Leo Beenhakker (Dutch: [ˈleːjoː ˈbeːnɦɑkər]; 2 August 1942 – 10 April 2025) was a Dutch football player and coach. Nicknamed "Don Leo" for his role in Spanish football, he had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level.
After his amateur playing career ended at 19 through injury, he began his coaching career. He won the Eredivisie title twice with Ajax and once with Feyenoord, becoming the only person to do so with both rival teams. In Spain he won three consecutive La Liga titles with Real Madrid in the late 1980s, including one as a double with the Copa del Rey. Additionally, he had brief spells in the top divisions of Switzerland, Mexico and Turkey.
At international level, he led the Netherlands at the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Trinidad and Tobago at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and Poland at UEFA Euro 2008, the latter two being firsts for both nations.
Beenhakker was born in the Charlois neighborhood in Rotterdam on 2 August 1942, during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. After his father's death, he worked as an electrician to support his family.
A right winger, Beenhakker played only for amateur clubs, and he joined Maasstad Tediro in 1954; he made his senior debut in 1957 at the age of 15. He then joined Xerxes in 1958 and suffered a knee injury in 1961 while playing for Xerxes which later ended his playing career.
He went into mandatory military service with the Dutch Air Force and while working as an electrician, he attempted a return to playing football during the 1964–65 season, joining Zwart-Wit '28. He retired in 1965 at the age of 23 as a result of the knee injury.
Beenhakker began coaching Epe in 1965 before his breakthrough at Ajax, where he won the Eredivisie in his debut season in 1979–80. He also gave Frank Rijkaard his professional debut and reached the semi-finals of the European Cup.
Beenhakker arrived at Real Zaragoza to replace Manolo Villanova during the 1980–81 season, aged 38. His side, which included the likes of Juan Señor, Jorge Valdano and Pichi Alonso, won no trophies during his term, but finished in high league positions including 6th in 1982–83 and 7th a year later.
As manager of Volendam in 1984–85, Beenhakker took the club as high as third place, leading to him being simultaneously named interim manager of the Netherlands national team due to Rinus Michels' heart problems. Volendam finished the season relegated, while the Netherlands finished second to Hungary in their 1986 FIFA World Cup qualification group, before losing a playoff to rivals Belgium on the away goals rule.
He was Real Madrid's most recent manager to win both La Liga and Copa del Rey in the same season. His Real Madrid side was built around La Quinta del Buitre, five academy-trained players centred on forward Emilio Butragueño. In the 1988–89 European Cup, he caused headlines by dropping Butragueño for a European Cup quarter-final second leg against reigning champions PSV Eindhoven, despite the tie being level; Arrigo Sacchi's AC Milan eliminated Real Madrid in the semi-finals after winning the second leg 5–0 at the San Siro.
Ajax return and 1990 World Cup
In 1989, Beenhakker returned to Ajax, who had struggled the previous season and were experiencing financial problems. His young team, featuring the likes of twins Frank and Ronald de Boer, Dennis Bergkamp and Bryan Roy, won the league but were banned from entering the European Cup due to a hooligan riot in a UEFA Cup game against Austria Wien in September 1989. In October 1989, Beenhakker fined five of his players 1,000 Dutch guilders each for losing a Netherlands under-21 game against Iceland; Frank de Boer's fine was halved due to only being a substitute in that game.
Beenhakker was named manager of the Netherlands again for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. His side were the reigning European champions of UEFA Euro 1988, and were favoured to do well due to having high-profile players such as Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten. The Oranje were eliminated in the round of 16 without winning a game, with Beenhakker rumoured to have fallen out with Van Basten, and the players wanting Johan Cruyff as manager instead.
In October 1991, Beenhakker left Ajax and returned to Real Madrid, initially as technical director to support Radomir Antić, but swapped places with him to become manager at the end of January 1992. He left at the end of the season, after finishing in second place. His team missed out on the title on the final day after losing a lead away to Tenerife, while Cruyff's Barcelona defeated Athletic Bilbao.
Beenhakker was named manager of Grasshoppers in the Swiss Nationalliga A in 1992–93. He succeeded Oldrich Svab at the Zurich-based club, who were struggling despite the presence of players such as Giovane Élber and Murat Yakin. The team fell into the promotion-relegation round, which they survived, but he was dispensed of at the end of the season.
In November 1993, Beenhakker was appointed manager of Saudi Arabia, who had qualified for the FIFA World Cup for the first time. He was sacked just three months later, and four months before the finals in the United States, as the players did not adapt well to his tactics.
1994–2004: Eredivisie return and Mexico
Beenhakker was appointed at Club América in Mexico on 15 June 1994. His team included African players such as François Omam-Biyik of Cameroon and Kalusha Bwalya from Zambia. Despite winning 18 and losing 4 of his 31 matches, he was removed with no official explanation on 6 April 1995. In 2010, he said in an interview that this was because he had argued with club president Emilio Diez Barroso, who did not want Joaquín del Olmo in the team due to the cost of the player.