Ernst Happel

Club level

Happel started his professional playing career at Rapid Wien, where he made his first team debut at age 17. Forming a solid defensive partnership with Max Merkel, he played 14 years for Rapid, from 1943 until 1954 and 1956 until 1959, winning the Austrian Championship title six times. He was chosen in Rapid's Team of the Century in 1999. The two years in between Happel played for Racing Club de Paris in France.

International level

Happel made his debut for Austria in September 1947 against Hungary. He played for Austria at the 1948 Summer Olympics. He was a participant at the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland, where he helped them reach third place, and also at the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden. His last international was a September 1958 match against Yugoslavia. He earned 51 caps and scored 5 goals.

After retiring as a player, Happel went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. He won the league title in four countries. He also took two clubs to gold in the European Champions' Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) and the Netherlands to second place in the 1978 World Cup. His first club was ADO Den Haag in 1962, with whom he won the Dutch Cup in 1968. After Den Haag he coached Feyenoord, with whom he won the European Cup (defeated Glasgow Celtic in the 1970 final) and the Intercontinental Cup in 1970, and the Dutch championship in 1971. At the 1978 World Cup in Argentina, Happel was coach of The Netherlands national team and reached the final against the Argentina national team. Always a man of few words, Happel's pre-match pep talk is said to have consisted of just one sentence: "Gentlemen, two points." The Dutch, however, lost the final 3–1 in extra time. During his career as coach, Happel worked for several clubs, including Sevilla, Club Brugge (winning the Belgian Championship title several times) and Hamburger SV (1981–1987, German champions in 1982 and 1983, German Cup winner 1987). In 1983, he won the European Cup again, 13 years after the triumph with Feyenoord, this time with Hamburger SV, defeating Juventus in the final. He is one of seven coaches in the history of the European Cup (now called Champions League) to win the title with two clubs, the others being Ottmar Hitzfeld, who won with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich; José Mourinho, who won…

All youth players of Rapid Vienna automatically became member of the Hitler Jugend in 1938. Ernst reported he refused to sing along to their songs until he was kicked out of their gatherings. He was conscripted and dispatched to the Eastern Front in 1943. Although he never saw action, he was arrested by the Americans in 1945. He escaped by jumping out of the train wagon in Munich and took several months to make his way back to Vienna. He smuggled himself into the Soviet occupation zone with the excuse that he had seen from afar his house was still standing and that he'd started playing at Rapid Vienna again. Ernst Happel never married. He was described by one of his ex-players Birger Jensen as a bit of a loner, always accompanied by his cigarettes and cognac. He nevertheless would meet up with Austrian friends, enjoying card games, pool and darts.

Player

Rapid Wien

Austrian Football Bundesliga: 1945–46, 1947–48, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1956–57 Austrian Cup: 1945–46 Zentropa Cup: 1951 Austria

FIFA World Cup third place: 1954

Manager

ADO Den Haag

Dutch Cup: 1967–68 Feyenoord

Eredivisie: 1970–71 European Cup: 1969–70 Intercontinental Cup: 1970 Club Brugge

European Cup runners-up: 1977–78 UEFA Cup runners-up: 1975–76 Belgian Championship: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78 Belgian Cup: 1976–77 Standard Liège

Belgian Cup: 1980–81 Hamburger SV

European Cup: 1982–83 UEFA Cup runners-up: 1981–82 European Super Cup runners-up: 1983 Bundesliga: 1981–82, 1982–83 DFB-Pokal: 1986–87 Swarovski Tirol

Austrian Championship: 1988–89, 1989–90 Austrian Cup: 1988–89 Netherlands

FIFA World Cup runners-up: 1978 Tournoi de Paris: 1978

Individual

France Football 9th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2019 World Soccer 9th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013 ESPN 14th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2013 FourFourTwo 9th Greatest Manager of All Time: 2023