Aloysius Paulus Maria “Louis” van Gaal, born August 8, 1951, is a Dutch football manager and former player who currently serves as the head coach of the Netherlands national team. He has managed Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United, as well as three spells as manager of the Netherlands. Van Gaal is one of the most decorated managers in world football, having won 20 major awards during his tenure. He is sometimes referred to as the “Iron Tulip.”
Van Gaal was a midfielder for Royal Antwerp, Telstar, Sparta Rotterdam, Ajax, and AZ before becoming a coach. He is also a certified physical education teacher who worked in high schools during his semi-professional football career. [10] Following a brief stint as an assistant coach at AZ, Van Gaal worked as an assistant under Leo Beenhakker at Ajax before taking over as head coach in 1991. The club won three Eredivisie titles, the UEFA Cup, and the UEFA Champions League under his leadership. He joined Barcelona in 1997, where he won two league titles and one Copa del Rey before leaving due to disagreements with the club’s hierarchy.
How many wives has Louis van Gaal had?
Van Gaal was raised as a Catholic, the youngest of nine brothers and sisters. Van Gaal’s father, a salesman, died when he was 11 years old. Van Gaal met Fernanda Obbes at a Catholic youth group when he was 18 years old. Three years later, they married and had two daughters, Brenda and Renate. Obbes died of liver and pancreatic cancer in 1994. Fans of Ajax’s opponents mocked Van Gaal for her illness. Van Gaal married his current wife, Truus, in 2008, and they share a vacation home near Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal. According to The Daily Telegraph, Van Gaal lost millions of pounds investing in fraudster Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme in 2009.
