- Wikipedia

{"parse":{"title":"Louis van Gaal","pageid":683945,"text":{"*":"

\"Van Gaal\" redirects here. For the Main-belt Asteroid, see 14616 Van Gaal.

\"LvG\" redirects here. For other uses, see LVG (disambiguation).

In this Dutch name, the surname is Van Gaal, not Gaal.

Louis van Gaal

Van Gaal in 2014

Personal information

Full name

\nAloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal^[1]

Date of birth

\n8 August 1951 (age 73)^[2]

Place of birth

\nAmsterdam, Netherlands

Height

\n1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)^[3]

Position(s)

\nMidfielder

Team information

Current team

\nAjax (advisor)

Youth career

\nRKSV de Meer

Senior career\"

Years

\nTeam

\nApps

\n(Gls)

\nRKSV de Meer

1972\u20131973

\nAjax

\n0

\n(0)

1973\u20131977

\nRoyal Antwerp

\n41

\n(7)

1977\u20131978

\nTelstar

\n25

\n(1)

1978\u20131986

\nSparta Rotterdam

\n248

\n(26)

1986\u20131987

\nAZ

\n17

\n(0)

Total

\n331

\n(34)

Managerial career

1991\u20131997

\nAjax

1997\u20132000

2000\u20132001

2001

2002\u20132003

2005\u20132009

\nAZ

2009\u20132011

2012\u20132014

2014\u20132016

2021\u20132022

Medal record

\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Men's football\n
\n
Representing $\"\"$ Netherlands (as manager)\n
FIFA World Cup\n
$\"Third$	2014 Brazil	Team\n

\n\"Club domestic league appearances and goals

Aloysius Paulus Maria \"Louis\" van Gaal (Dutch pronunciation: [lu\u02c8\u028bi v\u0251\u014b \u02c8\u0263a\u02d0l] ^\u24d8;^[a] born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and former manager who currently serves as an advisor for Ajax. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spells in charge of the Netherlands national team. Van Gaal is one of the most decorated managers in the history of the game, having won 20 major honours in his managerial career at club level, contrasting with his mediocre results coaching the Dutch national team.^[4]^[5] He is sometimes nicknamed the \"Iron Tulip\".^[6]^[7]^[8]\n

Before his career as a coach, Van Gaal played as a midfielder for Royal Antwerp, Telstar, Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax and AZ Alkmaar. He is also a qualified physical education teacher, and worked at high schools during his career as a semi-professional footballer.^[9] After a brief spell as an assistant coach at AZ, Van Gaal served as an assistant under Leo Beenhakker at Ajax, and eventually took over as head coach in 1991. Under his lead, the club won three Eredivisie titles, the UEFA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. He moved to Barcelona in 1997 and won two league titles and one Copa del Rey, but left after disagreements with the club's hierarchy.\n

Van Gaal was then appointed at the Netherlands, but failed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. This preceded another brief spell at Barcelona, before he returned to AZ, where he won an Eredivisie title, the club's second ever in its history. He moved to Bayern Munich in 2009, and in Germany won the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal and reached the final of the UEFA Champions League. He returned to manage the Netherlands for a second time, where he led the nation to a third-place finish at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He was hired by Manchester United later that summer, where he won the FA Cup, before being dismissed in 2016. Despite announcing his retirement due to family reasons in 2019, Van Gaal returned to management in August 2021, when he was appointed as head coach of the Netherlands for a third time.^[10] He retired from management after the 2022 FIFA World Cup.\n

\n\n

Club\n	Season\n	League\n	Cup\n	Europe\n	Total\n
Apps\n	Goals\n	Apps\n	Goals\n	Apps\n	Goals\n	Apps\n	Goals\n
Ajax\n	1971\u201372\n	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0\n
1972\u201373\n	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0\n
Total\n	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0\n
Royal Antwerp\n	1973\u201374\n	9	2	3	0	\u2014	12	2\n
1974\u201375\n	3	0	6	2	\u2014	9	2\n
1975\u201376\n	19	4	2	2	4	0	25	6\n
1976\u201377\n	10	1	1	0	\u2014	11	1\n
Total\n	41	7	12	4	4	0	57	11\n
Telstar\n	1977\u201378\n	25	1	\u2014	\u2014	25	1\n
Sparta Rotterdam\n	1978\u201379\n	31	5	\u2014	\u2014	31	5\n
1979\u201380\n	33	1	\u2014	\u2014	33	1\n
1980\u201381\n	33	5	\u2014	\u2014	33	5\n
1981\u201382\n	24	1	\u2014	\u2014	24	1\n
1982\u201383\n	33	5	\u2014	\u2014	33	5\n
1983\u201384\n	34	2	\u2014	6	0	40	2\n
1984\u201385\n	30	4	3	0	\u2014	33	4\n
1985\u201386\n	31	3	\u2014	4	0	35	3\n
Total\n	248	26	3	0	10	0	261	26\n
AZ\n	1986\u201387\n	17	0	\u2014	\u2014	17	0\n
Career totals\n	331	34	15	4	14	0	360	38\n

Team\n	From\n	To\n	Record\n
G\n	W\n	D\n	L\n	Win %\n	Ref.\n
Ajax\n	28 September 1991\n	30 June 1997\n	285\n	196\n	49\n	40\n	068.77\n	\n
Barcelona\n	1 July 1997\n	20 May 2000^[163]\n	171\n	95\n	32\n	44\n	055.56\n	\n
Netherlands\n	7 July 2000^[164]\n	30 November 2001^[165]\n	14\n	8\n	4\n	2\n	057.14\n	\n
Barcelona\n	1 July 2002^[166]\n	28 January 2003^[167]\n	30\n	16\n	5\n	9\n	053.33\n	\n
AZ\n	1 July 2005\n	30 June 2009\n	182\n	105\n	39\n	38\n	057.69\n	\n
Bayern Munich\n	1 July 2009^[37]\n	10 April 2011^[54]\n	96\n	59\n	18\n	19\n	061.46\n	^[168]\n
Netherlands\n	6 July 2012^[55]\n	12 July 2014^[64]\n	29\n	19\n	8\n	2\n	065.52\n	\n
Manchester United\n	16 July 2014^[66]\n	23 May 2016\n	103\n	54\n	25\n	24\n	052.43\n	^[169]\n
Netherlands\n	4 August 2021\n	9 December 2022\n	20\n	14\n	6\n	0\n	070.00\n	\n
Total\n	930\n	566\n	186\n	178\n	060.86\n	\n

Authority control databases $\"Edit$
International	ISNI VIAF
National	Germany United States Netherlands Poland

Playing and early coaching career

Management career

Ajax (1991\u20131997)

Barcelona (1997\u20132000)

Netherlands national team (2000\u20132002)

Return to Barcelona (2002\u20132003)

Return to Ajax (2004)

AZ (2005\u20132009)

Bayern Munich (2009\u20132011)

Return to Netherlands national team (2012\u20132014)

Manchester United (2014\u20132016)

2014\u201315 season

2015\u201316 season

Hiatus from managing (2016\u20132021)

Third stint at the Netherlands national team (2021\u22122022)

Style of management

Personal life

In media

Career statistics

Club

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Awards and achievements

Orders

Publications

See also

Notes

References

External links

Louis van Gaal

Media collections