Louis van Gaal

At 72 years old, Louis van Gaal has this physical status:

Playing and early coaching career

Van Gaal was born in Amsterdam. He began playing for RKSV de Meer in Amsterdam as a youth. He joined Ajax's second team but was never selected to play in the first team, which at the time featured players such as Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens in midfield positions. He was loaned to Royal Antwerp, Belgium's First Division, under Guy Thys, who was runners-up in the Belgian top division in 1974 and 1975. Van Gaal suffered a broken nose in a friendly against K.V. during his time with Antwerp. Kortrijk is a Dutch company that has grown up. He returned to Belgium and made his Ethio debut for Telstar under the direction of director, Mircea Petescu, who later moved to Sparta Rotterdam. He later moved to Arizona, where he also served as an assistant coach in 1986. After a short stint in Arizona, Leo Beenhakker's assistant was sent to Ajax to serve as Leo Beenhakker's assistant. Van Gaal took over as boss after Beenhakker left in 1991.

Management career

Van Gaal, the Ajax chief, served from 1991 to 1997 and had a fruitful tenure. In 1994, 1995 (notably going unbeaten in both the league and the Champions League) and 1996, Ajax became the Economist champions three times under Van Gaal. He was also responsible for the Ajax and the Johan Cruyff Shield in 1993, 1994, and 1995. After beating Milan in the final, Ajax gained the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 1995. In the 1995 UEFA Super Cup, the two victories were matched by a 5–1 aggregate victory over Real Zaragoza. Ajax won the Intercontinental Cup after defeating Brazilian side Grêmio on penalties in 1995. In 1996, Ajax defeated Juventus on penalties and became the Champions League runners-up.

Ajax's leadership was so successful during Van Gaal's reign that the Dutch national team was dominated by Ajax players like Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Michael Reiziger, and Edwin van der Sar.

Van Gaal received his knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau after serving out his term in Ajax in 1997.

Van Gaal took over Barcelona in 1997, defeating Bobby Robson, and the team gained two La Liga titles (1997–98, 1998–99), and Copa del Rey once. Despite his fame, he argued with the media and came under fire. He said that due to cultural differences, it was impossible to carry out his football philosophy in Barcelona, and that following his example was difficult. Van Gaal's arguments with Rivaldo are an example of this: Rivaldo denied that Rivaldo play as a left winger, while Rivaldo said he wanted to play in the center, in effect undermining Van Gaal.

Van Gaal left the Catalan side on May 20, 2000, just days after losing the league to Deportivo de La Corua, uttering the immortal phrase, "Amigos de la prensa." Yo me voy. Feliciades" is a Spanish word that means "everyone." "Mates of the press are friends." I'm leaving. ("You are welcome!" He returned to the Netherlands to head the Netherlands national team as part of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

The Netherlands started their bid to qualify for the 2002 World Cup under Van Gaal. Having been 2–0 down with 20 minutes to go, the injury-plagued team could only hope to score a late 2–2 draw at home to the Republic of Ireland. Cyprus was defeated 4–0 by the United States and Portugal was defeated 2–0.

The Netherlands beat Andorra, Cyprus, and Estonia in 2001, but the Netherlands lost 2–0, two points behind the second-place Republic of Ireland, who were unbeaten. When the sides met in Dublin, Van Gaal boasted that his squad was so much more talented that even the Irish fans would want them to qualify. After 58 minutes, Ireland went down to ten men after 58 minutes but won 1–0 after nine minutes. With two games remaining to play, the Netherlands fell seven points behind their opponents, ensuring that they missed out on the World Cup for the first time since 1986. On January 31, 2002, Van Gaal resigned as the boss, but Dick Advocaat took over. Following this, rumors that Van Gaal will replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United after Ferguson announced that he would retire next year. Ferguson decided against retirement, according to Van Gaal, and the offer was not concluded.

Van Gaal was signed to Barcelona for the 2002-03 season, but results were patchy, with some being referred to as "relative." In La Liga, the club won a record-equalling ten successive matches in the Champions League, but it didn't fail in La Liga. Barcelona lost three games in a row to Real Sociedad, relegation-threatened Rayo Vallecano and Sevilla, after four victories, four draws, and three defeats from their first 11 league matches. Two victories and a draw improved matters, but the club's 12th position, just three points behind leaders Real Sociedad, which fell to Valencia and Celta de Vigo, had been decided by mutual consent on January 28, 2003.

His moves, especially goalkeeper Robert Enke, midfielder Gaizka Mendieta, and playmaker Juan Román Riquelme, were dissatisfied. Riquelme had been hired to replace Rivaldo, who had been released on a free transfer despite having a year left on his deal. During Van Gaal's previous tenure and after Van Gaal's return, the two were forced to part, Rivaldo said, "Van Gaal is the primary reason for my departure." I don't like Van Gaal, and I'm positive that he doesn't like me." Van Gaal said that rivals' lack of commitment was the reason he was released, explaining that he was only concerned with increasing money and playing less. He was voted the best player in 1999, but he hasn't treated himself well since then and hasn't behaving like a footballer does. He had doubts about Barca and was planning to miss holidays as crucial Champions League games were coming. He then hides back in Brazil. He plays for Brazil as we needed him to at Barcelona, and he has shown us his love for Japan in the World Cup finals. Rivaldo first played for A.C. Milan and then championed the Champions League for the first time in the season.

Van Gaal returned to Ajax in 2004 as a technical director, but later that year due to an internal conflict with Ronald Koeman.

Van Gaal would fire Co Adriaanse as the AZ boss in January 2005. AZ finished second in the Economies under Van Gaal in 2005–06 and third in 2006–07. Van Gaal was also a contributor to the 2006–07 KNVB Cup, leading to a runner-up finish in the 2007–08 Champions League qualification play-off to Ajax 4–2 on aggregate.

Van Gaal was first expected to leave Arizona at the end of the 2007–08 season due to poor results, with the club finishing 11th in the Economist. When several members of the AZ squad said they would like him to remain with AZ, they would hope he would give the players a chance to prove themselves.

AZ started the 2008-09 season with two losses: 2–1 to NAC Breda and 0–3 to ADO Den Haag, but the Alkmaar-based team remained unbeaten until 18 April, the highest finish by pundits, even though being projected to finish as low as 13th. AZ had the best defensive record in the EIB and the second-best goalscoring record behind Ajax, thanks to its offensive pairing of league topscorer Mounir El Hamdaoui and Brazilian Ari. On 19 April, they were crowned league champions for the first time since AZ suffered an unexpected loss to Vitesse, which brought a series of 28 unbeaten games to an end (surpassing the team's 1980–81 record of 25 unbeaten games). Ajax, the only one able to defeat AZ in theory, lost 6–2 to PSV on the same day.

Van Gaal took over as Bayern Munich's coach on July 1, 2009. He referred to his new employer as a "dream team." On August 28, 2009, he improved his team by bringing compatriot Arjen Robben from Real Madrid; this reunited the two teams, with Van Gaal selecting Robben for his debut in the Netherlands U20 team.

Van Gaal's off to a slow start as Bayern coach, winning just one of his first four games in charge, and the club was on the brink of a Champions League group stage withdrawal following two losses to Bordeaux. With Bayer Leverkusen at the top of the Bundesliga, rumors were raging that he might have quit Bayern even before his predecessor Jürgen Klinsmann was dismissed. Van Gaal, on the other hand, maintained that he was a "prozesstrainer," implying that his squad needs time to play the way he imagines.

Van Gaal converted Bastian Schweinsteiger's winger to a defensive midfielder, making them two key players in the starting 11, including Thomas Müller and Holger Badstuber. Toni's move to Roma was triggered by a rivalry with Italian striker Luca Toni, who had been instrumental in Bayern's 2007-08 league and cup double. Bayern Munich's form, on the other hand, has improved with two Champions League victories, one of which included a convincing 4–1 victory over Juventus in Turin, which allowed them to jump from their second position behind Bordeaux. Bayern had progressed to the semi-finals of the DFB-Pokal and had risen to the top of the Bundesliga by March, ahead of Bayer Leverkusen.

Bayern were crowned Bundesliga champions following a 3–1 victory at Hertha BSC, making Van Gaal the first Dutch coach to win the Bundesliga. Bayern gained the DFB-Pokal with a 4–0 win over Werder Bremen on May 15, securing the domestic double.

Bayern defeated Manchester United and 4–0 on aggregate in the quarter-finals against Lyon, where they will meet their former student and assistant in Barcelona, Internazionale coach José Mourinho. Bayern, on the other hand, lost the final 2–0, leaving Inter an Italian treble for the first time and then failing to secure the treble themselves. Despite Van Gaal's one-year deal to fulfill, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge expressed his desire to extend Van Gaal's contract on May 25, 2010. In the annual poll conducted by VDV (professional players' union in Germany) and German magazine kicker, Van Gaal was named Manager of the Year at the end of the season.

Van Gaal's Bayern started the 2010–11 season by winning the DFL-Supercup for the first time since a 14-year absence.

Bayern Munich reported on March 7 that Van Gaal's deal was going to be terminated after the 2010–11 season. However, he was fired on April 10, 2011 after losing the third place in the Bundesliga.

Van Gaal was appointed as the Netherlands coach on July 6, 2012, on July 6th. "I am glad that the KNVB approached me," Van Gaal, who was helped by former Dutch internationals Danny Blind and Patrick Kluivert, both members of his winning Ajax team from 1995, said. "This is the challenge that I have been awaiting."

Van Gaal led the Netherlands through the 2014 World Cup qualification tournament, winning nine out of nine and drew one of their ten matches with a goal difference of 34–5. Following a 2–0 away victory over Andorra on September 10, 2013, qualification was guaranteed with two games to spare.

Despite a fruitful qualifying campaign, the Netherlands national team's hopes regarding the Dutch national team were relatively low due to mixed pre-tournament friendly results and the Dutch squad's failure in Euro 2012, where they suffered three defeats out of three in the group stage of the tournament. Van Gaal's Dutch team came from behind to defeat reigning champions Spain 5–1 in their first group game at the World Cup in Salvador. Van Gaal's success over Spain was attributed in large part to the Spanish team's use of counter-attacking tactics, which caused the Spanish team's tiki-taka possession-based football to be disrupted. His use of a 3–5–2 combo was notable, as opposed to the typical Dutch 4–3-3, and the Netherlands were able to tactically exploit Spain's ineffectiveness. In their next match, the Dutch were trailing 2–1 to Australia in the second half of their second group match before winning 2–3 with the winning goal from young replacement Memphis Depay.

Van Gaal accused FIFA of "playing tricks" in the decision of games to benefit the home country, who was due to watch their last group match against the Netherlands four hours later. Luiz Felipe Scolari, Brazil's president, responded by saying, "It was FIFA who selected the kick-off time." Any one of us shared the belief that we were going to choose who we were going to play. Those sorts of remarks are either ignorant or ill-intentioned." Van Gaal had also slammed the referees who had given penalties to the Dutch in both of their matches, calling the decisions "unjustified" and "incorrect."

The Dutch won their last group match against Chile 2–0, beating them as group champions. They then defeated Mexico 2–1 in the round of 16, falling behind by a goal in the 45th minute by Wesley Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who scored in the 89th and 90+2 minutes respectively.

Van Gaal made the decision to substitute first-choice goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen for Tim Krul in the final minute of extra time during the tournament's four previous matches; as Krul had not played at all in the Netherlands' four previous matches at the tournament, he allowed three allowed substitutions to bring Krul on. Krul saved two of the Costa Rican penalties to advance the Netherlands into the semi-finals against Argentina, which paid off. In another penalty shootout, the Dutch team lost to Argentina. Van Gaal's tenure as Netherlands boss came to an end on July 12th, 2014, with goals from Robin van Persie, Daley Blind, and Georginio Wijnaldum scoring in the third/fourth place play-off match.

Van Gaal was announced on May 19th, 2014, as the club's first manager from outside the British Isles. After the 2014 World Cup, he signed a three-year contract. Ryan Giggs as his assistant manager, Marcel Bout as the oppositional scout, and Frans Hoek as his goalkeeping coach. Albert Stuivenberg was appointed assistant coach. Van Gaal said he had inherited a "broken" United squad and that he would give youth a chance. Van Gaal had "impressed everybody around the club" and that "there was a lot of positive energy and buzz around the place," Ed Woodward said.

Ander Herrera, a midfielder, and defender Luke Shaw for £30 million were among Van Gaal's first signings. Marcos Rojo, the Argentine defender, was bought by Sporting CP on August 20th, and United Argentine winger ngel Di Mara from Real Madrid on a five-year deal on August 26th. Di Mara's £59.7 million fee set a new record for an English club's signing, and the club's summer expenditures increased to a reported £130 million. Van Gaal signed Daley Blind from Ajax for a fee of £14 million on transfer day, and was granted a new deal for Radamel Falcao on loan from Monaco for a reported £6 million.

Van Gaal ruled United for the first time after defeating the LA Galaxy 7-0 in a pre-season friendly on July 24th, using a 3–5–2 formation. Manchester United beat Liverpool United in the 2014 International Champions Cup under Van Gaal, winning the final 3–1 against rivals Liverpool on August 4th.

Van Gaal's first official game in charge was a 2–1 home loss to Swansea City in the inaugural match of the 2014–15 Premier League season. United lost 4–0 to Milton Keynes Dons in the second round of the League Cup on Sunday, the first League Cup withdrawal for United. Di Mara, Herrera, Wayne Rooney, and Juan Mata were all in his first competitive game of the league season, defeating Queens Park Rangers 4–0.

United were in ninth place with 13 points and three victories in their lowest start to the season since 1986–87 under Ron Atkinson. They lost by 5–3 to newly promoted Leicester City, which was their lowest point in their poor run. The squad was suffering from injuries, including recent signings Herrera, Rojo, and Falcao. Van Gaal retaliated in his poor form by announcing that his United team would be unable to function at their full potential for three years.

During United's goalless draw with Cambridge United, Van Gaal was charged by The Football Association (FA) on February 4, 2015, "every part of a match is against us," according to referee Chris Foy. Van Gaal was cleared of his charges after a request hearing with the FA, but was warned of future conduct. After the Hammers conceded a late equalizer to United, Van Gaal was chastised by West Ham United manager Sam Allardyce for his long ball tactics on February 8th. Van Gaal responded to the criticism with statistics that show that West Ham has played longer balls than his teammate. Arsène Wenger and Garry Monk, two of his tactics, defended his actions.

United's form improved as the season progressed. Southampton defeated Crystal Palace 1–0 home win on November 8th, 2014, and Southampton's 1–0 victory at Old Trafford on December 11th was part of a ten-match unbeaten run that began with a ten-match unbeaten streak that began with a 1–0 home win over 7-0 victories. United defeated champions and local rivals Manchester City in a series of seven league victories in a row between 28 February and April, culminating in an impressive 4–2 victory. Chelsea, Everton, and West Bromwich Albion lost in a row after three consecutive defeats. United were also disqualified from the quarter-finals of the 2014–15 FA Cup by holders and eventual winners Arsenal, who suffered a 2–1 home loss to Van Gaal's team on March 9th.

Van Gaal led Manchester United to a fourth-place finish in his first season, three positions and six points higher than the previous season.

Van Gaal boosted his squad during the summer transfer window by bringing in Memphis Depay from PSV, Matteo Darmian from Torino, Sergio Romero from Sampdoria, Bastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich, and Anthony Martial from Monaco.

United flocked victory over Club Brugge in the qualifying round of the 2015-16 Champions League to guarantee a spot in the group's tournament. United were solid in defense and climbed to the top of the Premier League at the end of September, but mixed results followed, leaving them in fourth place going into November. Middlesbrough's Championship club Middlesbrough was barred from the Champions League after a 3–2 loss away to VfL Wolfsburg on December 8th. They finished third in their group and then dropped down to the UEFA Europa League. Van Gaal walked out of a press conference after being asked about his future after a six-game run without a win. "I wish you a merry Christmas and perhaps also a happy new year when I see you."

With victories against Swansea City, Sheffield United, and Liverpool, as well as a draw against Newcastle United, the Dutchman started the new year off to a promising start. Manchester United resigned on January 23nd, reigniting rumors about Van Gaal's resignation but with United executive Ed Woodward's resignation.

Following a 3–0 loss away to Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, several United players reportedly turned on Van Gaal in the dressing room, saying he was "clueless" and questioning his tactics after he openly mocked young striker Marcus Rashford and several others, leading to several points off fourth-placed Manchester City.

Van Gaal regained his only trophy with Manchester United, the FA Cup, after losing 2–1 after extra time; Jesse Lingard's winning goal gave United Manchester's match Arsenal's then-record of 12 FA Cups. Van Gaal and the Dutch members of his staff were fired by the club two days later.

Van Gaal had resigned "for family reasons" on January 17, 2017. It was later discovered that it was only a sabbatical, according to the author. Van Gaal declared his official retirement from football on March 12, 2019. Telstar revealed on June 15th, 2021, that van Gaal, the 2021-21 Eerste Divisie, would be in charge of the Telstar squad for a single match as a charity event.

Van Gaal came out of retirement on August 4th to take over the Netherlands national team for the third time. Frank de Boer was fired from the team in June after the team's disappointing Euro 2020 campaign.

Van Gaal's first match in his third stint with the Netherlands national team was a 1–1 draw against Norway on September 1, 2021.

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