Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as 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 ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

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 ...

, Bayern Munich and

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 well as having three spells in charge of the Netherlands. Van Gaal is one of the greatest and most decorated managers in world football, having won 20 major honours in his managerial career. He is sometimes nicknamed the "Iron Tulip". Before his career as a coach, Van Gaal played as a midfielder for

Royal Antwerp Royal Antwerp Football Club, often referred to as Royal Antwerp or simply Antwerp, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Antwerp. Founded around 1880 as ''Antwerp Cricket Club'' by English students residing in Antwerp, 15 years before ...

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fi ...

, Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar. He is also a qualified

physical education Physical education, often abbreviated to Phys Ed. or P.E., is a subject taught in schools around the world. It is usually taught during primary and secondary education, and encourages psychomotor learning by using a play and movement explorati ...

teacher, and worked at high schools during his career as a semi-professional footballer. After a brief spell as an assistant coach at AZ, Van Gaal served as an assistant under

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker CM (; born 2 August 1942) is a Dutch international football coach. He has had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. He led both Ajax and Feyenoord to Dutch championships and also had domestic s ...

at Ajax, and eventually took over as head coach in 1991. Under his lead, the club won three

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 ...

titles A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

, the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

and the

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 ...

. He moved to Barcelona in 1997 and won two league titles and one

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footbal ...

, but left after disagreements with the club's hierarchy. Van Gaal was then appointed at the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, but failed to qualify for the

2002 FIFA World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. This preceded another brief spell at Barcelona, before he returned to AZ, where he won an Eredivisie title, the club's second ever in its history. He moved to Bayern Munich in 2009, and in Germany won the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

, the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

and reached the final of the UEFA Champions League. He returned to manage the Netherlands for a second time, where he led the nation to a third-place finish at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He was hired by Manchester United later that summer, where he won the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, before being dismissed in 2016. Despite announcing his retirement due to family reasons in 2019, Van Gaal returned to management in August 2021, when he was appointed as head coach of the Netherlands for a third time.

Playing and early coaching career

Van Gaal was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

. As a youngster, he started playing for the Amsterdam amateur side RKSV de Meer. At the age of 20, he joined the second team of

, but was never chosen to play in the first team, which at the time boasted players such as

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

and

Johan Neeskens RCH may stand for: * Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization * Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways * The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian F ...

in the midfield positions. He was loaned to

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

side

playing under

Guy Thys Guy Thys (6 December 1922 – 1 August 2003) was a Belgian football manager, mostly known for being the most successful manager in the history of the Belgium national football team as he managed to lead the national side to their only UEFA ...

with whom he was runner-up in the Belgian top division in

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...

and

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

. During his time with Antwerp, Van Gaal suffered a broken nose in a friendly against K.V. Kortrijk. After four years spent in Belgium, he returned to his homeland and made his

debut for

under the guidance of manager,

Mircea Petescu Mircea Petescu (15 May 1942 – 16 December 2018) was a Romanian professional footballer and coach.Sparta Rotterdam. He later joined AZ, where he also became assistant coach in 1986. After a short career at AZ, he returned to Ajax to become

's assistant. When Beenhakker left in 1991, Van Gaal took over as manager.

Management career

Ajax (1991–1997)

Van Gaal was Ajax manager from 1991 until 1997 and had a very successful tenure. Under Van Gaal, Ajax became the

champions three times, in

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

(notably going the entire 1994–95 season unbeaten in both the league and the Champions League) and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

. He also led Ajax to 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 1993 and the Johan Cruyff Shield in 1993, 1994, and 1995. On the European scene, Ajax captured the

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and the

after beating

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

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 ...

. The latter win was followed by a 5–1 aggregate win over

Real Zaragoza Real Zaragoza, S.A.D. (), commonly referred to as Zaragoza, is a football club based in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain, that currently competes in the Segunda División, the second tier of the Spanish league system. Zaragoza holds its home games at La ...

in the 1995 UEFA Super Cup. Late in 1995, Ajax beat Brazilian side Grêmio on penalties to win the Intercontinental Cup. Ajax were also Champions League runners-up in

after losing to

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 ...

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. Ajax was so successful under Van Gaal's leadership that during the 1990s, the Netherlands national team was dominated by Ajax players such as

Patrick Kluivert Patrick Stephan Kluivert (; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch former football player, coach and sporting director. He played as a striker, most notably for AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona and the Netherlands national team. He was part of Ajax's Golden Gen ...

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 win ...

, Dennis Bergkamp,

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

and

Ronald de Boer Ronaldus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played for the Netherlands national team as well as a host of professional clubs in Europe. He is the twin brother of Frank de Boe ...

Edgar Davids Edgar Steven Davids (; born 13 March 1973) is a Dutch-Surinamese former professional footballer and current coach. After beginning his career with Ajax, winning several domestic and international titles, he subsequently played in Italy for AC Mi ...

Clarence Seedorf Clarence Clyde Seedorf (; born 1 April 1976) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is regarded by many to be one of the best midfielders of his generation. Seedorf is considered one of the most successful players in UE ...

Winston Bogarde Winston Lloyd Bogarde (born 22 October 1970) is a Dutch retired professional footballer, and was the assistant coach at Ajax. He was known for his physical strength, and played mostly as a central defender although he could occasionally play as ...

Michael Reiziger Michael John Reiziger (, born 3 May 1973) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played mainly as a right back, currently the assistant manager of AFC Ajax. After making a name for himself at Ajax, with whom he won one Champions League ...

, and

Edwin van der Sar Edwin van der Sar (; born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a m ...

. After serving out his contract at Ajax in 1997, Van Gaal received his knighthood in the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

Barcelona (1997–2000)

Van Gaal moved to

in 1997, taking over from

Bobby Robson Sir Robert William Robson (18 February 1933 – 31 July 2009) was an English footballer and football manager. His career included periods playing for and later managing the England national team and being a UEFA Cup-winning manager at Ipswich ...

, and helped the team win two

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

titles ( 1997–98, 1998–99) and the

once. Despite this success, he clashed with the media and came under criticism. He expressed that it was difficult to implement his football philosophy at Barcelona due to cultural differences, and that he struggled hard as some players were unwilling to follow his lead. His rows with

Rivaldo Rivaldo Vítor Borba Ferreira (born 19 April 1972), known simply as Rivaldo (), is a Brazilian former footballer who played mainly as an attacking midfielder but also as a second striker, and on occasion deployed as a wide midfielder or as a w ...

are an example of this: Van Gaal insisted Rivaldo play as a left winger, whereas Rivaldo argued that he wanted to play in the centre, in effect undermining Van Gaal. Van Gaal eventually left the Catalan side on 20 May 2000, days after losing the league title to

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

, uttering the immortal line, "''Amigos de la prensa. Yo me voy. Felicidades''." ("Friends of the press. I am leaving. Congratulations.") He returned to the Netherlands to manage the Netherlands national team in preparation for the

Netherlands national team (2000–2002)

Under Van Gaal, the Netherlands started their campaign to qualify for the 2002 World Cup poorly. Placed in

Group 2 The term Group 2 may refer to: * Alkaline earth metal, a chemical element classification * Astronaut Group 2, also known as The New Nine, the second group of astronauts selected by NASA in 1962 * Group 2 (racing), an FIA classification for cars in ...

, an injury-hit side could only manage to secure a late 2–2 draw at home to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, having been 2–0 down with 20 minutes to go. A 4–0 win over

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

was followed by a 2–0 defeat to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. In 2001, the Netherlands beat

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

and

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, but despite leading group leaders Portugal 2–0 with seven minutes left, drew 2–2 and fell three points behind second-place Republic of Ireland, who were unbeaten. When the sides met in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, Van Gaal boasted before the match that his squad was so much more talented, even the Irish fans would want them to qualify. Ireland went down to ten men after 58 minutes but scored nine minutes later and won 1–0. The Netherlands fell seven points behind them with two games left to play, meaning that they failed to qualify for the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

for the first time since

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

. Van Gaal stepped down as manager on 31 January 2002 to be replaced by

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three sti ...

. After this, speculation began that Van Gaal would succeed

Sir Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all tim ...

once Ferguson claimed he would retire that year. According to Van Gaal, Ferguson decided against retiring and the deal fell through.

Return to Barcelona (2002–2003)

Van Gaal returned to Barcelona for the start of the 2002–03 season on a contract until June 2005, but results were inconsistent. The club won a record-equalling ten successive matches in the Champions League but struggled in

. After four wins, four draws and three defeats from their opening 11 league matches, Barcelona lost three matches in a row, to

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septem ...

, relegation-threatened

Rayo Vallecano Rayo Vallecano de Madrid, S.A.D. (), often abbreviated to Rayo (Spanish for "thunderbolt"), is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid, in the neighbourhood of Vallecas. Rayo was founded on 29 May 1924, and currently compete in La Lig ...

and

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

. Two wins and a draw improved things but after successive defeats to

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

and

Celta de Vigo Real Club Celta de Vigo (; ), commonly known as Celta de Vigo or simply Celta, is a Spanish professional football club based in Vigo, Galicia, that competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spanish football. Nicknamed ''Os Celestes'' (The Sky Blues ...

, he left by mutual consent on 28 January 2003 with the club in 12th place, just three points above the relegation zone and 20 points behind leaders Real Sociedad. His transfers, particularly the signings of goalkeeper

Robert Enke Robert Enke (24 August 1977 – 10 November 2009) was a German professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Mönchengladbach, Benfica, and Barcelona, but made the majority of his appearances for Bundesliga side Hannover 96 ...

, midfielder

Gaizka Mendieta Gaizka Mendieta Zabala (, ; born 27 March 1974) is a Spanish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. A versatile player, with good technique, offensive capabilities and tackling skills, who was capable of creating goals both ...

and playmaker

Juan Román Riquelme Juan Román Riquelme (; born 24 June 1978) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current vice-president of Boca Juniors, the club where he spent the majority of his playing career.A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

and won that season's Champions League.

Return to Ajax (2004)

In 2004, Van Gaal returned to Ajax as a technical director, but resigned later that year due to an internal conflict with

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...

AZ (2005–2009)

In January 2005, it was announced that Van Gaal would replace

Co Adriaanse Co Adriaanse (born 21 July 1947) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career As a professional player, Adriaanse played for six seasons with (now dissolved) De Volewijckers (from 1964 until 1970) and ...

as AZ manager on 1 July 2005. Under Van Gaal, AZ finished second in the Eredivisie in 2005–06 and third in 2006–07. Van Gaal also led AZ to a runners-up finish in the 2006–07 KNVB Cup and lost a 2007–08 Champions League qualification play-off to Ajax 4–2 on aggregate. Van Gaal initially announced he would leave AZ at the end of the 2007–08 season due to disappointing results, with the club finishing 11th in the Eredivisie. When several players of the AZ squad said that they would like him to stay with AZ, however, Van Gaal said he would give the players a chance to prove themselves. AZ started the 2008–09 season with two losses: 2–1 to

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

and 0–3 to ADO Den Haag, but after that the Alkmaar-based club remained unbeaten until 18 April, topping the table ahead of

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 ...

and Ajax for the entire season, despite being predicted to finish as low as 13th by pundits. AZ had the best defensive record in the Eredivisie and the second-best goalscoring record, behind Ajax, thanks to its offensive duo of league topscorer

Mounir El Hamdaoui Mounir El Hamdaoui ( ar, منير الحمداوي; born 14 July 1984) is a former professional footballer who played as a forward. Born in the Netherlands, he represented Morocco internationally. He played for clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur, ...

and Brazilian

Ari Ari may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ari (name), a name in various languages, including a list of people and fictional characters * Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534–1572), Jewish rabbinical scholar and mystic known also as Ari * Ari (foot ...

. They were crowned league champions on 19 April, one day after AZ suffered an unexpected loss at home to Vitesse, which ended a string of 28 unbeaten games (surpassing the team's 1980–81 record of 25 unbeaten games). That same day Ajax, the only opponent still in theory able to surpass AZ, lost 6–2 to PSV.

Bayern Munich (2009–2011)

FC Bayern München - Deutscher Meister 2010

On 1 July 2009, Van Gaal took over as coach of Bayern Munich. He referred to his new employer as a "dream club". On 28 August 2009, he strengthened his team by signing compatriot

Arjen Robben Arjen Robben (; born 23 January 1984) is a Dutch former professional Association football, footballer who played as a Winger (football), winger. He was known for his Dribbling#Association football, dribbling skills, speed, ball control and long ...

from

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 ...

; this reunited the two, with Van Gaal selecting Robben for his debut in the Netherlands U20 team. Van Gaal got off to a poor start as Bayern coach, winning only one of his first four matches in charge, and by November the club was on the brink of a Champions League

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concent ...

exit following two losses to

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. With

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

at the top of the Bundesliga, speculation was rampant that he was on the brink of a departure from Bayern even earlier than his predecessor

Jürgen Klinsmann Jürgen Klinsmann (, born 30 July 1964) is a German professional football manager and former player. Klinsmann played for several prominent clubs in Europe including VfB Stuttgart, Inter Milan, Monaco, Tottenham Hotspur, and Bayern Munich. He ...

. Van Gaal, however, kept insisting he is a "''prozesstrainer''", meaning that his team needs time to play the way he imagines. Philipp Lahm Louis van Gaal crop

Van Gaal installed many youth players as fixtures in the starting 11, including

Thomas Müller Thomas Müller (; born 13 September 1989) is a German professional footballer who plays for club Bayern Munich and the Germany national team. A versatile player, Müller has been deployed in a variety of attacking roles – as an attacking m ...

and

Holger Badstuber Holger Felix Badstuber (born 13 March 1989) is a German former professional footballer who played as a centre-back or left-back. Badstuber made his debut in the Bundesliga for Bayern Munich in the 2009–10 season, at the age of 19. He played ne ...

, and also converted the winger

Bastian Schweinsteiger Bastian Schweinsteiger (; born 1 August 1984) is a German former professional footballer who usually played as a central midfielder. Earlier in his career, he primarily played as a wide midfielder. Schweinsteiger is regarded as one of the grea ...

into a defensive midfielder. A feud with Italian striker Luca Toni, who had played an important role in Bayern's 2007–08

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 ...

and

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

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 ...

, led to Toni's move to

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

. Bayern Munich's form, however, improved with two Champions League victories including an impressive 4–1 victory over

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, which allowed them to progress from their group in second position behind Bordeaux. By March, Bayern had moved to the semi-finals of the

and were top of the

, ahead of

. On 8 May 2010, Bayern were crowned Bundesliga champions following a 3–1 win at

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC (), and sometimes referred to as Hertha Berlin, Hertha BSC Berlin, or simply Hertha, is a German professional football club based in the locality of Westend of the borough of Charl ...

, making Van Gaal the first ever Dutch coach to win the Bundesliga. On 15 May 2010, Bayern won the DFB-Pokal with a 4–0 victory over SV Werder Bremen, Werder Bremen, thus securing the domestic double (association football), double. In the Champions League, Bayern won 4–4 on the away goals rule in the quarter-final against Manchester United and 4–0 on aggregate against Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon in the semi-final, securing them a spot in the final, where Van Gaal was to meet his former pupil and assistant at Barcelona, Inter Milan, Internazionale coach José Mourinho. Bayern, however, lost the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final, final 2–0, handing Inter a first Italian Treble (association football), treble and thus failing to secure the treble themselves. On 25 May 2010, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge expressed his desire to extend Van Gaal's contract as the club was very happy with his performance, despite Van Gaal still having one year of his contract to fulfil. At the end of the season, Van Gaal was voted Football Manager of the Year (Germany), Manager of the Year in the yearly poll organized by VDV (professional players' union in Germany) and German magazine ''kicker (sports magazine), kicker''. Van Gaal's Bayern started the 2010–11 FC Bayern Munich season, 2010–11 season by winning the 2010 DFL-Supercup, DFL-Supercup, which had been officially reinstated after a 14-year absence. On 7 March 2011, Bayern Munich declared that Van Gaal's contract was to be cancelled after the end of the 2010–11 season. However, he was instead sacked on 10 April 2011 after losing the third place in the Bundesliga.

Return to Netherlands national team (2012–2014)

On 6 July 2012, Van Gaal was presented as the new Netherlands coach. "I am happy that the KNVB approached me", said Van Gaal, who was assisted by former Dutch internationals Danny Blind and

, both part of his successful Ajax squad from 1995. "This is the challenge which I have been waiting for." Van Gaal led the Netherlands through its 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2014 World Cup 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group D, qualification group as the team won nine and drew one of their ten matches with a goal difference of 34–5. Qualification was secured with two matches to spare, following a 2–0 away win against Andorra on 10 September 2013. Despite their successful qualifying campaign, expectations surrounding the Netherlands national team were comparatively low due to mixed pre-tournament friendly performances and the failure of the Dutch squad in Euro 2012, where they suffered three defeats out of three in the group stages in that tournament. In their first group game at the World Cup, at the Estádio Fonte Nova in Salvador, Bahia, Salvador, however, Van Gaal's Dutch team came from behind to defeat reigning champions Spain 5–1. The Dutch victory over Spain was attributed in part to Van Gaal's use of counter-attacking tactics which disrupted the ''tiki-taka'' possession-based football of the Spanish team. His use of a Formation (association football)#3–5–2, 3–5–2 formation (association football), formation was notable, as opposed to the typical Dutch Formation (association football)#4–3–3, 4–3–3 and this helped the Netherlands to tactically take advantage of Spain's weaknesses. In their next match, the Dutch were trailing 2–1 to Australia national soccer team, Australia in the second half of their second group game, before winning 2–3 with the winning goal from young substitute Memphis Depay. Ahead of the last game in the group, Van Gaal accused FIFA of "playing tricks" in the scheduling of matches to advantage the home nation, as Brazil national football team, Brazil were to play their last group match four hours after the Dutch, who they could meet in the round of 16 depending on their result. Brazil manager Luiz Felipe Scolari reacted by saying, "It was FIFA who chose the kick-off time. Some people expressed a view that we were going to choose who we were going to play. Those sorts of comments are either stupid or ill-intentioned." Van Gaal also criticised the referees who had awarded penalties against the Dutch in both of their matches, calling the decisions "unjustified" and "incorrect". The Dutch won their last group match against Chile national football team, Chile 2–0 to advance through as group winners. They then defeated Mexico national football team, Mexico 2–1 in the round of 16, coming behind from a Giovani dos Santos goal in the 45th minute, with Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scoring in the 89th and 90+2 minutes respectively. During their quarter-final match against Costa Rica national football team, Costa Rica in the World Cup, Van Gaal made the decision to substitute first-choice Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for Tim Krul in the final minute of Overtime (sports), extra time; as Krul had not played at all in the Netherlands' four prior matches at the tournament, Van Gaal saved one of his three allowed substitutions to bring Krul on. This decision paid off, as Krul saved two of the Costa Rican penalties to send the Netherlands through to the semi-finals to face Argentina national football team, Argentina. The Dutch team lost to Argentina in another penalty shootout. Van Gaal ended his tenure as Netherlands manager on 12 July 2014 when the Dutch beat the hosts Brazil 3–0 in the third/fourth place play-off match with goals from Robin van Persie, Daley Blind and Georginio Wijnaldum.

Manchester United (2014–2016)

Van Gaal was confirmed to replace David Moyes as the new manager for

on 19 May 2014, becoming the club's first manager from outside the British Isles. He signed a three-year contract coming into effect after the 2014 World Cup. He named Ryan Giggs as his assistant manager, Marcel Bout as assistant coach, specialising in oppositional scouting and Frans Hoek as goalkeeping coach. Albert Stuivenberg was appointed as assistant coach. Van Gaal said he had inherited a "broken" United squad, and that he would give youth a chance. Ed Woodward said Van Gaal had "impressed everyone around the club" and that there was "a real positive energy and buzz around the place".

2014–15 season

Van Gaal's first signings were midfielder Ander Herrera for £29 million, and defender Luke Shaw for £30 million. On 20 August, Argentine defender Marcos Rojo was bought for €20 million from Sporting Clube de Portugal, Sporting CP and, on 26 August, United signed Argentine winger Ángel Di María from

on a five-year contract. Di María's £59.7 million fee set a new record for a signing by an English club, and took the club's summer spending to a reported £130 million. On transfer deadline day, Van Gaal signed Daley Blind from Ajax for a fee of £14 million and was granted an extension to sign Radamel Falcao on loan from AS Monaco FC, Monaco for a reported £6 million. On 24 July, Van Gaal managed United for the first time as they beat the LA Galaxy 7–0 in a pre-season friendly, using a 3–5–2 formation. Manchester United won the 2014 International Champions Cup under Van Gaal, winning the final 3–1 against Liverpool F.C.–Manchester United F.C. rivalry, rivals Liverpool F.C., Liverpool on 4 August. Van Gaal lost his first official game in charge, a 2–1 home defeat to Swansea City A.F.C., Swansea City in the opening match of the 2014–15 Premier League, 2014–15 Premier League season. On 26 August, United lost 4–0 to EFL League One, League One side Milton Keynes Dons F.C., Milton Keynes Dons in the second round of the 2014–15 Football League Cup, League Cup; it was United's earliest League Cup exit. He won his first competitive game in United's fourth match of the league season, a 4–0 home victory over Queens Park Rangers F.C., Queens Park Rangers, with goals from Di María, Herrera, Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata. After 10 league matches, United were in ninth place with 13 points and three victories, their worst start to the season since 1986–87 Manchester United F.C. season, 1986–87 under Ron Atkinson. Their poor run included a 5–3 defeat to newly promoted Leicester City F.C., Leicester City. The squad was suffering from injuries, including to new signings Herrera, Rojo and Falcao. Van Gaal reacted to the poor form by saying that it would take three years to take his United team to their full potential. On 4 February 2015, Van Gaal was charged by The Football Association (FA) over comments he made about the referee Chris Foy (referee), Chris Foy, saying, "Every aspect of a match is against us – the pitch, the referee" during United's goalless draw in an FA Cup fourth-round match against Cambridge United F.C., Cambridge United. After a requested hearing with the FA, Van Gaal was cleared of his charges, but was warned of future conduct. On 8 February, Van Gaal was criticised by West Ham United F.C., West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce for his long ball tactics after the Hammers conceded a late equaliser to United. Van Gaal responded to the criticism with statistics which seemed to show that West Ham played more long balls than his side. His tactics were defended by fellow managers Arsène Wenger and Garry Monk. United's form improved as the season progressed. A run of seven consecutive Premier League wins was part of a ten-match unbeaten run that started with a 1–0 home win over Crystal Palace F.C., Crystal Palace on 8 November 2014 and was ended by Southampton F.C., Southampton, who won 1–0 at Old Trafford on 11 January 2015. United completed another sequence of seven league wins in a row between 28 February and 12 April, concluding with an impressive 4–2 defeat of champions and Manchester derby, local rivals Manchester City F.C., Manchester City. This was followed by three consecutive losses to Chelsea F.C., Chelsea, Everton F.C., Everton and West Bromwich Albion. United were also knocked out at the quarter-final stage of the 2014–15 FA Cup by holders and eventual winners Arsenal F.C., Arsenal, who inflicted a 2–1 home defeat on Van Gaal's team on 9 March. In his 2014–15 Manchester United F.C. season, first season, Van Gaal led Manchester United to a fourth-place finish, three places and six points higher than the previous season.

2015–16 season

During the summer transfer window, Van Gaal strengthened his squad by bringing in Memphis Depay from PSV, Matteo Darmian from Torino F.C., Torino, Sergio Romero from U.C. Sampdoria, Sampdoria, Morgan Schneiderlin from Southampton,

from Bayern Munich and Anthony Martial from Monaco. United comfortably defeated Club Brugge KV, Club Brugge in the qualifying round of the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League, 2015–16 Champions League to earn a place in the group stage. Domestically, United were solid in defence and went top of the 2015–16 Premier League, Premier League at the end of September; however, mixed results followed, leaving them in fourth position going into November. They were eliminated from the 2015–16 Football League Cup, League Cup by Football League Championship, Championship club Middlesbrough F.C., Middlesbrough and were eliminated from the Champions League at the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League group stage, group stage on 8 December after a 3–2 loss away to VfL Wolfsburg. They finished third in their group and subsequently dropped down to the 2015–16 UEFA Europa League, UEFA Europa League. Fifteen days later, Van Gaal walked out of a press conference after being questioned about his future, amid speculations of dismissal following a six-game run without a win. He concluded, "I wish you a merry Christmas and maybe also a happy new year when I see you." The new year began well for the Dutchman with wins against Swansea City, Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United and Liverpool, and a draw against Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United. Manchester United, however, lost to Southampton on 23 January, rekindling rumors about Van Gaal offering to resign, but having his resignation rejected by United executive Ed Woodward. After a 3–0 defeat away to Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur on 10 April, several United players reportedly turned on Van Gaal in the dressing room, calling him "clueless" and questioning his tactics after he openly criticized young striker Marcus Rashford and several other players and made several questionable decisions during the match, a result which left United four points off fourth-placed Manchester City. On 21 May 2016, Van Gaal won his only trophy with Manchester United, the FA Cup, when his side defeated Crystal Palace 2016 FA Cup Final, 2–1 after extra time; Jesse Lingard's winning goal made United match Arsenal's then-record of 12 FA Cups. Two days later, Van Gaal and the Dutch members of his staff were sacked by the club.

Hiatus from managing (2016–2021)

On 17 January 2017, it was announced that Van Gaal had retired "for family reasons". He later said that it was only a sabbatical. He announced his official retirement from football on 12 March 2019. SC Telstar, Telstar announced that during the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie, van Gaal would be managing the Telstar squad for one single match as a charity event.

Third stint at the Netherlands national team (2021−2022)

On 4 August 2021, Van Gaal came out of retirement to take charge of the Netherlands national team for a third time. He replaced Frank de Boer, who left the position in June following the team's disappointing UEFA Euro 2020, Euro 2020 campaign. Van Gaal's first match in his third stint at the Netherlands national team was a 1–1 draw against Norway on 1 September 2021. In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Netherlands finished top of their Group A, then they defeated the United States men's national soccer team, United States 3–1 in the round of 16. On 9 December, Van Gaal and his Netherlands side lost again to Argentina on penalties, this time in the quarter-finals. Following their exit from the World Cup, Van Gaal resigned as head coach of the Netherlands national team, after 20 matches without defeat in his third stint.

Personal life

The youngest of nine brothers and sisters, Van Gaal was brought up as a Catholic. His father, a salesman, died when Van Gaal was 11. At the age of 18, Van Gaal met Fernanda Obbes at a Catholic youth group. They married three years later, and had two daughters, Brenda and Renate. In 1994, Obbes died of Liver cancer, liver and pancreatic cancer. Van Gaal was mocked by fans of Ajax's opponents for her illness. In 2008, Van Gaal married his current wife, Truus, with whom he shares a holiday home near Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal. According to ''The Daily Telegraph'', it emerged in 2009 that Van Gaal had lost millions of pound sterling, pounds investing in fraudster Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme. On 3 April 2022, Van Gaal said that he was receiving treatment for prostate cancer. On 12 April 2022, he said that his treatment was successful.

Documentary

In 2022, Geertjan Lassche made a two-hour documentary about Louis van Gaal, entitled ''Louis'', with the tagline "The man behind the legend". It premiered on 11 April in the Amsterdam Tuschinski Theatre. It was released on 14 April 2022.

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Ajax *

: 1993–94 Eredivisie, 1993–94, 1994–95 Eredivisie, 1994–95, 1995–96 Eredivisie, 1995–96 *

: 1992–93 KNVB Cup, 1992–93 * Johan Cruyff Shield: 1993 PTT Telecom Cup, 1993, 1994 Dutch Supercup, 1994, 1995 Dutch Supercup, 1995 *

: 1994–95 UEFA Champions League, 1994–95; runner-up: 1995–96 UEFA Champions League, 1995–96 *

: 1991–92 UEFA Cup, 1991–92 *UEFA Super Cup: 1995 UEFA Super Cup, 1995 * Intercontinental Cup: 1995 Intercontinental Cup, 1995 Barcelona *

: 1997–98, 1998–99 *

: 1997–98 Copa del Rey, 1997–98 *UEFA Super Cup: 1997 UEFA Super Cup, 1997 AZ *

: 2008–09 Bayern Munich *

: 2009–10 Bundesliga, 2009–10 *

: 2009–10 DFB-Pokal, 2009–10 *DFL-Supercup: 2010 DFL-Supercup, 2010 *

runner-up: 2009–10 UEFA Champions League, 2009–10 Manchester United *FA Cup: 2015–16 FA Cup, 2015–16 Netherlands *FIFA World Cup third place: 2014 FIFA World Cup, 2014

Awards and achievements

*World Soccer (magazine), World Soccer Manager of the Year: 1995 *Onze d'Or, Onze d'Or Coach of the Year: 1995 *European Football Coach of the Year, European Coach of the Year—Sepp Herberger Award: 1995 *European Coach of the Season (association football), European Coach of the Season: 1994–95 *Rinus Michels Award: 2007, 2009 *:nl:Coach van het jaar (Nederland), Dutch Sports Coach of the Year: 2009, 2014 *Die Sprachwahrer des Jahres (3rd place): 2009 *Football Manager of the Year (Germany): 2010 *Anton Geesink Award: 2015 *Dutch Lifetime Achievement Award: 2017 *France Football 18th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019

Orders

*Knight of the

: 1997

Publications

* ''De trainer en de totale mens'', Leipzig, Leibniz-Blätter-Verlag, 2021.

References

External links

Official website

at Voetbal International
CV Louis van Gaal

from FIFA.com
Profile and stats
on RAFC History {{DEFAULTSORT:Gaal, Louis van 1951 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch footballers Association football midfielders AFC Ajax players Royal Antwerp F.C. players SC Telstar players Sparta Rotterdam players AZ Alkmaar players Belgian First Division A players Eredivisie players Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Dutch football managers AFC Ajax managers FC Barcelona managers Netherlands national football team managers Directors of football clubs in the Netherlands AFC Ajax non-playing staff AZ Alkmaar managers FC Bayern Munich managers Manchester United F.C. managers UEFA Cup winning managers UEFA Champions League winning managers FA Cup winning managers 2014 FIFA World Cup managers Eredivisie managers La Liga managers Bundesliga managers Premier League managers Rinus Michels Award winners Dutch expatriate football managers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate football managers in Spain Expatriate football managers in Germany Expatriate football managers in England Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau AZ Alkmaar non-playing staff 2022 FIFA World Cup managers