Born as Aloysius Paulus Maria van Gaal on the 8th August 1951 in Amsterdam, Netherlands Louis is a former professional soccer player and current manager, who has become one of the most successful managers not only in the Netherlands but also in the world with 20 major titles won throughout his career. He has coached such teams as Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United.
Have you ever wondered how rich Louis van Gaal is, as of mid- 2017? According to authoritative sources, it has been estimated that van Gaal’s net worth is as high as $16 million, an amount earned through his successful career in soccer.
Louis van Gaal Net Worth $16 Million
Louis was raised as a Catholic in a family of nine siblings, of which he is the youngest. From an early age Louis fell in love with soccer, and became a part of the Amsterdam amateur team RKSV de Meer, and as he became older ,his skills improved, and as a result, he became a player of the second team of Ajax when he was 20 years old. Unfortunately, he never made it into the first team as the midfield was cemented by Johan Cruyff and Johan Neeskens. He was then sent to Royal Antwerp of the Belgium First Division, where he stayed for the next four seasons, returning to the Netherlands in 1977 to join Telstar, playing for the one year before moving to Sparta Rotterdam in 1978. He stayed in Sparta until 1986, when he had a short stint at AZ Alkmaar, and following the end of the 1986 season, Louis retired from playing and commenced his managerial career.
First, Louis was an assistant manager at AZ Alkmaar, and then joined the coaching staff of Aja, under head coach Leo Beenhakker, and after Beenhakker left in 1991, Louis took over his position.
He was the head coach of Ajax from 1991 until 1997, and managed the team in 285 games, out of which he won 196, with 49 draws, and only 40 lost matches. He won the Netherlands Eredivisie on three occasions, the UEFA Cup in 1991-1992 season, and most importantly the UEFA Champions League in the 1994-1995 season, without a losing a single game.
His contract expired in 1997, and he joined Spanish giant Barcelona, staying there until 2000, winning La Liga in 1997-1998 and 1998-1999 seasons, the Copa del Rey in 1997-1998, and UEFA Super Cup in 1997; he left Barcelona in 2000 after losing the title to Deportivo de La Coruña. After the title was mathematically lost, during a conference he stated, “Amigos de la prensa. Yo me voy. Felicidades”, which translates to “Friends of the press. I am leaving. Congratulations”. Nevertheless, he returned to Barcelona in 2002, but this time his stint was shorter as he left the club in 2003, due to extremely low results, leaving the club at 12th in the La Liga table.
In 2004 he was briefly technical director of Ajax, but had several disagreements with the then manager Ronald Koeman and soon left his position.
The following year, Louis was unveiled as the new manager of AZ Alkmaar, with which he won the Eredivisie in the 2008-2009 season. Following this success, Louis joined Bundesliga side Bayern Munich, where he continued his dominance, winning the Bundesliga, DFB-Pokal, and DFB Supercup in the first season with the team. Unfortunately, his results began to decline, and in 2011 he was sacked by the club.
The last club he managed was the Premier League club, Manchester United; he took over the position from David Moyes and managed to win the FA Cup in the 2015-2016 season, before his contract was terminated due to finishing 5th in the Premier League for the 2015-2016 season.
Aside from club career, van Gaal also managed the Netherlands national team on two occasions; first from 2000 to 2002, and then from 2012 to 2014, and managed to finish third at the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Most recently, Louis stated that he was taking a break from coaching, but hasn’t yet retired and will return to soccer.
Thanks to his successful career, Louis won several individual honors, including being made Knight of the Order of Orange-Nassau in 1997, following his successful stint with Ajax, then he was named World Soccer Manager of the Year in 1995, Dutch Sports Coach of the Year two times, in 2009 and 2014, while he was also named German Football Manager of the Year in 2010, among other recognitions.
Regarding his personal life, Louis has been married to Truus since 2008. Previously, he was married to Fernanda Obbes from 1972 until her death in 1994; the couple had two children together.
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