the 2016/2017 season, Ferreira had just failed to qualify for the first play-off round with KV Mechelen: the Mechelen team finished seventh in the regular season, just one point behind sixth-placed Sporting Charleroi. Waasland-Beveren
On June 8, 2018, Ferreira signed a two-year contract with Waasland-Beveren. Yannick Ferreira's career with Waasland-Beveren ended on November 11, 2018. The club decided to dismiss the 38-year-old Ferreira due to the team's disappointing results in recent weeks and months. Following his dismissal from Waasland-Beveren, Ferreira remained without a club for eleven months, despite being the subject of interest and interest from KSV Roeselare, Cercle Brugge, AS Trenchen, and a first-division Egyptian club.
Al-Fateh Club
He eventually joined Saudi club Al-Fateh in October 2019, his second stint, having previously worked as an assistant to Michel Preud'homme at Al-Shabab. When Ferreira arrived, Al-Fateh were bottom of the Saudi Professional League with just one point from six matches. Ferreira turned things around, and under his leadership, Al-Fateh finished thirteenth out of sixteen clubs, albeit just one point above the relegation zone. Ferreira received a new contract in September 2020, tying him to the club until 2022.
Following the end of the 2019/20 season, Al-Fateh released several players. The club started the league with 7 out of nine points and were joint-first after three match days. After 0 out of 12 in the first four matches of December, the club dropped to thirteenth, just three points above the relegation zone, but the club quickly climbed back up the table. At the end of February 2021, the club briefly dropped below the relegation zone, after which Al-Fateh finished seventh. In that season's King's Cup, the club reached the semi-finals. Al-Taawoun, the 2019 winners, were stronger than Ferreira's Al-Fateh. On March 23, 2024, Ferreira was appointed coach of RWDM Molenbeek until the end of the 2023/24 season. Ferreira signed a contract until the end of the season with an option to extend for a further year, and his relationship with the team ended last April.