LOUIS VAN GAAL has announced he is retiring from football management, ending a famous career that spanned 25 years.
“I am a pensioner now. I have no ambition to be a technical director or a TV pundit,” Van Gaal told Dutch TV show VTBL.
“My wife Truus gave up her job for me 22 years ago, and followed me when I went abroad. I told her I would quit as a coach when I turned 55, but instead kept going until I was 65.
“She is entitled to have a life with me outside of football. I can say she is very happy.”
Van Gaal won a host of trophies in an iconic career, most famously the 1995 Champions League with Ajax. He also won three Dutch league titles with Ajax before leaving for Barcelona, with whom he won La Liga twice. He later won another Dutch title with AZ Alkmaar, and then the 2009/10 Bundesliga crown with Bayern Munich.
His final job was with Manchester United, with whom he won the FA Cup on the day he was sacked.
He had two spells in charge of the Dutch national team, the second more successful than the first. He guided an unfancied side to the semi-finals of the 2014 World Cup, having shocked holders Spain 5-1 in the opening game. This helped to atone for the disappointments of his first reign, in which Holland were denied a place at the 2002 World Cup by the Republic of Ireland.
Following the announcement, Man United striker Marcus Rashford – to whom Van Gaal handed a senior debut – tweeted his gratitude to his former manager.
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