Aloysius Paulus Maria “Louis” van Gaal, a former player and current manager of the Netherlands national football team, was born on August 8, 1951. He managed Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, and the Netherlands national team for three separate periods while at the club level. With 20 major awards under his belt during his managerial career, Van Gaal is among the most decorated football managers in history. He has the moniker “Iron Tulip” on occasion.
2022 FIFA World Cup: Who is the coach for Netherlands?
Australia’s coach is Louis Van Gaal. Van Gaal was born in the Dutch city of Amsterdam. He began playing for the Amsterdam amateur side RKSV de Meer as a child. At the age of 20, he joined Ajax’s second team but was never selected to play in the first team, which at the time featured midfielders such as Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens. He was loaned to Royal Antwerp of the Belgian First Division, where he finished second in the Belgian top division in 1974 and 1975. Van Gaal suffered a broken nose during his time with Antwerp in a friendly against K.V. Kortrijk.
He spent four years in Belgium before returning to his native country, where he made his Eredivisie debut for Telstar while playing under Mircea Petescu’s management. Petescu later led Sparta Rotterdam. Later, he joined AZ, where in 1986 he also held the position of assistant coach. 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.
