Louis van Gaal

Van Gaal was born in Amsterdam. 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 Ajax, but was never chosen to play in the first team, which at the time boasted players such as Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens in the midfield positions. He was loaned to Belgian First Division side Royal Antwerp playing under Guy Thys with whom he was runner-up in the Belgian top division in 1974 and 1975. During his time with Antwerp, Van Gaal suffered a broken nose in a friendly against Kortrijk. After four years spent in Belgium, he returned to his homeland and made his Eredivisie debut for Telstar under the guidance of manager, Mircea Petescu, whom he followed to Sparta. He spent the most of his playing days at the Rotterdam West club and missed a penalty for them in the 1983–84 UEFA Cup against Spartak Moscow, but scored one in the same competition a year later against Hamburger SV. He later joined AZ, where he also became assistant coach in 1986. After a short career at AZ, he returned to Ajax to become Leo Beenhakker's assistant. When Beenhakker left in 1991, Van Gaal took over as manager.

Ajax (1991–1997)

Van Gaal was Ajax manager from 1991 until 1997 and had a very successful tenure. Under Van Gaal, Ajax became the Eredivisie champions three times, in 1994, 1995 (notably going the entire 1994–95 season unbeaten in both the league and the Champions League) and 1996. He also led Ajax to the KNVB Cup in 1993 and the Johan Cruyff Shield in 1993, 1994, and 1995. On the European scene, Ajax captured the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 1995 after beating Milan in the final. The latter win was followed by a 5–1 aggregate win over Real Zaragoza 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 1996 after losing to Juventus on penalties. 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, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger and Edwin van der Sar. After serving out his contract at Ajax in 1997, Van Gaal received his knighthood in the Order of Orange-Nassau.

Barcelona (1997–2000)

Van Gaal moved to Barcelona in 1997, taking over from Bobby Robson, and helped the team win two La Liga titles (1997–98, 1998–99) and the Copa del Rey once. Despite this success, he clashed with the media and came under criticism. He expressed that it…

Van Gaal is considered to be one of the greatest and most successful managers of all time. He served as an inspiration for several other coaches due to his teams' style of play and his use of a back–three defensive line, including Gian Piero Gasperini and Alberto Malesani, as well as influencing his former assistant José Mourinho, and his former players Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique. Due to his rigorous, stern, authoritative style, and strong personality he was occasionally nicknamed the "Iron Tulip" throughout his career, a nickname which Van Gaal himself despised, as he always believed that he had been "fair" as a coach. Although he had several controversial conflicts with his players, the press, and members of his teams' management staff throughout his career, he was known for his leadership, and often saw himself as a "relationship" manager, who saw the importance of the mental aspect of the game, and was known for his ability to develop young players, promote his philosophy, and create strong relationships with them, as was the case during his time at Ajax in the 90s. In an interview with FIFA in January 2008, Van Gaal spoke of the importance of his football philosophy rather than the systems he used, as well as the need for flexibility as a coach, as demonstrated by his use of several formations throughout his career, such as the 4–3–3 and 3–3–1–3/3–4–3 with Ajax, the 2–3–2–3 at Barcelona, the 4–4–2 at AZ Alkmaar, and the 4–2–3–1 with Bayern Munich. He also believed…

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 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 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.