Ernst Happel

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Ernst Franz Hermann Happel [1] (November 29, 1925November 14, 1992) was an Austrian football player and coach.

[edit] Player

Happel was capped 51 times for the Austrian national team, with whom he reached 3rd place at the 1954 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland. At club level he played 14 years for Rapid Vienna, from 1943 till 1954 and 1956 till 1959, winning the Austrian Championship title 7 times. The 2 years in between Happel played for Racing Club de Paris in France.

[edit] Coach

After retiring as a player, Happel went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. He won the league title in four different countries. He also took two different clubs to gold in the European Champions' Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) and Holland to second place in the 1978 World Cup. His first club was ADO Den Haag in 1962, with whom he won the Dutch Cup in 1968. After Den Haag he coached Feyenoord, with whom he won the Dutch championship in 1971, as well as the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 1970.

At the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Happel was coach of the Dutch national team and reached the final against the Argentine national team. Always a man of few words, Happel's pre-match pep talk is said to have consisted of just one sentence: "Gentlemen, two points."

During his career as coach Happel worked for several clubs, including Sevilla, Club Brugge (winning the Belgian Championship title several times) and Hamburg (1981-1987, German champions in 1982 and 1983, German Cup winner 1987).

In 1983 he won the European Cup again, 13 years after the triumph with Feyenoord Rotterdam, this time with Hamburg. He is the only coach in the history of the European Cup (now called UEFA Champions League), besides Ottmar Hitzfeld, to win the title with two different clubs.

In 1987 Happel returned to Austria as coach of FC Swarovski Tirol. With FC Tirol he won the Austrian Championship title 2 times (1989 and 1990) before becoming coach of the Austrian national team in 1992.

He died of cancer in 1992 aged 66. After his death the biggest football stadium in Austria, the Praterstadion in Vienna, was renamed Ernst Happel Stadion.

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Flag of Italy Nereo Rocco (ITA)
European Cup Winning Coach
1969 – 1970
Succeeded by
Flag of the Netherlands Rinus Michels (NED)
Preceded by
Flag of England Tony Barton (ENG)
European Cup Winning Coach
1982 – 1983
Succeeded by
Flag of England Joe Fagan (ENG)
Preceded by
Flag of Belgium Jaak De Wit (BEL)
Club Brugge Coach
1974 – 1978
Succeeded by
Flag of Hungary Andreas Beres (HUN)