1. Leo Beenhakker won the Eredivisie title twice with Ajax and once with Feyenoord, becoming the only person to do so with both rival teams.
32 Facts About Leo Beenhakker
1. 2.
Leo Beenhakker was born on 2 August 1942 in Rotterdam, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
3.
Leo Beenhakker's playing career was spent only at amateur levels, and ended at 19 due to injury.
4.
Leo Beenhakker gave Frank Rijkaard his professional debut and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup.
5.
Leo Beenhakker was Real Madrid's most recent manager to win both La Liga and Copa del Rey in the same season.
6.
In 1989, Leo Beenhakker returned to Ajax, who had struggled the previous season and were experiencing financial problems.
7.
In October 1989, Leo Beenhakker fined five of his players 1,000 Dutch guilders each for losing a Netherlands under-21 game against Iceland; Frank de Boer's fine was halved due to only being a substitute in that game.
8.
Leo Beenhakker was named manager of the Netherlands again for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.
9.
Leo Beenhakker's side were the reigning European champions of UEFA Euro 1988, and were favoured to do well due to having high-profile players such as Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten.
10.
In February 1992, Leo Beenhakker returned to Real Madrid after the dismissal of Radomir Antic.
11.
Leo Beenhakker left at the end of the season, after finishing in second place.
12.
Leo Beenhakker's team missed out on the title on the final day after losing a lead away to Tenerife, while Cruyff's Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao.
13.
Leo Beenhakker succeeded Oldrich Svab at the Zurich-based club, who were struggling despite the presence of players such as Giovane Elber and Murat Yakin.
14.
In November 1993, Leo Beenhakker was appointed manager of Saudi Arabia, who had qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time.
15.
Leo Beenhakker was sacked just three months later, and four months before the finals in the United States, as the players did not adapt well to his tactics.
16.
Leo Beenhakker was appointed at Club America in Mexico on 15 June 1994.
17.
Leo Beenhakker's team included African players such as Francois Omam-Biyik of Cameroon and Kalusha Bwalya from Zambia.
18.
In 1995, Leo Beenhakker was the manager of Istanbulspor in the Turkish 1.
19.
From 2000 to 2003, Leo Beenhakker was director of technical affairs with Ajax.
20.
Leo Beenhakker was responsible for the signing of Sweden international Zlatan Ibrahimovic from Malmo FF.
21.
Leo Beenhakker was sacked with a year remaining of his contract after quarter-final elimination from the 2004 Clausura.
22.
On 1 April 2005, Leo Beenhakker was appointed by Trinidad and Tobago, succeeding Bertille St Clair.
23.
Leo Beenhakker was awarded the Chaconia Medal, the second highest state decoration of Trinidad and Tobago.
24.
On 11 July 2006, Leo Beenhakker was appointed as the manager of the Poland national team.
25.
Leo Beenhakker established scouting missions in Germany and the Netherlands so that the team would not lose out on diaspora players.
26.
On 20 February 2008, Leo Beenhakker was decorated with the Order of Polonia Restituta by Polish president Lech Kaczynski.
27.
In December 2013, Leo Beenhakker was appointed technical director at Sparta Rotterdam, a position he held on to until June 2015, before announcing his retirement from football.
28.
In March 2018, when Sparta appointed Henk van Stee, Leo Beenhakker left his post and announced his retirement again.
29.
Simon Kuper, author several books on Dutch football, opined that Leo Beenhakker lacked the tactical knowledge for elite players, but made up for it with his speaking skills.
30.
Leo Beenhakker faced scrutiny for never having been a professional player, responding that a milkman does not need experience of being a cow.
31.
Trinidad and Tobago players Dwight Yorke and Kelvin Jack reflected that Leo Beenhakker was a great leader of their team.
32.
Leo Beenhakker had a son and a daughter from his first marriage.