He took over the Dutch national team 3 times: Who is Louis Van Gaal?

Louis Van Gaal was born on 8 August 1951 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. He played as a midfielder in Belgium's Royal Antwerp FC between 1973-1977, in the Netherlands' Telstar in the 1977-1978 season, Sparta Rotterdam between 1978-1986, and AZ in the 1986-1987 season.

He started his coaching career as an assistant to Leo Beenhakker in the Ajax team in 1986. When Beenhakker left the job in 1991, he was appointed as a promising young coach.

He gained significant success as Ajax coach, which he continued until 1997. He won the UEFA Cup in 1992 by passing the Turin team in the final, with the young footballers he trained from the Ajax infrastructure. He won the Dutch championship in 1994, 1995, and 1996, the Dutch Cup in 1993, and the Dutch Super Cup in 1994, 1995, and 1996. With this team, he played in the finals of the European Champions League two years in a row, in 1995 and 1996. In 1995, he won this cup by beating AC Milan, coached by the previous year's champion, Fabio Capello, and in 1996, he lost on penalties to Juventus, coached by Marcello Lippi, in the final. In 1995, he also won the UEFA Super Cup with Ajax. With this success, he played a role in the establishment of the Dutch national team in the 1990s, mainly consisting of players from Ajax's infrastructure, such as Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Frank, and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger and Edwin van der Sar.

He was the coach of FC Barcelona between 1997-2000. During his tenure in Barcelona, he won the UEFA Super Cup in the 1997/98 season and both the La Liga and the Spanish King's Cup in the 1998/99 season.

Van Gaal was the coach of the Netherlands national football team between 2000/01. However, the national team did not qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and was replaced by Dick Advocaat. He worked for FC Barcelona for a while in the 2002/03 season. In the 2003/04 season, he was appointed as the technical manager of the Ajax team, where Ronald Koeman was his teacher, and served in this position for a short time.

Since 2005, he has been appointed as the technical responsibility of the AZ team. In the 2007/08 season, he decided to leave the team at the end of the season due to unsuccessful results, with his team losing the right to win the UEFA Champions League. However, he later reversed this decision and led AZ to the Dutch league championship in the 2008/09 football season.

After a successful season in the Netherlands, the famous coach signed with the German giant Bayern Munich. Having a successful season in Bayern Munich, Van Gaal won the Bundesliga and the German Cup and reached the final in the Champions League. While continuing his career at Bayern Munich, he had bad results and was dismissed by the management. Van Gaal, who signed with the Dutch national team, spent two years there and came third in the 2014 World Cup. Van Gaal, who announced that he would leave the national team after the 2014 World Cup, signed with Manchester United. During the 2 years he spent here, he could not show any success apart from the FA Cup he won in the 2015-2016 season. His duty here was terminated on May 23, 2016.

August 2021

Louis van Gaal has been appointed as the manager of the Dutch national football team, which was vacated by Frank de Boer.

The Dutch Football Federation announced that an agreement has been reached with Van Gaal until the end of the 2022 FIFA World Cup to be held in Qatar. It was stated that the experienced coach will be assisted by Danny Blind, Frans Hoek, and Henk Fraser.

71-year-old Van Gaal, who has coached Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich, and most recently Manchester United, has taken over the Dutch National Team for the third time. The Dutch coach had previously won third place in the 2014 FIFA World Cup with the national team, where he played from 2000-2002 and from 2012-2014.

10 December 2022

The 71-year-old coach announced that he would not resume his duties after losing to Argentina 4-3 in the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals and leaving the tournament.

Van Gaal, who took over the Netherlands for the third time in August 2021, said in a statement after the Argentina match: "I won't continue anymore. We played 20 games and we didn't lose any of them. We were the only team undefeated with England. I don't think we were beaten today either. It was just a penalty shootout."

The experienced coach replied, "I don't care. I won't watch anymore," to the question about whether Argentina could become the champion.

Playing 20 matches under Van Gaal's management, the Netherlands left the field with 14 wins and 6 draws. "Portakallar", who scored 51 goals in these matches, saw 17 goals in his castle.

WHAT ACHIEVEMENTS HAS HE GAINED?

• 1 x UEFA Champions League: 1994-95 (with Ajax)
• 1 x Intercontinental Cup: 1995 (with Ajax)
• 1 x UEFA Cup: 1991-92 (with Ajax)
• 2 x UEFA Super Cups: 1995-96 (with Ajax), 1997-98 (with FC Barcelona)
• 4 x Eredivisie: 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96 (with Ajax), 2003-04 (Manager), 2008-09 (Az Alkmaar)
• 1 x KNVB single: 1992-93 (with Ajax)
• 3 x Johan Cruijff-schaal: 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96 (via Ajax)
• 2 x La Liga: 1997-98, 1998-99 (FC Barcelona)
• 1 x Copa del Rey: 1997-98 (FC Barcelona)
• 1 x Rinus Michels Award (2007)
• 1 x Bundesliga: 2009-10 (Bayern Munich )
• 1x DFB-Pokal: 2009-10 (Bayern Munich)
• 1x FA Cup: 2015-16 Manchester United