SC
Varsseveld (Holland), De Graafschap (Holland), PSV Eindhoven (Holland),
De Graafschap (Holland), Washington Diplomats (USA), San Jose
Earthquakes (USA), NEC Nijmegen (Holland), De Graafschap (Holland)
Honours
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Biography
Guus Hiddink (born 8 November 1947 in Varsseveld, now part of
Oude IJsselstreek) is a Dutch football coach who is currently
the head coach for Dutch team PSV Eindhoven, as well as the
manager of the Australian national team. Throughout his entire
coaching career, he is best recognised for leading South Korea
to a 4th place finish in the 2002 World Cup, coaching the
Netherlands into the same position in the 1998 World Cup in
France, and leading Australia to the 2006 World Cup for the
first time in 32 years. Also since the English FA's recent
desicion to part with Sven-Göran Eriksson as England head coach,
Guus has been widely tipped as a leading contender to take over
as England head coach after the World cup.
Playing Career
He was a professional football player in his youth with amateur
club SC Varsseveld, before signing on for Dutch club De
Graafschap for most of his playing career, beginning from 1967.
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 and San Jose Earthquakes before returning
home to sign for NEC Nijmegen. In 1981, he rejoined De
Graafschap and retired a year later. He generally played as a
midfielder during his playing days, although he was not noted
for the sophistication of his footballing skills then.
Managerial Career
Having honed his coaching skills with De Graafschap as an
assistant manager, he took over the managerial role at PSV 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 thereby ensuring 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 coaching stints at Turkish club Fenerbahçe in 1990
but was dismissed after only one year before joining Spanish
giants Valencia. His outspoken nature was demonstrated when
during a league game at Valencia's Mestalla stadium, 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 Premier League.
The greatest challenge for Hiddink when he took over as the
manager of the Netherlands in 1995 where he took charge of a
team of talented individuals continuallly racked by internal
arguments and disputes, as was seen in the Euro 1996 tournament,
when Edgar Davids was sent home after an argument with Hiddink.
He was able to avoid a similar player bust-up in the 1998 World
Cup where his team played some of the more entertaining football
in that tournament. His usual tactic of deploying wingers backed-up
by central midfielders resulted in goals even by defensive
midfielders such as Philip Cocu and Edgar Davids. A bitter
defeat at the hands of Brazil on penalties in the semi-finals of
the World Cup 1998 signalled an end of an era for Hiddink, as he
resigned soon after.
He was the manager at Real Madrid where he replaced Fabio
Capello and signed Steve McManaman but failure to deliver the
league title for only a year saw him get sacked and take over
the reins at another Spanish club Real Betis in 2000 for only 3
months. However, the temptation to manage another World Cup-bound
international team proved too irresistible for him as he became
the head coach of the South Korea national football team on 1
January 2001.
Success would not come easy with a team that had appeared in
five straight World Cups and had yet to win a single match.
Hiddink's team was also expected to perform better than the
Japanese team in the 2002 World Cup tournament co-hosted by
Japan and South Korea. Further, it was a tradition at the World
Cup 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.
His first year in charge was not met with favourable reviews
from the Korean press, as he was often spotted together with his
girlfriend, when some felt 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. Nevertheless, the team he assembled was a cohesive
unit that consequently proved to be the fittest team at the
World Cup.
In the World Cup itself, the South Korean team achieved its
first ever victory in the final stage (2-0, against Poland), and
after a 1-1 draw with the USA and a further 1-0 victory against
strongly-fancied Portugal, the South Korean team qualified for
the second round, already realising the hopes of the Korean
nation. The 2nd 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 World Cup. The South Korea public
then began to dream of a semi-final berth, which was attained on
defeating Spain on penalties. However, 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 3rd place
playoff. For the South Korean populace, Hiddink had done a
commendable job as football pundits had never expected success
near approaching this scale.
Hiddink was given the unofficial title of the most popular
individual in the country, and became the first-ever person to
be given honorary South Korean citizenship. In addition other
rewards soon followed - a private villa in Jeju island; free
flights for life with Korean Airlines and Asiana Airlines, free
taxi rides, and so forth. The World Cup stadium in Gwangju was
renamed Guus Hiddink Stadium in his honor shortly after the
World Cup. His hometown became a popular stopover for South
Koreans visiting the Netherlands.
Hiddink chose to return to his native country despite being
persuaded to extend his contract and has since taken over the
coaching duties at PSV Eindhoven in 2003. In the Champions
League of 2004/05, he led his team into its 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). PSV lost
the semi-final against AC Milan narrowly.
On the 22nd of July, 2005 Hiddink became manager of the
Australian national team. He has announced he will manage both
PSV and Australia at the same time, fulfilling a clause in his
contract that allows him to coach at both club and national
level.
In the play-offs held 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 – 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.
