Mitchell van der Gaag

Club

Van der Gaag was born in Zutphen and raised in Brummen, Gelderland. After graduating from PSV Eindhoven's youth academy, he spent three seasons on loan to NEC Nijmegen and Sparta Rotterdam, returning to Eindhoven in 1992. He went on to play 50 games for the PSV first team, alongside the likes of Luc Nilis, Romário and Ronaldo. In March 1995, van der Gaag signed with Motherwell for £400,000. He made his debut for Alex McLeish's side on 1 April 1995, in a 1–1 draw against Celtic, however his season was brought to a premature end with an injury in his second match against Partick Thistle. He scored a career-best seven goals in 28 games in his second full season to help the Steelmen narrowly avoid relegation from the Scottish Premier Division, and subsequently returned to the Eredivisie with Utrecht. For the 2001–02 campaign, van der Gaag joined Portugal's Marítimo, going on to be one of the Madeira club's most influential players as it consolidated in the Primeira Liga. He scored six times in 2003–04, helping the team finish sixth and qualify for the UEFA Cup.

International

Van der Gaag played 3 matches for the Netherlands national under-21 football team and 4 for the U19s.

Van der Gaag retired from football in 2007, having spent one season with Al Nassr in Saudi Arabia. In July of the following year, he returned to Marítimo as a coach and took the reins of its B team. In October 2009, after Carlos Carvalhal's dismissal following a string of bad results, van der Gaag was promoted to the main squad. After helping them finish fifth – a place conquered in the last round with a 2–1 away win against Vitória de Guimarães, who were leapfrogged in the process – and qualify for the Europa League, his contract was renewed for a further year. On 14 September 2010, after collecting only one point in the league's first four matches and being ousted by BATE in the Europa League, van der Gaag was sacked by Marítimo. He returned to management after nearly two years, still in Portugal, signing with Segunda Liga side Belenenses. In his first season, he won the league, thus returning the club to the top flight after three years. Van der Gaag took a temporary leave of absence in late September 2013 due to heart problems, after feeling unwell during a league game against former side Marítimo (1–0 home win). In February 2015, he was appointed at Ermis Aradippou of the Cypriot First Division, being released after just one month after refusing to renew his contract for the following campaign. After spending the 2015–16 season back in his country with FC Eindhoven, in the Eerste Divisie, van der Gaag moved to the top flight and successively coached Excelsior and NAC…

Van der Gaag's father Wim was also a footballer, who was one of the first professionals in the Netherlands in 1954. His sons Jordan and Luca also went into the game, representing Belenenses.

Player

PSV

Dutch Supercup: 1992

Manager

Belenenses

Segunda Liga: 2012–13