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Louis van Gaal
Personal information
Full name	Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal
Date of birth	August 8, 1951 (1951-08-08) (age 57)
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Playing position	Midfielder (retired)
Club information
Current club	AZ (manager)
Youth clubs
	RKSV De Meer
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1971–1973 1973–1977 1977–1978 1978–1986 1986–1987	Ajax Antwerp FC Telstar Sparta Rotterdam AZ	043 0(7) 025 0(1) 248 (26) 017 0(0)
Teams managed
1991–1997 1997–2000 2000–2002 2002–2003 2005–	Ajax FC Barcelona Netherlands FC Barcelona AZ
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (born August 8, 1951 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch football manager currently in charge of AZ in the Dutch Eredivisie.

[edit] Career

After a career as a football player for Antwerp FC, Sparta Rotterdam and AZ, he became an assistant-coach in 1986. After a short career at AZ, he went to Ajax to become Leo Beenhakker's assistant. When Beenhakker left in 1991, the ambitious Van Gaal took over as manager.

[edit] Ajax

He was Ajax manager from 1991 until 1997 and experienced a very successful tenure. Under Van Gaal, Ajax became the Eredivisie champion three times - 1994, 1995 and 1996. He also managed Ajax to the KNVB Cup in 1993 and the Johan Cruijff Shield from 1993 to 1995. On the European scene, Ajax captured the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 1995 after beating AC Milan in the final. Late in 1995, Ajax beat Brazilian side Grêmio on penalties to win the Toyota Cup (formerly Intercontinental Cup). Ajax were the European Cup runners-up in 1996 after losing to Juventus on penalties.

His success in Ajax was so great that during the 1990s, the Dutch national team was dominated by Ajax players such as Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger and Edwin van der Sar.

[edit] FC Barcelona

In 1997, he moved to FC Barcelona and helped the team win two league championships. Despite this success, he came under criticism and quit the job three seasons later and returned to the Netherlands to manage the Dutch national team in preparation for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

[edit] Netherlands and return to Barcelona

The Dutch national team failed to qualify for the World Cup Finals, and subsequently Van Gaal was replaced by Dick Advocaat. He then returned to Barcelona for a short spell, but left the job after half a year to be replaced by Radomir Antić.

[edit] Return to Ajax

In 2004, he returned to Ajax as a technical director, but resigned later that year.

[edit] AZ

Van Gaal with AZ.

In 2005, he replaced Co Adriaanse as AZ manager. AZ finished the 2006-2007 season in 3rd place in the Eredivisie, 3 points behind champions PSV Eindhoven and runners-up Ajax Amsterdam. Van Gaal also led AZ to a runners-up finish in the 2007 KNVB Cup. AZ failed to reach the UEFA Champions League after losing to Ajax 4-2 on aggregate.

Louis van Gaal initially announced he would leave AZ at the end of the 2007/2008 season due to disappointing results.^[1] However, when several players of the AZ squad pointed out that they would like Van Gaal to stay with AZ for the 2008-2009 season, Van Gaal said he would give the players a chance to prove themselves. He will now officially stay with AZ for the season next year, with a contract expiring in 2010.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Honours

• 1 x Champions League: 1994-95 (with Ajax)
• 1 x Intercontinental Cup: 1994-95 (with Ajax)
• 1 x UEFA Cup: 1991-92 (with Ajax)
• 2 x UEFA Super Cup: 1995-96 (with Ajax), 1997-98 (with FC Barcelona)
• 3 x Dutch Eredivisie: 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96, (with Ajax) plus in 2003-04 (as Technical Director)
• 1 x KNVB Cup: 1992-93 (with Ajax)
• 3 x Johan Cruijff Shield: 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96 (with Ajax)
• 2 x Spanish League: 1997-98, 1998-99 (with FC Barcelona)
• 1 x Copa del Rey: 1997-98 (with FC Barcelona)
• 1 x Rinus Michels Award (2007)

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Louis van Gaal

[edit] See also

• List of UEFA Cup winning managers

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Profile and stats
• Louis van Gaal management career stats at Soccerbase
• CV Louis van Gaal
• Van Gaal: My football philosophy, from FIFA.com