Willem van Hanegem

Willem van Hanegem
	Van Hanegem in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Willem van Hanegem
Date of birth	20 February 1944 (age 80)
Place of birth	Breskens, Netherlands
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1958–1962	Velox SC
Senior career*
Years	Team
1962–1966	Velox SC
1966–1968	Xerxes
1968–1976	Feyenoord
1976–1979	AZ'67
1979	Chicago Sting
1979–1981	FC Utrecht
1981–1983	Feyenoord
Total
National team
1968–1979	Netherlands
Teams managed
1990–1992	USV Holland
1990–1991	FC Wageningen
1992–1995	Feyenoord
1995–1996	Al-Hilal
1997–1999	AZ
2001	Sparta Rotterdam
2002–2004	Netherlands (assistant)
2007–2008	FC Utrecht
Honours
Men's football
Representing Netherlands
FIFA World Cup
European Championship
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Willem "Wim" van Hanegem (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋɪləm ˈʋɪm vɑn ˈɦaːnəɣɛm]; 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[change | change source]

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[change | change source]

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[change | change source]

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[change | change source]

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.