Guus Hiddink

Early club career

Guus Hiddink in 1988 as manager of PSV.

Hiddink (right) and Hans van Breukelen (left) holding the European Cup on arrival at Eindhoven Airport

Having honed his coaching skills as an assistant manager, Hiddink took over the managerial role at PSV Eindhoven in March 1987 after also holding the assistant manager position for the club from 1983 to March 1987. Hiddink took over in March 1987, whilst the team was trailing by three points behind Ajax with ten matches remaining in the league. PSV, however, managed to win the championship six points ahead of Ajax.

It was at PSV where he led the team to its first ever European Cup triumph in 1988 (and The Treble), 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. "Hiddink will never take all the credit for himself, he will also involve his staff in it. That adds to the strong sense of unity. Hiddink has final responsibility, but always shares it with the team around him. He is a real team player," said Berry van Aerle, who was coached by Hiddink in two separate periods with PSV.^[3]

Overall Hiddink's PSV side won three consecutive Eredivisie titles, three consecutive KNVB Cups and the European Cup in the historic Treble-winning season of 1987–88.

Hiddink also had a coaching stint at Turkish club Fenerbahçe in 1990, but was dismissed after one year, later joining Spanish giants Valencia.^[4]

Netherlands national team

Hiddink faced his biggest managerial challenge when he took over the reins of the Netherlands national team on 1 January 1995,^[5] where he took charge of a team of talented individuals continually racked by internal arguments and disputes. 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. Hiddink took a firm approach to the team, an example of which was demonstrated at UEFA Euro 1996 when Edgar Davids was sent home after an argument with Hiddink.^[6][7] The team finished in the quarter-finals during UEFA Euro 1996.

He was able to prevent further internal conflict in the 1998 FIFA World Cup^[7] where his team played some of the more entertaining football in that tournament.^[8] The team beat Argentina in the quarter-finals 2–1, then suffered a defeat at the hands of Brazil on penalties in the semi-final—later finishing fourth. This loss signalled an end of another era for Hiddink, as he resigned as Netherlands national coach soon after, where he was then appointed manager of Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Real Madrid and Real Betis

Hiddink became manager of Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid in the summer of 1998, replacing Jupp Heynckes, but poor league form and off-pitch remarks about the board and finances of the club prompted his termination in February 1999.^[9][10]

Hiddink then took over the reins at Spanish club Real Betis in 2000 for the rest of the season. His time at Real Betis ended badly, with Hiddink being sacked by May 2000.^[11]

In the summer of 2000, rumours were rife over his future, with Scottish club Celtic among the clubs named as a potential destination.^[11] The temptation to manage another World Cup-bound international team proved irresistible to him, however, as he agreed to coach the South Korea national team on 1 January 2001.

South Korea

Hiddink became manager of South Korea in January 2001.^[12] Success hardly came easy with a team that had appeared in five straight World Cups but had yet to win a single match. South Korea co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup tournament with Japan. Both countries were expected to make the second round of the tournament and it was clearly expressed that Hiddink's team was expected to perform to that standard as well.^[13]

Hiddink's first year in charge was met with heavy criticism from the South Korean media,^[13] as he was often spotted together with his girlfriend when some felt^[13] he should instead have been busy working on the team. After a 2–1 loss to the United States Gold Cup team in January 2002, he was criticized again for not taking his job seriously.^[13] Nevertheless, the team he assembled was a cohesive unit. However, Hiddink began focusing on physical fitness for players during training in preparation for the World Cup later that year.

At the World Cup, Hiddink's team achieved its first victory in the tournament's history in a 2–0 group win over Poland. After a 1–1 draw with the U.S. and a 1–0 victory against the heavily favoured Portugal, South Korea advanced to the second round.

Their second-round opponents were Italy, whom they upset, 2–1, on a golden goal by Ahn Jung-hwan. The Korean public began to dream of a semifinal berth, something that came true after another upset, this time Spain, on penalties in the quarterfinal. This surpassed the feat of North Korean in the 36 years, when the North beat Italy to reach the quarterfinals.

South Korea's miracle run finally ended after Germany under Rudi Völler, won, 1-0, in the semifinals. As with the Dutch team four years before in France, Hiddink led his team to fourth place after a 3–2 defeat to Turkey in the consolation game.

Prior to the tournament, football pundits and fans alike never expected this level of success. Many in South Korea were overjoyed with the semifinal berth.^[13] Hiddink became the first-ever person to be given honorary South Korean citizenship.^[14][15] In addition, other rewards soon followed — a private villa in Jeju-do island;^[15] free flights for life with Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, free taxi rides, among others.^[15] The Gwangju World Cup Stadium in Gwangju, where South Korea qualified for the semi-finals, was renamed Guus Hiddink Stadium in his honor shortly after the tournament.^[16] His hometown of Varsseveld, where a Guuseum was set up by his relatives in his honor, became a popular stop for South Koreans visiting the Netherlands.

PSV

Hiddink chose to return to his native country and took over the coaching duties at PSV Eindhoven in 2002.^[17] 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 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 five of its starting 11 (Park Ji-sung to Manchester United, Lee Young-pyo to Tottenham Hotspur, Mark van Bommel to Barcelona, Johann Vogel to Milan and Wilfred Bouma to Aston Villa) to transfers. This period at PSV made Hiddink the most successful Dutch coach in history,^[18] with six Dutch League titles and four Dutch Cups, surpassing the record of Rinus Michels. Hiddink left the club in June 2006.^[19]

Australia

On 22 July 2005, Hiddink became manager of the Australia national team.^[20] He announced he would manage both PSV and Australia at the same time.^[20]

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^[21] — 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 a 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' 2006 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.^[22] More seriously, his reputation was enhanced by his transformation of the national side, with pundits focusing on the improvement to Australia's defence. 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 Australia international Graham Arnold.

The Socceroos defeated Japan 3–1 during their first game in the 2006 FIFA World Cup, with Tim Cahill scoring two goals (84', 89') and John Aloisi scoring one (92') all in the last eight minutes to claim their first World Cup goals and victory ever.^[23] An early controversial^[24] call by the Egyptian referee that awarded a goal to the Japanese team, despite an apparent foul to Australia 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 Yūichi 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 Andreas Werz said that while Japan's first goal was irregular, Egyptian referee Essam Abdel Fatah should also have given Japan a penalty.^[25]

Australia followed the match against Japan with a 2–0 loss to Brazil, leaving the Socceroos needed at least a draw against Croatia in their last group match to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in its history. After a match fraught with controversy and erroneous decisions from referee Graham Poll, including an unprecedented three yellow cards given to the same Croatian player, ironically the Australian-born Josip Šimunić, the game ended 2–2, and the Socceroos had their draw thanks to a goal from Harry Kewell to level the game with minutes to spare.

In the second round, Italy beat Australia 1–0. After controversially sending off Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the 55th minute, Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo awarded Italy's Fabio Grosso a 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.^[26]

Russia

On 10 April 2006, Hiddink announced on Dutch television that he would take over as manager of the Russia national team.^[27] He signed a two-year contract in April 2006 worth €2 million a year.^[27] His duties for Russia started after managing Australia during the 2006 World Cup.^[27]

Russia's Euro 2008 qualification hopes came into question after a 2–1 loss to Israel. However, after a win against Andorra, and England losing out to Croatia on the last match day, Russia and Hiddink secured qualification for the final stages of Euro 2008. At the tournament, the Russians managed to reach the semi-finals with victories against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals^[28] and defending champions Greece in the group stage.^[29]

Piet de Visser, a former head scout of Hiddink's club PSV 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 Premier League season.^[30][31] In March 2008, however, Hiddink had already chosen to exercise the two-year extension with Russia, keeping him in the national team's head coaching role until 2010.^[32]

In November 2009, Russia was defeated by Slovenia in a 2010 World Cup qualifying play-off, casting doubt on future ambitions.^[33] On 13 February 2010, it was confirmed that Hiddink would leave the position when his contract expired on 30 June.^[34]

Chelsea

After the sacking of Chelsea's manager, the Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari, during the 2008–09 Premier League season, Chelsea confirmed on 11 February 2009 that Hiddink would become Scolari's replacement until the end of the season, whilst continuing his duties with Russia.^[35] Hiddink's first game in charge was a 1–0 away victory against Aston Villa at Villa Park.^[36] His first game in charge at Stamford Bridge was a 1–0 victory over Juventus in the Champions League knockout stage.^[37] Success continued in the form of a 3–1 away victory against Liverpool—commentators stated that Hiddink had rejuvenated Chelsea following Scolari's departure.^[38][39] After knocking Liverpool out of the competition, Hiddink went on to take Chelsea to the semi-finals of the Champions League, where the club was eliminated on the away goals rule to eventual winners Barcelona; a 93rd minute Barça goal in a 1–1 controversial draw at Stamford Bridge, preceded by a 0–0 at Camp Nou, sealed Chelsea's fate.^[40]

Hiddink only lost once during his tenure as Chelsea manager, a 1–0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, where Luka Modrić scored the only goal of the match. As it turned out, even winning every league game in charge would not have been enough to see Hiddink secure the Premier League title. In the final home game of the season, in which Chelsea beat Blackburn Rovers 2–0, Chelsea home fans chanted Hiddink's name throughout the match and called for Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich to "sign him up" on a permanent basis.^[41] Hiddink's highly positive reception highlighted the Chelsea fans' appreciation of the manager. He marked an end to his Premier League campaign with a thrilling 3–2 away win over Sunderland.

In his last game as interim coach of Chelsea, he won the 2009 FA Cup by beating Everton 2–1 at Wembley.^[42] He was visibly pleased at winning the Cup, and in subsequent interviews claimed it was one of his biggest achievements. Even though throughout his tenure at Chelsea various players asked him to stay, including captain John Terry, Michael Ballack and Petr Čech, Hiddink always stated that he intended to return to his post with Russia. As a parting gift, the Chelsea players gave him an engraved watch and a shirt signed by all of the players.^[43]

Turkey

On 16 February 2010, Turkish Football Federation President Mahmut Özgener and Hiddink held talks in Amsterdam. Hiddink agreed to coach the Turkey national team after his contract with Russia expired on 30 June 2010.^[44] His contract with Turkey began on 1 August 2010,^[44] and his staff included assistant manager Oğuz Çetin and goalkeeping coach Engin İpekoğlu.^[45][46]

On 11 August 2010, Turkey defeated Romania, 2–0, in an international friendly in Istanbul. Emre Belözoğlu gave Turkey the lead in the 82nd minute after converting a spot kick, followed by Arda Turan doubling the scoreline after netting from 30 yards out. During his spell as head coach, Hiddink was repeatedly criticized by the media for his high salary, refusal to base himself in Turkey and instead making intermittent visits to the country for games and training camp, and his alleged failure to grasp the emotional character of his players and adoption of a cold, rational and overly systematic playing mentality.^{[citation needed]} He quit after Turkey failed to qualify for Euro 2012 after losing to Croatia, 3–0, aggregate in the playoffs.^[47]

Anzhi Makhachkala

On 17 February 2012, Hiddink agreed an 18-month deal to manage Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala, his first permanent club post in six years.^[48] In his second season, he led the team to the bronze medal in the Russian Premier League, and Anzhi made it to the round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League for the first time. In the quarter-finals of the same competition, having gone down to ten men 55 minutes into the second leg against Newcastle United, Anzhi came close to going through when Mbark Boussoufa's free kick hit the post before Papiss Cissé headed home the winner in the last seconds of the tie, meaning the Magpies won 1–0 on aggregate. This was the second time that the English side have knocked out a team managed by Hiddink in the competition, having beaten his PSV side 3–2 on aggregate in the quarter-finals of the 2003–04 season. He announced his retirement at the end of the 2012–13 season on 28 November 2012, but later changed his mind.

On 11 June 2013, Hiddink decided to extend his contract by one more year at Anzhi. Just two games into the 2013–14 Russian Premier League season after a 2–1 defeat at Dynamo Moscow, however, he unexpectedly resigned on 22 July 2013. He said he left because he completed his mission, which he said was to develop Anzhi in a way that it could progress without him.^[49]

Return to Netherlands national team

On 28 March 2014, it was announced that Hiddink would return to manage the Dutch national team after Louis van Gaal would step down following the 2014 World Cup. Hiddink agreed to manage the team up to UEFA Euro 2016, with Danny Blind and Ruud van Nistelrooy assisting him and Blind to eventually replace him.^[50] His second spell in charge of the team began with a 2–0 defeat to Italy in a friendly on 4 September 2014, with both goals conceded and a red card received within the first ten minutes of the match.^[51] Five days later, the Dutch began their UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying campaign with a 2–1 defeat away to the Czech Republic,^[52] a 3–1 victory against Kazakhstan and a 2–0 defeat in the hands of Iceland a month later.^[53][54]

The 2015 calendar year began in March with a match against Turkey, ending in a 1–1 draw.^[55] On 29 June 2015, Hiddink left his position.^[56] Two days later, he was succeeded by his assistant, Danny Blind.^[57] It was unknown for a long time whether Hiddink was fired or left his position voluntarily, but on 21 November 2015, he said, whilst on vacation in France, that he was fired from the post.^[58]

Return to Chelsea

On 19 December 2015, Hiddink was appointed first-team manager of English side Chelsea until the end of the 2015–16 season, following the dismissal of José Mourinho; he joined the club in the same capacity he did back in 2009. After being made interim manager, Hiddink spoke, saying he was "excited to return to Stamford Bridge" and "I am looking forward to working with the players and staff at this great club and especially renewing my wonderful relationship with the Chelsea fans."^[59] After the home draw against Stoke City, Hiddink set a new record for the longest unbeaten streak as a new manager in the Premier League with 12 games unbeaten.^[60]

Chelsea ended the season in tenth place in the Premier League, climbing six positions from 16th upon Hiddink's arrival.^[61]

China U21

On 10 September 2018, Hiddink took over the China under-21 national team but was fired in September 2019 after a string of disappointing results, culminating with a 2–0 defeat against Vietnam under-22 men's team.^[62] The coach of the Vietnamese team coincidentally was Park Hang-seo, assistant coach of South Korea's national team in the 2002 World Cup under Hiddink.

Curaçao and retirement from management

On 21 August 2020, Hiddink was appointed manager of the Curaçao national team.^[63]

After failing to lead the nation to 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, Hiddink contracted COVID-19 in 2021, prompting Patrick Kluivert to step in as interim manager of the team.^[64] On 9 September 2021, Hiddink officially stepped down as head coach of Curaçao and announced his managerial retirement at the age of 74.^[65]

Hiddink came out of retirement to assist his former Socceroos assistant, Graham Arnold, for Australia's two-match friendly series against New Zealand, as regular assistant coach René Meulensteen was scouting the Socceroos' Qatar 2022 opponents in Europe.^[66]

The temporary arrangement formed part of the Socceroos' centenary celebrations. Hiddink was on the Australian bench for their 1–0 win in Brisbane on September 22, 2022, and in Auckland three days later.

Player

De Graafschap

• Tweede Divisie: 1969

San Jose Earthquakes

• North American Soccer League Southern Division: runner-up 1977

Manager

PSV Eindhoven

• Eredivisie: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
• KNVB Cup: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 2004–05
• Johan Cruyff Shield: 2003
• European Cup: 1987–88

Netherlands

• FIFA World Cup Fourth place: 1998

Real Madrid

• Intercontinental Cup: 1998

South Korea

• FIFA World Cup Fourth place: 2002

Russia

• UEFA European Championship Semi-finalist: 2008

Chelsea

• FA Cup: 2008–09

Individual

• Order of Sport Merit: Cheongnyong Medal
• AFC Coach of the Year: 2002
• World Soccer World Manager of the Year: 2002
• Dutch Sports Coach of the Year (all sports): 2002, 2005
• Rinus Michels Award: 2005, 2006
• Coach of the Year in Russia: 2008^[114]
• In 2005 Hiddink received an honorary doctorate by the University of Seoul^[115]
• The De Graafschap mascot is named Guus in honor of Hiddink who was previously associated with the team as a player and as a manager.
• The Gwangju World Cup Stadium was renamed the Guus Hiddink Stadium in honor of Hiddink's performance at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
• Hiddink was named an Honorary Citizen of South Korea after reaching the 2002 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
• Hiddink was named an honorary citizen of Seoul after reaching the 2002 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.^[116]
• Hiddink was named an honorary citizen of Eindhoven after winning his sixth Eredivisie title with PSV in 2006.^[117]
• Hiddink was put on a stamp by Australia Post following the 2006 FIFA World Cup.
• Hiddink was given a lifetime achievement award by the Royal Dutch Football Association in 2007. It was only the third such award ever given following those received by Rinus Michels and Johan Cruijff.^[118]
• Sports Illustrated Team of the Decade: 2009