Willem "Wim" van Hanegem (; born 20 February 1944) is a Dutch former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and coach who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. In a playing career spanning over 20 years, he won several domestic honours in the Netherlands, as well as both the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

and

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

with

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. He was also part of the Dutch national team that were runners-up in the

1974 FIFA World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

. As a manager, he won the league and cup with Feyenoord and spent a period as the Dutch national team's assistant coach. His most recent job as manager was for

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

, from 2007 to 2008.

Early life

Van Hanegem was born on 20 February 1944 in Breskens, the son of Lo van Hanegem (1905-1944) and Anna van Grol. During an Allied bombing raid on Breskens on 11 September 1944, his father Lo, brother Isaac and his sister were killed. After the war, he moved to Utrecht with his mother. During a training session of Velox, he stood on the sidelines and every ball that went wide of the goal, he shot back so accurately that coach Daan van Beek asked him to come and play for the club. Six months later, he played in the club's first team.

Club career

Van Hanegem spent six years at Velox, playing 109 games and scoring 39 goals. After six years with Velox, Van Hanegem moved from Utrecht to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, where he played for Xerxes, which had just won promotion at the Eredivisie. In the 1967-68 season, Van Hanegem was the second best top scorer in the Eredivisie, scoring 26 goals.

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

was interested in Van Hanegem's services, but coach

Rinus Michels Marinus Jacobus Hendricus "Rinus" Michels (; 9 February 1928 – 3 March 2005) was a Dutch Association football, football player and coach. He list of one-club men in association football, played his entire career for AFC Ajax, Ajax, which he ...

refused to buy the player, believing that he was not suited for "modern football" due to his lack of pace and "one-dimensional" playing style. Van Hanegem would instead sign for Ajax's rivals

, where he would enjoy his greatest successes, and play alongside players such as

Wim Jansen Wilhelmus Marinus Antonius "Wim" Jansen (; 28 October 1946 – 25 January 2022) was a Dutch professional association football, football player and manager. As a midfielder or defender (association football), defender, he spent most of his caree ...

Franz Hasil Franz Hasil (born 28 July 1944 in Vienna) is a former Austrian footballer. Club career Born in Vienna, Hasil started his career at local giants Rapid Wien before moving abroad to play for Schalke 04. After one season in Germany, he moved to Fey ...

Coen Moulijn Coenraadt "Coen" Moulijn (15 February 1937 – 4 January 2011) was a Dutch professional footballer. He spent nearly his entire club career with Feyenoord, winning several trophies. He also played for the Netherlands national team. Club career C ...

Ove Kindvall Bengt Ove Kindvall (born 16 May 1943) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He started his career at IFK Norrköping, where he played until he joined Feyenoord in 1966 and became professional. The same year, he ...

Ruud Geels Geertruida Maria "Ruud" Geels (; 28 July 1948 – 18 November 2023) was a Dutch professional footballer who played as a striker. He obtained 20 caps for the Netherlands national team, scoring eleven goals, in the 1970s. A prolific goalscorer, ...

, Theo Laseroms,

Rinus Israël Marinus "Rinus" David Israël (born 19 March 1942) is a Dutch former professional association football, football player and manager who is currently a scout. Nicknamed "Iron Rinus", he formed a solid defence line at Feyenoord with Theo Laserom ...

Theo de Jong Theodorus Jacob de Jong (born 11 August 1947) is a Dutch former professional footballer and former football coach. During his career, he played for NEC Nijmegen and Feyenoord Rotterdam. He earned 15 caps and scored 3 goals for the Netherla ...

, Johan Boskamp and

Wim Rijsbergen Wilhelmus "Wim" Gerardus Rijsbergen (; born 18 January 1952) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a defender. He was last the manager of Solomon Islands' national team. Playing career Rijsbergen was born in Leiden, Sout ...

. He also established a father-son relationship with club coach

Ernst Happel Ernst Franz Hermann Happel (29 November 1925 – 14 November 1992) was an Austrian football player and manager. Happel is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, winning both league and domestic cup titles in the Netherlands, Bel ...

. With Van Hanegem's playmaking skills, Feyenoord won three Eredivisie titles, a

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

, a

and an International Cup in 1970 and a UEFA Cup in 1974. Van Hanegem left Feyenoord in 1976 to join

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

, where he played for three seasons alongside striker

Kees Kist Cornelis Kist (born 7 August 1952) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer and manager. He played as a striker (association football), striker, and most notably won the European Golden Shoe for the 1978–79 season. Club ...

and midfielders Peter Arntz and Jan Peters, winning the

in 1978. He had a brief stint with

Chicago Sting The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...

in 1979, until he returned to the Netherlands the same year to play for

(a merger of clubs VV DOS, USV Elinkwijk and Velox, the club that he played for in his younger years). He returned to Feyenoord in 1981, playing for two seasons.

International career

Van Hanegem played 52 times for the Dutch national team, scoring six goals in total. At the

1974 World Cup The 1974 FIFA World Cup was the 10th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in West Germany (and West Berlin) between 13 June and 7 July. The tournament marked the ...

, he formed a formidable midfield with fellow Feyenoord teammate

and Ajax midfielder

Johan Neeskens RCH may stand for: * Radio Club de Honduras, an amateur radio organization * Railway Clearing House, the British financial clearing house and technical standards bureau for railways * The Royal Canadian Hussars (Montreal), a unit of the Canadian ...

; English football writer and novelist

Brian Glanville Brian Lester Glanville (24 September 1931 – 16 May 2025) was an English football writer and novelist. He was described by ''The Times'' as "the doyen of football writers—arguably the finest football writer of his—or any other—generation" ...

named him his player of the 1974 World Cup. He also played in the

UEFA Euro 1976 The 1976 UEFA European Football Championship tournament was held in Yugoslavia. This was the fifth UEFA European Championship, held every four years and endorsed by UEFA and the first and only tournament that was held in a socialist state. The ...

, winning a bronze medal. He was initially selected to play for the Netherlands in the

1978 FIFA World Cup The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...

, but after his AZ teammate

Hugo Hovenkamp Hugo Hermanus Hovenkamp (born 5 October 1950) is a Dutch former professional footballer, who played as a left-back. Most notably, he played for Eredivisie club AZ '67 in the late 1970s and early 1980s, where he won the 1980–81 championship, a ...

suffered a knee injury, Van Hanegem declined to go. He last played for the national team in 1979.

Style of play

Van Hanegem is widely considered one of the greatest Dutch players of all time, and by some as one of the finest midfielders in football history. Capable of playing as an attacking, central and

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, Van Hanegem was renowned for his tactical insight and was well known for his fantastic passing range and his ability with the ball at his feet. Both his way of sprinting (he had bandy legs), and his skill to give the ball a curve (achieved by striking the ball with the outside of his left foot) gave him the nickname ''De Kromme'' (The Crooked). Whilst being known for being a playmaker, he was capable of scoring goals (being the second top scorer in the 1967-68 season of the Eredivisie) and also excel in defensive duties such as breaking up plays through tackles. In some occasions, Van Hanegem played as a sweeper whenever his fellow Feyenoord teammate Rinus Israel was injured, and would later play the same role in his last years at Feyenoord. Van Hanegem was also known for his leadership skills, workrate and tenacity. His primary weakness was his lack of pace.

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, Van Hanegem joined Feyenoord as assistant manager in 1983 and stayed in the post until 1986. He then joined

as assistant, before moving to

FC Wageningen FC Wageningen (before 1978 ''Wageningen'' and ''WVV Wageningen'') was a Dutch football club which was founded on 27 August 1911., The club played its matches in the Wageningse Berg stadium. History FC Wageningen spent most of its history in ...

. He returned to Feyenoord as manager in 1992, winning the league in 1993 and the Dutch Cup in 1994 and 1995. In 1995, he had a spell as manager with Saudi Arabian club Al-Hilal, then took the post at AZ'67 in 1997. He joined

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

in 2001. His stay was short-lived, and afterwards he became assistant manager of the Dutch national side. He was appointed manager of

in July 2007 and was fired on 23 December 2008.

Personal life

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."Winner, D. Brilliant Orange. Bloomsbury, 2000. His hatred was summed up after the 1974 final, "The important thing was to beat the Germans by any score, as long as we humiliated them. They murdered my father, sister and two brothers. I am full of angst. I hate them." After the game (with Germany winning 2–1) Van Hanegem was the only Dutch player that left the field in tears. In later years, however, Van Hanegem used a more conciliatory tone, when commenting on the war. He married Truus de Nijs in 1963 and divorced her in 1983. Willem's son, Willem van Hanegem Jr., is an international

electronic dance music Electronic dance music (EDM), also referred to as dance music or club music, is a broad range of percussive electronic music genres originally made for nightclubs, raves, and List of electronic dance music festivals, festivals. It is generally ...

artist and DJ. Together with Ward van der Harst, he forms the DJ/producer duo W&W. His other son, Gert van Hanegem, played football professionally at FC Utrecht. Van Hanegem was diagnosed with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is the neoplasm, uncontrolled growth of cells in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system below the bladder. Abnormal growth of the prostate tissue is usually detected through Screening (medicine), screening tests, ...

in January 2018, but recovered in March. He received the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau () is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has performed acts of special merits for ...

in 2024.

Honours

Player

Feyenoord *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

: 1968–69, 1970–71, 1973–74 *

: 1968–69 *

: 1969–70 * Intercontinental Cup:

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

: 1973–74 AZ'67 *

: 1977–78 Netherlands *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

: runner-up

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; ...

* European Football Championship: third place

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

* Tournoi de Paris: 1978 Individual *

Dutch Footballer of the Year The title Dutch Footballer of the Year ( Dutch: ''Voetballer van het Jaar'') has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984. The award is determined by a poll of Dutch professional footballers playing in the First (Eredivisie) and Second (Eerste Di ...

: 1971

Manager

Feyenoord *

: 1992–93 *

: 1993–94, 1994–95

References

External links

Statistics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hanegem, Willem van 1944 births Living people People from Breskens Footballers from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht Dutch men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Dutch association football commentators Netherlands men's international footballers Eredivisie players Velox SC players XerxesDZB players Feyenoord players AZ Alkmaar players Van Hanegem, Willem FC Utrecht players 1974 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1976 players Van Hanegem, Willem Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United States Dutch football managers Eredivisie managers FC Wageningen managers Feyenoord managers Van Hanegem, Willem AZ Alkmaar managers Sparta Rotterdam managers FC Utrecht managers UEFA Champions League–winning players UEFA Europa League–winning players Footballers from Zeeland 20th-century Dutch sportsmen