Ton Caanen

Ton Caanen (born 18 March 1966) is a Dutch football manager.

Caanen was born in Geleen, Netherlands. Aside from a few years in the amateur Dutch leagues, he never played professional football.^{[citation needed]} He got his start as a manager in his hometown club FC Geleen Zuid while also working as a salesman for the local Toyota dealership. ^{[citation needed]}

After two years with FC Geleen Zuid he started to work as the youth manager of Roda JC.

In January 2004 he made his way to the Ukrainian Premier League as he signed as manager of Metalurh Donetsk. He left the club at the end of the season.

When Arcadi Gaydamak bought the Israeli football club, Beitar Jerusalem, he looked for someone who would be able to give the club a look over and see what changes needed to be made. Caanen was brought in and after a short time was given the reigns of the club after Eli Ohana, stepped down from the manager position. ^{[citation needed]}

Continuing with the same squad as Ohana had, Kaanen was able to produce good results making him a 'lifeline' to hopes in the club that they would be able to qualify for a continental competition (UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup). When Luis Fernandez was appointed general manager over Caanen, there was a lot of friction over Caanen's qualifications to manage a club looking to become a European power.^{[citation needed]} Caanen was soon fired but made a lasting impression on the Israeli public that would later pay dividends.^{[citation needed]}

When the Maccabi Tel Aviv boardroom had enough of the poor results on the pitch during the club's 100 year anniversary, it was evident that Israeli manager Nir Klinger was on his way out. Caanen was appointed interim manager. Despite two big money "name" signings the team were a disaster typified by a 4–0 loss to Second Division Hapoel Acre in the Cup.^{[citation needed]}

On 4 June 2006, Caanen was appointed as the manager of Maccabi Netanya but never managed a single game after being sacked a week later.