Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal is a Dutch football manager and former player who is the current head coach of the Netherlands national team.
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Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal is a Dutch football manager and former player who is the current head coach of the Netherlands national team.
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Van Gaal is one of the most decorated managers in world football, having won 20 major honours in his managerial career.
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Van Gaal is a fully qualified physical education teacher, and worked at high schools during his career as a semi-professional footballer.
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Van Gaal moved to Barcelona in 1997 and won two league titles and one Copa del Rey, but left after disagreements with the club's hierarchy.
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Van Gaal was then appointed at the Netherlands, but failed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
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Van Gaal moved to Bayern Munich in 2009, and in Germany won the Bundesliga, the DFB-Pokal, and reached the final of the UEFA Champions League, before returning to manage the Netherlands for a second time, where he led the nation to a third-place finish at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
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Van Gaal was then hired at Manchester United later that summer, where he won the FA Cup, before being dismissed in 2016.
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Van Gaal was loaned to Belgian First Division side Royal Antwerp playing under Guy Thys with whom he was runner-up in the Belgian top division in 1974 and 1975.
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Van Gaal later joined AZ, where he became assistant coach in 1986.
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Van Gaal was Ajax manager from 1991 until 1997 and had a very successful tenure.
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Under Van Gaal, Ajax became the Eredivisie champions three times, in 1994,1995 and 1996.
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Van Gaal led Ajax to the KNVB Cup in 1993 and the Johan Cruyff Shield in 1993,1994, and 1995.
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Van Gaal moved to Barcelona in 1997, taking over from Bobby Robson, and helped the team win two La Liga titles and the Copa del Rey once.
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Riquelme had been bought to replace Rivaldo, whom Van Gaal had released on a free transfer despite having a year left on his contract.
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Van Gaal was chosen as the best player in 1999, but he has not handled himself well since then and has not behaved like a footballer should.
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Van Gaal had illusions about Barca and was requesting to take holidays when important Champions League games were approaching.
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In 2004, Van Gaal returned to Ajax as a technical director, but resigned later that year due to an internal conflict with Ronald Koeman.
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In January 2005, it was announced that Van Gaal would replace Co Adriaanse as AZ manager on 1 July 2005.
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On 28 August 2009, he strengthened his team by signing compatriot Arjen Robben from Real Madrid; this reunited the two, with Van Gaal selecting Robben for his debut in the Netherlands U20 team.
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Van Gaal kept insisting he is a "prozesstrainer", meaning that his team needs time to play the way he imagines.
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Van Gaal installed many youth players as fixtures in the starting 11, including Thomas Muller and Holger Badstuber, and converted the winger Bastian Schweinsteiger into a defensive midfielder.
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Ahead of the last game in the group, Van Gaal accused FIFA of "playing tricks" in the scheduling of matches to advantage the home nation, as Brazil were to play their last group match four hours after the Dutch, who they could meet in the round of 16 depending on their result.
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Van Gaal was confirmed to replace David Moyes as the new manager for Manchester United on 19 May 2014, becoming the club's first manager from outside the British Isles.
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Van Gaal signed a three-year contract coming into effect after the 2014 World Cup.
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Van Gaal named Ryan Giggs as his assistant manager, Marcel Bout as assistant coach, specialising in oppositional scouting, and Frans Hoek as goalkeeping coach.
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Van Gaal claimed he had inherited a "broken" United squad, and that he would give youth a chance.
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Ed Woodward said Van Gaal had "impressed everyone around the club" and that there was "a real positive energy and buzz around the place".
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Van Gaal reacted to the poor form by saying that it would take three years to take his United team to their full potential.
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On 4 February 2015, Van Gaal was charged by The Football Association over comments he made about the referee Chris Foy, saying, "Every aspect of a match is against us – the pitch, the referee" during United's goalless draw with Cambridge United.
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Van Gaal responded to the criticism with statistics which seem to show that West Ham have played more long balls than his side.
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Van Gaal's tactics were defended by fellow managers Arsene Wenger and Garry Monk.
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Fifteen days later, Van Gaal walked out of a press conference after being questioned about his future, amid speculations of dismissal following a six-game run without a win.
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On 4 August 2021, Van Gaal came out of retirement to take charge of the Netherlands national team for a third time.
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Van Gaal replaced Frank de Boer, who left the position in June following the team's disappointing Euro 2020 campaign.
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Van Gaal was mocked by fans of Ajax's opponents for her illness.
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On 3 April 2022, Van Gaal revealed that he was receiving treatment for prostate cancer.
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