Willem van Hanegem

Willem "Wim" van Hanegem (; born 20 February 1944) is a Dutch former football player and coach who played as a midfielder. Over 20 years he won several domestic honours in the Netherlands, as well as a European Cup and a UEFA trophy, all with Feyenoord. He was also a finalist in the 1974 FIFA World Cup. As a manager, he won the league and cup with Feyenoord. He was the Dutch national team's assistant coach. His last job as manager was for FC Utrecht, from 2007 to 2008. Complete midfielder, he played as a playmaker in front of the defense. He has arched legs, always slightly bent and moved with his chin on his chest.  Van Hanegem was nicknamed "de Kromme", translated as "the hunchback". He had a strong character and was rocky and fearless in tackling. He stood for tactical clarity. He made perfect throws with the outside of the left foot. He was also called "Crooked", "the backhand".  He scored goals often on free-kick giving the ball extremely high speed.  He is widely considered as one of the best Dutch football players in history.

Early life
He grew up in Utrecht with his mother Anna and three brothers. He lost his father, three brothers and other relatives in the summer of 1944. 

Club career
After promotion to the Eerste divisie in 1962, he belonged to the squad of semi-professionals of the league team. They were 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 Xerxes DZB, who finished tenth in their first season. In 1968 he went to local rivals Feijenoord. He celebrated his greatest successes with this club. He was Dutch champion in 1969, 1971 and 1974. In 1970, with Feyenoord. It was the first Dutch club to win the European Cup, before arch-rivals Ajax Amsterdam. In the Milan final, his side beat Celtic Glasgow 2-1. In 1974 he won the championship with Feyenoord, and 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. He wanted to end his career in the USA with Chicago Sting in 1979. However, he returned to the Netherlands  playing for FC Utrecht until 1981 and again for Feyenoord until 1983.
International career
Van Hanegem made his national team debut against Scotland on 30 May 1968.  At the World Cup in 1974 in Germany and in qualifying for the 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. 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 not 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.

Coaching career
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 at Feyenoord from 1992 to 1995. The team won the league once (1993) and the cup twice (1994 and 1995). He was sacked in October 1995 and then 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. 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.
Honours

Player
Feyenoord
 Eredivisie: 1968–69, 1970–71, 1973–74
 KNVB Cup: 1968–69
 European Cup: 1969–70
 Intercontinental Cup: 1970
 UEFA Cup: 1973–74

AZ'67
 KNVB Cup: 1977–78

Netherlands
 FIFA World Cup: runner-up 1974
 European Football Championship: third place 1976

Individual
 Dutch Footballer of the Year: 1971

 Manager 
Feyenoord
 Eredivisie: 1992–93
 KNVB Cup: 1993–94, 1994–95
 References 

 Other websites 

 Statistics


Category:1944 births
Category:Living people
Category:Dutch footballers
Category:Association football midfielders
Category:1974 FIFA World Cup players
Category:UEFA Euro 1976
Category:Dutch football managers
Category:Eredivisie managers
Category:AZ Alkmaar managers
Category:Sportspeople from Zeeland
Category:Al Hilal SFC managers