About Mary
Starting her career as one of Hollands youngest coaches in 1995 she was inspired by Louis van Gaal and Johan Cruijff and their timeless Total Football vision. Testing, living and practicising this daily as a coach she later combined this with her expertise as certified High Performance Coach.
Mary Kok-Willemsen is a trailblazer in womenfootball, Headcoach and Technical Director with nearly 30 years of experience shaping the professional women game. She started professional womenfootball in Holland with FC Twente, and build it in 9 years into a dynastie with a sustainable talent pipeline of home grown academy players. FC Twente ia still today in 2026 the most decorated club in Holland.
In 2015, Mary and her husband Jurgen Kok (also UEFA A Coach and Mentor) started Holland Football University, developing coaches all over the globe with their own framework of Total Football and High Performance Leadership. Examples of countries HFU delivered CoachEducation: US, Saudi Arabia, Norway, Bolivia amongst many others.
FIFA Technical Leadership Expert. Recognized for her expertise in leadership she worked 2 years for FIFA as a mentor for Technical Directors and as one of the instructors for the FIFA Technical Director Courses.
Season 2024 she was asked back to the field as Interim Headcoach AlUla Saudi Arabia. Without any other staffmember she flew in just before playoffs transforming the style of play in short term, as well as getting the team promoted to the Premier League in Saudi.
Season 2025 she was appointed as the Headcoach of Etihad Club,combined with the clubs overall role of Technical Director. Mary ended the season helping the club win the double with attractive football, scoring the most goals as well as getting the most different goalscorers on the overall sheet. With the Etiway goal being viewed over more than 2 million! times as a reminder of her Total Football style while combining mentorship and coacheducation for the clubs Technical Staff.
With 3 titles in 3 different countries, in different context Mary shows to have a proven framework to build people, performance and sustainable success. Everywhere she works she helped developing players and staff to worldclass. Many of them grew from amateurs to representing the best clubs and National Teams in the world!
Her career reflects a rare combination of strategic vision, on field coaching excellence and a lasting commitment to create a high performance where people progress and perform together.
Headcoach | Technical Director
With almost 20 years of Headcoach experience Mary has worked from amateurs to pro level herself. Building with every team from her Total Football foundation she became champions with every team she coached while building an attractive playing style that stretched players and staff to progress and perform.
Building the women side of FC Twente in 2007 as a coach into National Cup winners in the first year into the National Champions in the 4th year with 75% of homegrown players and staff was special. She continued as a Technical Director for FC Twente where she focussed on creating a sustainable succes framework with coach education, recruitment processes and competitive innovative and international additions. Leaving the club in 2016 as a dynastie known for developing talent, a sustainable high performance environment for coaches and ambitious players around the globe.
International Coach work
Season 2024 . After her 15 years of Headcoach experience in Holland she got an interim Headcoach role in Saudi Arabia to lead the team through play offs. While implementing in a very short period her style of play, (without bringing any other staffmember with her) she showed quick adaptation to Saudi culture off field while implementing an accelerated high performance work environment on field. AlUla got promoted to the Premier League Saudi Arabia with an attractive style of play that attracted new players, staff and fans to support the club.
Season 2025-26 Etihad Club Jordan. She got shortly before AFC Champions League start appointed by Etihad Club Jordan as their overall club Technical Director and Headcoach Women. By the end of the season Etihad Club won the National Title and the Cup, with the team playing attractive football resulting in the most goals, variety of goals and most different goal scorers. One of the goals scored, that already has 2 million views and went viral showed the Total Football style Mary wants to play being transferrable across borders.
From starting from scratch to build it to a Dynastie with FC Twente, towards an interim coach role in Saudi accelerating a team to promotion and transferring the playingstyle of Etihad Club Jordan towards a way that inspired players, coaches and fans.
With 3 Titles in 3 different countries, Mary shows to have the ability to build prizewinning teams that strive for Pricesless Performance. Total Football across boarders.
Holland Football University
After working for more than 4 decades in Professional Football in Holland, Mary and her husband Jurgen started Holland Football University.
A professional Training and Education Company with decades of proven experience and expertise in helping coaches and players develop from Amateurs to Professional Clubs and National Team. With the start of 2016 Mary decided to take their Expertise and Experience Global and created their own Total Football & High Performance Framework.
They focus on Clubs and Federations that want to professionalise their Coaches and want to create (or further develop) a High Performance Culture for their coaches and players.
With Accelerators for Coaches/ Players and Teams around the globe they deconstruct in short periods what is needed to perform at a Higher Level and maintaining it.
SPEAKER
INSPIRE. EMPOWER. ACTIVATE
Mary loves to be on stage to inspire and challenge progress and does this in a high level game intensity!
Her talent is her use of storytelling which grabs the attention while combining it with Strategies that are proven, and more important: Practical. You leave empowered for taking action, directly...
Previous performances include TEDx, Universities, Corporate Events, Embassies, and Coach's Conventions.
TOPICS:
- Talent Development, Nature or Nurture?
- Team Performance: How to build Legendary Teams
- Leadership? It starts with you, time to progress.
- Equality to the top: But what about the Boys?
- Score Global Goals: Prizes or Priceless?
Organisations Mary spoke for
People Mary worked with:
