Guus Hiddink (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɣys ˈɦɪdɪŋk] ; born 8 November 1946) is a Dutch former football manager and professional player. He enjoyed a long career playing as a midfielder in his native Netherlands. After retiring as a player in 1982, Hiddink went into management, leading clubs and countries from across the globe to achieve various titles and feats. Notable achievements include a European Cup with PSV Eindhoven and an Intercontinental Cup with Real Madrid.
Hiddink was born in Varsseveld and started his career as a player in the youth side of amateur club SC Varsseveld. He turned professional after signing for Dutch club De Graafschap in 1967, playing at the Doetinchem club under manager Piet de Visser. In 1973, during Hiddink's second spell there, he and manager de Visser earned promotion to the Eredivisie, the top league in Dutch football. For some years the careers of the two men intersected: when Hiddink managed PSV Eindhoven, De Visser scouted numerous South American players for the team, such as Ronaldo, Romário, and former Chelsea defender Alex. Also, De Visser, in his role as personal advisor to Roman Abramovich, was influential in bringing Hiddink to the Russia national team and later to Chelsea as caretaker manager following the dismissal of Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Hiddink spent most of his playing career at De Graafschap, including three years under de Visser, and remains a fan of the club. He joined PSV in 1970, but after failing to win a permanent position in the team, rejoined De Graafschap after just one year and remained there until 1977. In 1981, he rejoined De Graafschap again and retired a year later. Generally he played as a midfielder.
Hiddink honed his coaching skills as assistant manager at PSV Eindhoven from 1983 until he was appointed manager there in March 1987. When he took command, the club was three points behind Ajax in the league, with ten matches remaining. 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 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.
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.
Hiddink faced his biggest managerial challenge when he took over the reins of the Netherlands national team on 1 January 1995, 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. The team reached the quarter-finals of that tournament before losing on penalties to France.
He was able to prevent further internal conflict in the 1998 FIFA World Cup where his team played some of the more entertaining football in that tournament. 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.
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.
Hiddink then took over the reins at Spanish club Real Betis in 2000 for the rest of the season. His time there ended badly, with him being sacked by May 2000.
In the summer of 2000, rumours were rife over his future, with Scottish club Celtic among the clubs named as a potential destination. The temptation to manage another World Cup–bound international team proved irresistible to him, however, and he agreed to coach the South Korea national team on 1 January 2001.
Hiddink became manager of South Korea in January 2001. 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.
Hiddink's first year in charge was met with heavy criticism from the South Korean media, as he was often spotted together with his girlfriend when some felt 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. 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 heavily favoured Portugal, South Korea advanced to the second round.
Their second-round opponents were Italy, whom they upset 2–1 with 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 Korea in the tournament 36 years earlier, which 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 earlier 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 semi-final berth. Hiddink became the first-ever person to be given honorary South Korean citizenship. In addition, other rewards soon followed — a private villa in Jeju-do island, free flights for life with Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, and free taxi rides, amongst others. 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. 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.