Erik ten Hag (, born 2 February 1970) is a Dutch professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player, who is currently the manager of

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. As a player, Ten Hag played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

in the Dutch league for 13 years, making appearances for

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a Germ ...

(three spells),

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

and

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. He won the 1990–91 Eerste Divisie with De Graafschap and the

2000–01 KNVB Cup The 83rd edition of the KNVB Cup (at the time called ''Amstel Cup'') started on August 8, 2000. The final was played on May 24, 2001: FC Twente beat PSV on penalties (4–3), after no goals were made during official and extra time. FC Twente wo ...

with Twente. In 2012, Ten Hag was appointed as manager of

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

in the Eerste Divisie. He went on to coach

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the reserve team of German association football club FC Bayern Munich, they currently play in the Regionalliga Bayern. In 2010–11 they played in the 3. Liga, having qualifie ...

from June 2013 until 2015; during his time as manager Ten Hag led his team to the

Regionalliga Bayern The Regionalliga Bayern, ( en, Regional league Bavaria), is the highest association football league in the state of Bavaria (german: Bayern) and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of five Regionalligas in German football, the fourth tie ...

. Ten Hag then became the sporting director and head coach of

in the summer of 2015. In December 2017, he was appointed as the manager of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

, and in 2019 he led his Ajax team to the semi-finals of the

2018–19 UEFA Champions League The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League was the 64th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. For the first tim ...

for the first time since 1997. He won his first managerial trophy with Ajax with the 2018–19 KNVB Cup, followed by the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

title which brought a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

for the club. In 2021, Ten Hag guided Ajax to their record extending 20th KNVB Cup, and in January 2022 he became the fastest manager in league history to reach 100 wins with Ajax, achieving the feat in 128 matches, before transferring to Manchester United in May that year.

Early life

Ten Hag was born in

Haaksbergen Haaksbergen () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel, in the Twente region. The ''Buurserbeek'' flows through the municipality of Haaksbergen. Population centres Topography ''Dutch Topograph ...

, Overijssel.

Playing career

Ten Hag played primarily as a

for

and

. He had three stints with Twente, with whom he won the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

in the 2000–01 season. Ten Hag also won the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

with De Graafschap in the 1990–91 season, ten years before winning the cup with Twente. He retired from active playing in 2002 at the age of 32 while playing for Twente, after the end of the 2001–02 Eredivisie season.

Managerial career

Early career

In 2012, Ten Hag was appointed as manager of

in the Eerste Divisie by

Marc Overmars Marc Overmars (; born 29 March 1973) is a Dutch former professional footballer and director of football at Belgian Pro League side Royal Antwerp FC. He was previously director of football at Ajax. During his football career, he played as a wing ...

, who was a shareholder of the club. During his only season at Go Ahead Eagles, he led the team to its first promotion in 17 years. He coached

from 6 June 2013 until 2015 when he was replaced by

Heiko Vogel Heiko Vogel (born 21 November 1975) is a German football manager who is the current sporting director and interim coach of FC Basel. Vogel grew up in Wachenheim and played football for his local clubs TuS Wachenheim and FC 08 Hassloch. Later he ...

. During his time as manager Ten Hag led his team to the

. Ten Hag then became the sporting director and head coach of Utrecht in summer 2015, where he led the club to fifth place during his first season. In the 2016–17 season, he improved FC Utrecht's final position to fourth, booking a place in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualifiers.

Ajax

On 21 December 2017, he was appointed as the head coach of

after the club dismissed

Marcel Keizer Marcel Keizer (born 15 January 1969) is a Dutch football coach and former player who is the manager of Emirati club Al Jazira. His playing career as a midfielder began at Ajax and was mainly spent at Cambuur, and he had brief spells managing bo ...

. In 2019, he led his Ajax team to the semi-finals of the

for the first time since 1997, by winning against defending champions

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

4–1 in the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

at the round of 16 stage, and also beating

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football leagu ...

away 1–2 having drawn the first leg 1–1 at home in the quarterfinals. In the first leg of the semi-final, he led his team to take a 1–0 lead against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in the recently completed

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in north London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the third-largest football stadium in England and the ...

. However in the second leg, a second half hat-trick by

Lucas Moura Lucas Rodrigues Moura da Silva (born 13 August 1992), known as Lucas Moura (), is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a winger and forward for Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Moura started his professional career at São P ...

for Tottenham Hotspur, with the last goal being scored in the 96th minute to make it 3–2 (3–3 on aggregate) to win on away goals, ended Ajax's hopes of playing in the final. He won his first managerial trophy with Ajax on 5 May 2019, the 2018–19 KNVB Cup, beating Willem II in the final. Only 10 days after winning the cup, Ajax, led by Ten Hag won the

as well after a 1–4 away victory over De Graafschap and brought the double back to the club. Ajax kicked off their 2019–20 season in style, with a 2–0 victory over long term rivals PSV in the

2019 Johan Cruyff Shield The 2019 Johan Cruyff Shield was the 24th edition of the Johan Cruyff Shield ( nl, Johan Cruijff Schaal), an annual Dutch football match played between the winners of the previous season's Eredivisie and KNVB Cup. The match was contested by Ajax, ...

. During the 2019–20

season, Ajax started strong, drawing only twice and winning 14 in their first 16 matches. This was followed by successive defeats to Willem II and to

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

. Ajax's form following these defeats fluctuated, with the club going on to lose 3 further games in their next 8, as well as a second league defeat of the season to

. However, due to the emergence of the global

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, the Eredivisie season was null and voided, which meant that despite Ajax being top on goal difference to AZ Alkmaar, there wouldn't be an official winner of the 2019–20

season. Ajax's European campaign was relatively less successful compared to the previous season, having finished third in their group in the 2019–20 Champions League and being subsequently relegated to the UEFA Europa League. Ajax was resultantly knocked out by

Getafe Getafe () is a municipality and a city in Spain belonging to the Community of Madrid. , it has a population of 180,747, the region's sixth most populated municipality. Getafe is located 13 km south of Madrid's city centre, within a flat ar ...

after a 3–2 aggregate loss in the Round of 32 of the 2019–20 Europa League. Ajax began the 2020–21 season strongly, winning their first 3 games before a 1–0 defeat at

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

, which proved to be one of the two league defeats that Ten Hag's team sustained over the course of the season. On the 24th of October 2020, Ten Hag led Ajax to a Historic 13–0 victory over

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

, breaking the Eredivisie record of the biggest recorded victory in the history of the competition. Ajax's form in Europe improved as well under Ten Hag, with the team looking promising despite a second consecutive relegation to the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

having finished third in their

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

group. Their subsequent form in the Europa League improved, with convincing victories over

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

and

BSC Young Boys BSC Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation ) are a Swiss sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 15 Swiss league championships and six Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss football clubs internationally, reac ...

in the Round of 32 and Round of 16 respectively progressing Ajax to the

Quarter Finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. However, Ajax was unable to progress and Ten Hag's team suffered a 3–2 aggregate defeat to

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, ending any hopes of a possible UEFA Europa League final. On 18 April 2021, Ten Hag guided Ajax to their record-extending 20th KNVB Cup with a 2–1 win over Vitesse in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Two weeks later, Ten Hag extended his contract with Ajax through to the end of the 2022–23 season. Ajax began the 2021–22 campaign with a 4–0 defeat in the

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

, before swiftly picking up form in the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

, going unbeaten for their first 7 matches before sustaining a 1–0 home defeat

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

. This would prove to be one of Ajax' 3 league defeats over the season as Ajax cruised past the competition once more under the guidance of Ten Hag. Ajax would once again record a historical victory as they beat PSV 5–0 at home on the 24th of October 2021. Ajax's European form also drastically improved, with goals from Sebastian Haller and an incredible style of football orchestrated by Ten Hag guiding Ajax to an unbeaten Group Stage, winning all six of their group matches in the group stages of the

2021-22 UEFA Champions League Increment or incremental may refer to: *Incrementalism, a theory (also used in politics as a synonym for gradualism) *Increment and decrement operators, the operators ++ and -- in computer programming *Incremental computing *Incremental backup, wh ...

. On 16 January 2022, Ten Hag became the fastest manager in league history to reach 100 wins with Ajax, achieving the feat in 128 matches, when his side beat Utrecht 3–0 away on match day 19. Ajax would eventually be knocked out by

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

in the round of 16, whilst cruising towards their 3rd Eredivisie title in 4 years after a 5–0 home victory over

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

on the 11th of May 2022. Ten Hag's side also reached the 2022 KNVB Cup Final, which would eventually end in a 2–1 victory for PSV Eindhoven, ending Ten Hag's hopes of a 3rd League and cup double in 4 and a half years in charge in Amsterdam.

Manchester United

On 21 April 2022, Ten Hag was appointed as manager of

starting from end of the 2021–22 season until June 2025, with the option of extending for a further year. Mitchell van der Gaag and

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching care ...

were later revealed to be joining Ten Hag as part of his coaching staff. On 16 May 2022, it was confirmed that Ten Hag had left his Ajax role early in order to begin his preparations as Manchester United manager for the 2022–23 season. Ten Hag lost his first Premier League match, 2–1 at home to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

on 7 August 2022. Following a 4–0 defeat away to

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

on 13 August 2022 in his second Premier League match, Ten Hag became the first Manchester United manager since John Chapman in 1921 to lose his first two games in charge. On 22 August 2022, Ten Hag won his first competitive game as Manchester United manager when his side recorded a 2–1 victory against arch-rivals

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

. This was United's first league win against Liverpool since March 2018. On 11 January 2023, Ten Hag lead Manchester United to a 3–0 win over

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

, and in doing so became the fastest Manchester United manager to reach 20 competitive wins, achieving the feat in 27 games.

Personal life

Ten Hag is married to Bianca. The couple have two daughters and a son.

Playing statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

De Graafschap *

: 1990–91 Twente *

: 2000–01

Manager

Bayern Munich II *

: 2013–14 Ajax *

: 2018–19,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, 2021–22 *KNVB Cup: 2018–19,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *

Rinus Michels Award The Rinus Michels Award is an annual prize in Dutch football. It is supported by the official football coaches union ("Coaches Betaald Voetbal"). The award is named after Rinus Michels, who was named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999. Categori ...

: 2015–16, 2018–19,

Premier League Manager of the Month The Premier League Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League manager each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to ...

: September 2022

References

External links

Voetbal International – Erik ten Hag
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hag, Erik ten 1970 births Living people People from Haaksbergen Footballers from Overijssel Dutch footballers Association football defenders FC Twente players De Graafschap players RKC Waalwijk players FC Utrecht players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Dutch football managers Go Ahead Eagles managers FC Bayern Munich II managers FC Utrecht managers AFC Ajax managers Manchester United F.C. managers Eredivisie managers Eerste Divisie managers Regionalliga managers Premier League managers Rinus Michels Award winners Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate football managers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England