Willem van Hanegem

He grew up in Utrecht with his mother Anna and three brothers, after the massacre in his native country in which he lost his father, three brothers and other relatives. In the summer of 1944 the German army was fleeing north from Calais to the Netherlands. On 11 September the Allies bombed the Wehrmachtnear Breskens. Father Lo and brother Izaak hid in a shelter that was shot and both died. Van Hanegem then lost another brother and sister during the war.

Van Hanegem in 1964

After promotion to the Eerste divisie in 1962, he belonged to the squad of semi-professionals of the league team, which, however, continued to be overshadowed by the "big" Utrecht clubs DOS and Elinkwijk. He played with Velox in the second division for four years before moving to Rotterdam in 1966 for the newly promoted Eredivisie XerxesDZB, who finished tenth in their first season. In 1968 he went to local rivals Feijenoord and celebrated his greatest successes with this club. He was Dutch champion in 1969, 1971 and 1974. In 1970, with Feyenoord, and became the first Dutch club to win the European Cup, before arch-rivals Ajax Amsterdam's heyday started. In the Milan final, his side beat Celtic Glasgow 2-1. In 1974 he won not only the championship with Feyenoord, but also the UEFA Cup in the final against Tottenham Hotspur. Van Hanegem was known as a tactically skilled midfielder with fine passing. In 1976 he moved to Dutch league rivals AZ Alkmaar for three years and wanted to end his career in the USA with Chicago Sting in 1979. However, he returned to the Netherlands that same year, playing for FC Utrecht until 1981 and again for Feyenoord until 1983.

Van Hanegem made his national team debut against Scotland on 30 May 1968, At the World Cup in 1974 in Germany and also in qualifying for this tournament van Hanegem was a regular player. In the Dutch 4-3-3 system, he usually played in left midfield next to Neeskens and behind Rensenbrink, including in the final, which the Netherlands lost to Germany 2-1, Van Hanegem was known for rough, passionate play against German sides (before the 1974 final, he exhorted the Dutch side to "stuff the Germans"). "I don't like Germans. Everytime I played against German players, I had a problem because of the war." After the game (with Germany winning 2–1) Van Hanegem left the field in tears. Two years later he finished third at the 1976 UEFA European Football Championship in Yugoslavia where he was sent off in the semi-final against Czechoslovakia. He was omitted to be selected for the Dutch during the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina along with Hugo Hovenkamp, Johan Cruyff and Willy van de Kuijlen. He played his last international match against Belgium in 1979.

After ending his playing career, he first became an assistant coach in 1983 at Feyenoord. He was later head coach at AZ Alkmaar, Sparta Rotterdam and also at Feyenoord from 1992 to 1995, where he won the league once (1993) and the cup twice (1994 and 1995). He was sacked in October 1995 and shortly thereafter transferred to Saudi Arabia, where he took over Al-Hilal for one season.

He worked for the Dutch Football Association as coach of the amateur national team in 1991–92 and he was assistant coach to Dick Advocaat in the Netherlands national team from 2002 to 2004.

From July 2007 to December 2008 he was the manager of the Dutch first division club FC Utrecht.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Willem van Hanegem.

• Statistics
• Willem van Hanegem at Wereld van Oranje (in Dutch)