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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 56)
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Playing position	Manager Former Midfielder
Club information
Current club	AZ
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
1986-1988 1988-1991 1991-1997 1997-2000 2000-2002 2002-2003 2003-2004 2005-present	AZ (assistant) Ajax (assistant) Ajax FC Barcelona Netherlands FC Barcelona Ajax (technical director) AZ
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

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

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Ajax 1.2 FC Barcelona 1.3 Netherlands and return to Barcelona 1.4 Return to Ajax 1.5 AZ 2 Honours 3 External links

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

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. In 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 Gremio 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.

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.

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.

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

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 directed 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.

Van Gaal has signed a contract with AZ through the 2010 season.

On November 26th 2007 Van Gaal said that he has a clause in his AZ contract which would allow him to leave if a National Team wanted him, he has also said he would like to take the vacant England Managers job should they ask him.

• 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 European Supercup: 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 Dutch Cup: 1992-93 (with Ajax)
• 3 x Johan Cruijff-schaal: 1993-94, 1994-95, 1995-96 (with Ajax)
• 2 x Spanish League: 1997-98, 1998-99 (with FC Barcelona)
• 1 x Spanish Cup: 1997-98 (with FC Barcelona)
• 1 x Rinus Michels Award (2007)

Awards
Preceded by Guus Hiddink	Rinus Michels Award 2007	Succeeded by Incumbent
Sporting positions
Preceded by Fabio Capello	UEFA Champions League Winning Coach 1994-1995	Succeeded by Marcello Lippi
Preceded by Giovanni Trapattoni	UEFA Cup Winning Coach 1991-1992	Succeeded by Giovanni Trapattoni
Preceded by Frank Rijkaard	Dutch National Coach 2000-2002	Succeeded by Dick Advocaat
Preceded by Co Adriaanse	AZ manager 2005-present	Succeeded by incumbent

• [1]
• Louis van Gaal management career stats at Soccerbase
• CV Louis van Gaal

v • d • e AFC Ajax – Managers

Kirwan (1910–15) • Reynolds (1915–25) • Rose (1925–26) • Castle (1926–28) • Reynolds (1928–40) • Halpern (1940–41) • Volkers (1941–42) • van Kol (1942–42) • Reynolds (1942–47) • Smith (1947–48) • Crook (1948–50) • Thomson (1950–53) • Crook (1953–54) • Humenberger (1954–59) • Buckingham (1959–61) • Spurgeon (1961–62) • Gruber (1962–63) • Rowley (1963–64) • Buckingham (1964–65) • Michels (1965–71) • Kovacs (1971–73) • Knoebel (1973–74) • Kraay (1974–75) • Michels (1975–76) • Ivić (1976–78) • Brom (1978–79) • Beenhakker (1979–81) • Linder (1981–82) • de Mos (1982–85) • Cruijff (1985–88) • Linder (1988) • Beenhakker (1989–91) • van Gaal (1991–97) • Olsen (1997–99) • Wouters (1999–00) • Adriaanse (2000–01) • Koeman (2001–05) • Blind (2005–06) • ten Cate (2006–07) • Koster (2007–)

v • d • e FC Barcelona – Managers

Barrow (1917) • Greenwell (1917–24) • Poszony (1924–25) • Kirby (1925–26) • Demby (1926–27) • Forns (1927–29) • Bellamy (1929–31) • Greenwell (1931–33) • Demby (1933–34) • Platko (1934–35) • O'Connell (1935–1937) • Planas (1939–41) • Guzmán (1941) • Nogués (1941–44) • Samitier (1944–47) • Fernández (1947–50) • Daučík (1950–54) • Puppo (1954–55) • Platko (1955–56) • Balmanya (1956–58) • Herrera (1958–60) • Broćić (1960–61) • Orizaola (1961) • Miró (1961) • Kubala (1961–63) • Gonzalvo (1963) • C.Rodríguez (1963–64) • Sasot (1964–65) • Olsen (1965–67) • Artigas (1967–69) • Seguer (1969) • Buckingham (1969–71) • Michels (1971–75) • Weisweiler (1975–76) • Ruiz (1976) • Michels (1976–78) • Muller (1978–79) • Rifé (1979–80) • Herrera (1980) • Kubala (1980) • Herrera (1980–81) • Lattek (1981–83) • Romero (1983) • Menotti (1983–84) • Venables (1984–87) • Aragonés (1987–88) • Cruyff (1988–91) • Rexach (1991) • Cruyff (1991–96) • Robson (1996–97) • van Gaal (1997–2000) • Ferrer (2000–01) • Rexach (2001–02) • van Gaal (2002–03) • De la Cruz (2003) • Antić (2003) • Rijkaard (2003–)

v • d • e Netherlands national football team – Managers

van Hasselt (1905–08) • Chadwick (1908–13) • Hogan (1910) • Bradshaw (1913) • Hunter (1914) • Reynolds (1919) • Warburton (1919–23) • Waites (1921) • Glendenning (1923) • Townley (1924) • Bollington (1924) • Glendenning (1925–40) • Kaufman (1946) • Carver (1947–48) • Sneddon (1948) • Kaufman (1949) • van der Leck (1949–54) • Kaufman (1954–55) • Donenfeld (1955) • Merkel (1955–56) • Müller (1956) • Donenfeld (1956–57) • Hardwick (1957) • Schwartz (1957–64) • Neville (1964–66) • Kessler (1966–70) • Fadrhonc (1970–74) • Michels (1974) • Knobel (1974–76) • Zwartkruis (1976–77) • Happel (1977–78) • Zwartkruis (1978–81) • Baan (1981) • Rijvers (1981) • Baan (1981) • Rijvers (1981–84) • Michels (1984–85) • Beenhakker (1985–86) • Michels (1986–88) • Libregts (1988–90) • de Ruiter (1990) • Beenhakker (1990) • Michels (1990–92) • Advocaat (1992–95) • Hiddink (1995–98) • Rab (1997) • Rijkaard (1998–2000) • van Gaal (2000–02) • Advocaat (2002–04) • van Basten (2004–)

v • d • e AZ (football club) – Managers

van Wijhe (1954–56) • Smit (1956–58) • Veg (1958–60) • de Wolff (1960–61) • Bult (1961–62) • Rentenaar (1962–63) • Veg (1963–65) • Hughes (1965–67) • Talbot (1967–68) • Blokland (1968–69) • Heinz (1969–71) • van der Hart (1971–73) • Brand (1973–76) • Kraay (1976–77) • Jan Notermans (1977) • van der Hart (1977–78) • Kessler (1978–82) • Eijkenbroek (1982–83) • de Visser (1983–85) • Berger (1985–86) • Eijkenbroek (1986–89) • van Doorneveld (1989–90) • Wullems (1990–93) • Schrijvers (1993–95) • Vonk (1995–97) • de Koning and Haar (1997) • van Hanegem (1997–99) • van der Lem (1999–2000) • van Stee (2000–02) • Adriaanse (2002–2005) • van Gaal (2005–)

v • d • e AZ Alkmaar – current squad
1 Didulica • 2 Jaliens • 3 Luirink • 4 Opdam • 5 Pocognoli • 6 Mendes da Silva • 7 Jenner • 8 Schaars • 9 Ari • 10 Cziommer • 11 Martens • 12 Koenders •  13 Moreno • 14 Donk • 15 Musampa • 16 Romero • 17 Agustien • 18 Dembélé • 20 De Zeeuw • 21 Waterman • 22 Medunjanin • 23 Steinsson • 24 El Hamdaoui • 25 Vormer • 29 Pellè • Manager: Van Gaal