Guus Hiddink

Guus Hiddink
Guus Hiddink.jpg
Personal information
Full name Guus Hiddink
Date of birth 8 November 1946 (1946-11-08) (age 62)
Place of birth    Varsseveld, Netherlands
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Russia (manager)
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1967–1970
1970–1972
1972–1976
1976
1977
1978–1981
1981–1982
De Graafschap
PSV Eindhoven
De Graafschap
Washington Diplomats
San Jose Earthquakes
NEC
De Graafschap
Total
102 (47)
030 0(1)
181 (20)
013 0(0)[1]
015 0(0)[1]
104 0(2)
025 0(0)
470 (70)   
Teams managed
1982–1984
1984–1987
1987–1990
1990–1991
1991–1994
1995–1998
1998–1999
1999–2000
2000–2002
2002–2006
2005–2006
2006–
De Graafschap
PSV Eindhoven (assistant)
PSV Eindhoven
Fenerbahçe
Valencia
Netherlands
Real Madrid
Real Betis
South Korea
PSV Eindhoven
Australia
Russia

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Guus Hiddink (born 8 November 1946 in Varsseveld) is a Dutch former professional football player and manager, currently the manager of the Russian national team, a post he has held since 2006. He is recognised for winning the treble with PSV Eindhoven, leading South Korea to a 4th place finish in the 2002 FIFA World Cup, managing the Netherlands into the same position in the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, leading Australia to the second round of the 2006 FIFA World Cup — their first appearance in the tournament for 32 years, — and leading Russia to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, Russia's best performance since the breakup of the Soviet Union. He has several nicknames like "Hiddingu", "Aussie Guus", "Tsar Hiddink", "Guus Geluk" (literally 'Lucky Guus', Dutch for Disney's Gladstone Gander) or "The Goose".

Contents

Playing career

Hiddink started out as a player in amateur club SC Varsseveld's youth side. He turned professional, signing on for Dutch club De Graafschap in 1967. He would spend most of his playing career there and is a big fan of the club to this day. He joined PSV Eindhoven in 1970, but after failing to win a permanent position in the team, he rejoined De Graafschap after just one year and remained there until 1976. He also had stints in the North American Soccer League in the United States with Washington Diplomats from July to December 1976, and San Jose Earthquakes for all of 1977, before returning home to sign for NEC. In 1981, he rejoined De Graafschap and retired a year later. He generally played as a midfielder during his playing days.

Managerial career

Early club career

Having honed his coaching skills with De Graafschap as an assistant manager, he took over the managerial role at PSV Eindhoven in 1987 (after also holding the assistant manager position there from 1983 to March 1987). It was at PSV where he led the team to its first ever European Cup triumph in 1988 affirming the Eindhoven club's ranking as one of the three giants of Dutch football, alongside rivals Ajax and Feyenoord. He also won three Eredivisie titles with the club in between 1987 and 1990.

He also had a coaching stint at Turkish club Fenerbahçe in 1990 but was dismissed after one year before joining Spanish giants Valencia. His outspoken nature was demonstrated when during a league game at Valencia's Estadio Mestalla, he ordered a racist banner to be removed from one of the stands. His open attacking brand of football appealed to the Valencia team as well as to the rest of the Spanish Primera League.

Dutch National Team

Hiddink would face his biggest managerial challenge when he took over the reins of the Dutch national team on 1 January 1995,[2] where he took charge of a team of talented individuals continually racked by internal arguments and disputes. Hiddink held took a firm approach to the team, an example of which was demonstrated at Euro 1996 when Edgar Davids was sent home after an argument with Hiddink.[3][4] He was able to prevent further internal conflict in the 1998 FIFA World Cup[4] where his team played some of the more entertaining football in that tournament.[5] His usual 4-4-2 tactic of deploying wingers backed-up by central midfielders resulted in goals from defensive midfielders such as Philip Cocu and Edgar Davids. A defeat at the hands of Brazil on penalties in the semi-finals of the World Cup 1998 signaled an end of another era for Hiddink, as he resigned as Dutch national coach soon after.

Return to club football

He became the manager of Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid in the summer of 1998, replacing Jupp Heynckes, but bad league form and off pitch remarks about the board and finances of Real Madrid saw him get sacked in February 1999.[6][7] Hiddink then took over the reins at Spanish club Real Betis in 2000 for the rest of the season. His time at Real Betis would end badly with Hiddink being sacked by May 2000.[8]

In the summer of 2000, rumors were rife about his future with Celtic among one of the clubs named as a potential destination.[8] However, the temptation to manage another World Cup-bound international team proved irresistible for him as he became the head coach of the South Korean national football team on 1 January 2001.

South Korean National Team

Success would not come easily with a team that had appeared in five straight World Cups and had yet to win a single match. South Korea was one of the host nations for the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament, along with Japan. There was an expectation that the hosts would progress to the second round of the tournament and it was clearly expressed that Hiddink's team was expected to perform to that standard as well.[9]

His first year in charge was not met with favorable reviews from the Korean press,[9] as he was often spotted together with his girlfriend, when some felt[9] he should instead have been taking charge of the team. After a 2–1 loss to the US Gold Cup team in January 2002, he was criticized again for not taking his job seriously.[9] Nevertheless, the team he assembled was a cohesive unit that subsequently proved to be the fittest team at the World Cup.[9]

In the World Cup itself, the South Korean team achieved its first ever victory in the first stage (2–0, against Poland), and after a 1–1 draw with the USA and a further 1–0 victory against heavily-favored Portugal, the South Korean team qualified for the second round. Their second round opponents were Italy, who were defeated 2–1 after extra time in a game which recalled North Korea's victory over Italy in the 1966 FIFA World Cup, which ended up with Italy's 1–0 loss by Park, Doo-ik's goal from North Korea. The South Korea public then began to dream of a semi-final berth, which was attained on defeating Spain on penalties, thereby surpassing the record of their North Korean counterparts 36 years before.[10] The South Korean team's run was halted by Germany in the semi-finals. As with the Netherlands team four years before in France, Hiddink led his team into fourth place after a defeat to Turkey in the third place playoff. For the South Korean populace, Hiddink had done a commendable job as football pundits had never expected this level of success.[9]

Guuseum in Varsseveld

Hiddink became the first-ever foreigner to be given honorary South Korean citizenship.[11][12] In addition other rewards soon followed - a private villa in Jeju-do island;[12] free flights for life with Korean Airlines and Asiana Airlines, free taxi rides, and so forth.[12] The World Cup stadium in Gwangju was renamed Guus Hiddink Stadium in his honor shortly after the World Cup.[13] His hometown, where a Guuseum was set up, became a popular stopover for South Koreans visiting the Netherlands. The Guuseum is a museum established by his relatives, in Varsseveld, to honor Hiddink.

PSV Eindhoven

Hiddink chose to return to his native country and took over the coaching duties at PSV Eindhoven in 2002.[14] During his second spell with PSV, Hiddink won three Dutch league titles (2002-03, 2004-05, and 2005-06), the 2005 Dutch Cup, and the 2003 Dutch Super Cup. In Europe, the 2004-05 Champions League led to PSV's first ever appearance in the semi-final of the tournament since it adopted its current format in 1992–93 (PSV won the European Cup, the predecessor to the modern Champions League, in 1988, with Hiddink as coach). PSV narrowly lost the semi-final to AC Milan, on away goals. In the 2005-06 Champions League season, PSV made it through the group stage, but was eliminated in the first knockout round, having lost 5 of its starting 11 members (Park Ji-Sung to Manchester United, Lee Young-Pyo to Tottenham Hotspur, Mark van Bommel to Barcelona, Johann Vogel to AC Milan, and Wilfred Bouma to Aston Villa) to transfers. This period at PSV would make Hiddink the most successful Dutch coach in history,[15] with five Dutch League titles and four Dutch Cups, surpassing the record of Rinus Michels.

Australian National Team

On 22 July 2005 Hiddink became manager of the Australian national team. He announced he would manage both PSV and Australia at the same time,[16] fulfilling a clause in his contract that allows him to coach at both club and national level, but would leave both in mid-2006, after the World Cup finals.

In the play-offs held with Uruguay in Montevideo on 12 November and in Sydney on 16 November 2005, both home teams won 1-0. Australia went on to win 4-2 on penalties[16] – the first time Australia had qualified for the finals in 32 years, and the first time that any team had qualified through winning a penalty shoot-out.

Hiddink was an extremely popular figure in Australia and was referred to affectionately as "Aussie Guus". A telling example of the public affection for him was the Socceroo fans chant of "Goooooooooooos!" during moments of play. Slogans for the Socceroos' World Cup campaign were "No Guus, No Glory", "Guus For P.M" and "In Guus We Trust", as well as the play on words of the famous taunt "Guus your Daddy?". During the World Cup, a Sydney newspaper started a humorous campaign to lure him away from Russia by proposing a national "Guus tax" to pay his wages. More seriously, his reputation was enhanced by his transformation of the national side, with many pundits focusing on the immense improvement to Australia's defense. He is credited with turning a team which conceded many goals under Frank Farina into a solid defensive unit which only conceded one goal away from home to both Uruguay and the Netherlands. Hiddink's assistants at Australia were Dutch legend Johan Neeskens and former Australian International Graham Arnold.

The Socceroos defeated the Japanese team 3–1 during their first game in the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals, with Tim Cahill scoring 2 goals (84', 89') and John Aloisi scoring 1 (92') all in the last eight minutes to claim their first World Cup goals and victory ever.[17] An early controversial[18] call by the Egyptian referee that awarded a goal to the Japanese team, despite an apparent foul to Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, had the Australians playing catch up until the last eight minutes. After scoring the first goal, Cahill was lucky to get away with a potential foul when he tripped Japan's Yuichi Komano who had dribbled into the Australian penalty area. The referee missed the incident, and Cahill then broke to score the second on the counter. FIFA's spokesman for refereeing Anderas Werz said that while Japan's first goal was irregular, Egyptian referee Essam Abdel Fatah should also have given Japan a penalty.[19]

Australia followed the match against Japan with a 2–0 loss to Brazil. This left the Socceroos requiring a draw against Croatia in their last group match to qualify for the knockout stage of the FIFA world cup for the first time in their history. After a match fraught with controversy and erroneous decisions from the referee, Graham Poll (including an unprecedented three yellow cards given to the same Croatian player, ironically Australian-born Josip Simunic), the games ended two all, and the Socceroos had their draw.

In the second round, the Italian national team beat Australia 1–0. After sending off Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the 55th minute, Spanish referee Luís Medina Cantalejo, awarded Italy's Fabio Grosso a highly controversial penalty kick eight seconds from the end of normal time, which was converted by Francesco Totti. This put Australia out of the World Cup, marking the official end of Hiddink's tenure as Australia's national coach.

Russian National Team

Guus Hiddink at UEFA Euro 2008.

On 10 April 2006 Hiddink announced on Dutch television that he would take over as manager of Russia. He signed a 2½-year contract worth US$ 2.4 million a year plus bonuses, with an option for another two years, on 14 April 2006. His duties for Russia started after the 2006 World Cup, and the team's first match with Hiddink as coach was a friendly on 16 August 2006 against Latvia.

Russia's Euro qualification hopes came into question after a 2–1 loss to Israel. After a win against Andorra, and England losing out to Croatia on the last match day, Russia and Hiddink managed to go secure qualification for Euro 2008, where they managed to reach the semi-finals. With victories against the Dutch national team in the quarter finals,[20] and defending champions Greece in the group stage.[21]

Piet de Visser, a former head scout of Hiddink's club PSV Eindhoven and now a personal assistant to Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, recommended Hiddink to the Chelsea owner, following the departure of Avram Grant at the end of the 2007-08 English Premier League season.[22][23] Hiddink instead choose to exercise the two year extension with Russia, keeping him with them until 2010.[24]

Tax Fraud

In February 2007 Hiddink was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and fined €45,000 after being found guilty of tax fraud by a Dutch court. Prosecutors had demanded a nine-month prison sentence for Hiddink, who was accused of evading €1.4 million in Dutch taxes by claiming to be a resident of Belgium from 2002 to 2003.[25][26]

Titles and awards

Player

De Graafschap

San Jose Earthquakes

Manager

Club Honours

PSV Eindhoven

Real Madrid

International Honours

Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands

Flag of South Korea South Korea

Flag of Australia Australia

Flag of Russia Russia

Personal

Statistics

Manager

Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Win % F A Goal +/-
De Graafschap Flag of the Netherlands 1982 1984
PSV Eindhoven Flag of the Netherlands 1987 1990
Fenerbahçe Flag of Turkey 1990 1991
Valencia Flag of Spain 1991 1994
Netherlands Flag of the Netherlands January 1995 July 1998 38 22 08 08 57.89 081 29 52
Real Madrid Flag of Spain May 1998 February 1999 34 19 4 11 55.88 73 48 25
Real Betis Flag of Spain 1999 2 May 2000
South Korea Flag of South Korea 1 January 2001 July 2002 29 17 06 06 58.62 043 25 18
PSV Eindhoven Flag of the Netherlands 1 August 2002 May 2006
Australia Flag of Australia July 2005 July 2006 12 07 02 03 58.33 025 10 15
Russia Flag of Russia July 2006 Present 26 16 04 06 61.54 046 27 19
Total

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "NASL Player Profile - Listed as 'Cus Hiddink'". Retrieved on 2008-11-24.
  2. "Soccer Repport", The New York Times (1994-12-20). Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  3. "Davids matures, sends Dutch to quarters", Sports Illustrated - CNN (1998-06-29). Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 "Netherlands' Davids Comes in From Cold", The New York Times (1998-06-30). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  5. "Soccer:Orange Blossom", Sports Illustrated - CNN (1998-07-13). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  6. "Lorenzo Sanz: "If he said it, he'll be gone in five minutes"", El Mundo (1999-02-02). Retrieved on 2008-09-20.  (Spanish)
  7. "Hiddink to Sanz: "This club has to be much more professional"", El Mundo (1999-01-28). Retrieved on 2008-09-20.  (Spanish)
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Guus Hiddink has been sacked by Real Betis", RTE (2000-05-02). Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 "South Koreans' Savior Is Found in Dutchman", The New York Times (2002-06-21). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  10. See 2002 FIFA World Cup for these two victories.
  11. "Honorary Citizenship", Sports Illustrated - CNN (2002-07-03). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 "A Little Traveling Music: Some Coaches Get Around", The New York Times (2006-06-21). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  13. Dale Johnson (2008-05-29). "Russia: A new hope". ESPN. Retrieved on 2008-07-03.
  14. "Hiddink returns to Holland after wonderous World Cup run", Sports Illustrated - CNN (2002-07-08). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  15. "Guus Hiddink most successful coach".
  16. 16.0 16.1 "On to Germany: Final Five World Cup Berths Settled", The New York Times (2005-11-17). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  17. "Australia 3 - 1 Japan", ESPN (2006-06-12). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  18. "Referee apologises to Schwarzer for error", The Age (2006-06-13). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  19. "Japan were robbed by referee, admits Fifa official", The Guardian (2006-06-15). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  20. "Russia is Surprise Semifinalist", The New York Times (2008-06-22). Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  21. UEFA Euro 2008 Group D
  22. "Chelsea Owner Abramovich Has Secret Dutch Scout to Hunt for Stars", Mosnews.com (2005-06-03). 
  23. "Contenders queue up to replace Grant", Football365.com. 
  24. "Hiddink pens new Russia deal". skysports.com. Retrieved on 25 March, 2008.
  25. "Hiddink Escapes Jail for Tax Fraud" (in English), Kommersant, Kommersant Publishing House (2007-02-28). Retrieved on 2008-06-23. 
  26. "Hiddink found guilty of tax fraud", The Guardian (2007-02-27). Retrieved on 2008-09-20. 

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Artur Jorge
European Cup Winning Coach
1987–88
Succeeded by
Arrigo Sacchi
Preceded by
Co Adriaanse
Rinus Michels Award winner
2005
2006
Succeeded by
Louis van Gaal
Persondata
NAME Hiddink, Guus
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION footballer and manager
DATE OF BIRTH 1946-11-08
PLACE OF BIRTH Varsseveld, Netherlands
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH