Amsterdam is where Van Gaal was born. He began playing as a youngster for RKSV de Meer, an amateur team in Amsterdam. When he turned 20, he joined Ajax’s second team, but he was never selected to play for the first team, which at the time featured midfielders like Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens. He played on loan for Belgian First Division club Royal Antwerp under Guy Thys, with whom he finished second in the top division in both 1974 and 1975. Van Gaal took over as manager of Barcelona in 1997, succeeding Bobby Robson, and helped the team win two La Liga titles (1997-98, 1998-99) and one Copa del Rey. Despite his success, he clashed with the media and was chastised. He stated that he struggled to implement his football philosophy at Barcelona due to cultural differences and that some players were unwilling to follow his lead. His disagreements with Rivaldo are an example of this: Van Gaal insisted on Rivaldo playing as a left winger, but Rivaldo insisted on playing in the center, effectively undermining Van Gaal.
Van Gaal finally left the Catalan club on May 20, 2000, just days after losing the league title to Deportivo de La Corua, uttering the immortal line, “Friends in the press. I’m going. Felicidades.” ( “Press associates. I’m going to leave. Congratulations.”) He returned to the Netherlands to manage the Dutch national team in preparation for the FIFA World Cup in 2002.
Louis van Gaal house: Where does Louis van Gaal live?
He is presently a resident of a home in Vale Do Lobo.
