Some soccer players or football coaches are loyal to their club throughout their careers. Arsene Wenger or Sir Alex Ferguson coached the same club for almost their entire career. But this is by no means an indispensable success factor, which Dutch specialist Guus Hiddink readily proves, who today is one of the most respected coaches in the world of football.
Player career
Hiddink was born in Varsseweld in 1946, and it was there that his football career began. At first he was at the football academy of the club of the same name, and then he played in it until the age of 21, when he was noticed by the larger Dutch club De Grafshap - it was there that he spent most of his career. Guus Hiddink, whose biography has more than one club, in “Grafshap” noted that he played for him about 300 matches and spent a total of 9 years there. But not in a row - already in 1970, the 24-year-old Hiddink moved to one of the country's strongest clubs, PSV Eindhoven. However, there he only spent a whole year wasted, and in 1971 he again ended up at De Grafshap, for which he played another five years. But when he turned 30, the club management did not consider that he was ready to continue to compete for a place in the first team, so Guus Hiddink went on loan to the USA - there he was waited by “Washington Diplomats”, where he spent six months. After that, the player went on a one-year lease at San Jose Earthquakes, again in the USA - it was Hus's longest departure abroad. He spent the rest of his career in Holland, in 1978 moving to Nek. And only in 1981, at the age of 35, did Hiddink return to De Grafshap to finish his career at his favorite club a year later.
Start of coaching
Guus Hiddink already knew that he would be a coach, so he returned to De Grafshap not just as a player, but as a playing assistant coach. He sometimes went on the field, but in most cases he helped the club’s then coach Hib Riigrok. A year later, Hiddink was invited to the post of assistant coach at PSV, which was very flattered, because he had to work with the then-famous coach Jan Reker. Hiddink spent four years in this position, and as a result he was rewarded - after the dismissal of Recker, he was offered the vacant position of head coach - this is how his coaching career began.
Favorite Coach Club
As you know, as a player, Guus Hiddink spent almost his entire career at De Grafshape, and today he is a fan of this club and worries about it. But as a coach, Hiddink has another favorite club - and this is PSV. The Dutch took the risk of appointing a coach as a person without actual work experience, because Hiddink was only an assistant, that is, he watched, helped, studied, but did not supervise. As it turned out, the leadership of PSV did not fail - the coach held out for more than three years, and during that time the club achieved brilliant results. For three years in a row, PSV won the Dutch championship and as many times in a row as the country's Cup. It was the real hegemony of the club in the domestic arena, and everything turned out very well in the international one too - in 1988, Hiddink led PSV to victory in the European Champions Cup. But in 1990, Gus could not lead his club to the championship, so he was forced to leave it, but only to return in 2002 and spend another 4 unforgettable years. During this time, Hiddink won the Dutch championship three times and once the Holland Cup, which made fans incredibly happy. Twice he was recognized as the best coach in Holland - in 2005 and 2006. However, Guus Hiddink coached not only PSV, but also other clubs.
Other clubs Hiddink
After leaving PSV in 1990, Hiddink went to Turkey to train Galatasaray, but he didn’t bring any luck to the club, so a year later he moved to Spain, where he took on Valencia, but there for 3 years of coaching activity, he could not achieve decent results. Hiddink's first success after PSV was Real Madrid. In 1998, Gus was appointed to a coaching position, won the Club World Cup with cream, but failed in everything else, so he was fired, but did not remain without work. The position of coach Hiddink was offered by another Spanish “Real”, not Madrid, but Betis. But there, the Dutchman did not go. It is also worth noting the arrival of Hiddink in Chelsea in 2009, with whom the coach won the FA Cup, but nothing more remarkable happened, so he was fired less than a year later. And, of course, the club that broke out in the Russian arena after injecting money, but almost immediately went out - “Anji”. Guus Hiddink became both a coach and vice-president of the Makhachkala club in 2012, but already in 2013 left both posts. So far, Hiddink no longer coached at the club level, but he still had enough jobs in teams from different countries.
Hiddink as national coach
Guus Hiddink, whose photo on Runet is most often seen in the company of the Russian national team, coached other national teams. Gus gained his first experience with national teams when he left Valencia in 1994 - almost immediately he was appointed coach of his native Dutch team. As a result, he led the national team to the European Championship in 1996 and to the World Championship in 1998, but could not achieve serious success in the final stage, so he was forced to leave. Having missed the European Championship 2000, Hiddink tried to make up for lost time, having managed to get the not-so-strong South Korean national team at the 2002 World Cup, brought her to an honorable fourth place, and then resigned anyway. In 2006, the coach brought to the
World Cup another team of not the highest order - Australia, but here the luck left the Dutchman. From 2010 to 2011, he also led the Turkish team, but the results were frankly unsuccessful, so Hiddink did not even finalize until the contract expiration date. However, everyone knows that most of all Gus is known for coaching the Russian team from 2006 to 2010.
Gus Ivanovich
The news that the eminent Dutch specialist will become the coach of the Russian national team has become a real boom - everyone was waiting for a miracle from Hiddink. And he made this miracle - at the
2008 European Championships , the Russian team reached the semifinals and received a bronze medal - everyone has long dreamed of such success. Since the team performed amazingly, the contract was extended with Hiddink for another two years. But happiness could not last forever - Hiddink could not get the Russian team to get to the 2010 World Cup, because in the butt games the Russians could not beat the Slovenes. After that, Gus Ivanovich, as he was called in Russia, announced his intention to leave the team. He noted many interesting incidents, for example, when he received a
suspended sentence - the duet “Sisters Zaitsevs” even made the number “Guus Hiddink after serving”, which literally blew up the Internet. But Hiddink in Russia will be remembered primarily for his sensational work with the national team at the 2008 European Championships.
Where is Hiddink now?
The last place of work of the Dutch specialist was Makhachkala “Anji” - so where is Guus Hiddink now, who is training? After he left “Anji” in 2013, Gus took a break and refused to coach. They even started talking about the fact that Hiddink could end his coaching career, because he is already 67 years old, and this is a considerable age, which is difficult to combine with the stresses that are inevitable in such a position. But Hiddink denied these rumors by signing a contract with the Dutch national team, which will take effect in August 2014, after the end of the World Cup in Brazil. This means that it is Gus who will prepare the Dutch for the European Championship 2016.
Hus Achievements
As a result, Guus Hiddink collected an impressive number of awards for his career - he won the Dutch championship six times, the Dutch Cup 4 times, once he got the country's Super Cup, as well as the European Champions Cup, the FA Cup and the Intercontinental Cup. With the national teams of Holland and South Korea, he took fourth place in the World Championships, and with the Russian team - the bronze medal of the European Championship.