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Date of Birth: Thursday, November 8, 2046
Birth Place: Holland
Former Clubs/Teams: PSV, South Korea, Australia, Russia

Biography

Guus Hiddink is the manager of Russia. Following Chelsea’s dismissal of Felipe Scolari, Guus Hiddink was confirmed as the coach on a temporary basis – with the situation reviewed by both Russia and Chelsea in June 2009. Hiddink has a close relationship with Russia’s main fund-donator and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich. Hiddink commands the respect of all footballers, having achieved great things with international teams.

Childhood

Guus Hiddink was born on 8th November 1946 in Varsseveld, Holland. He loved playing football as a boy, and was good enough to win a professional contract with De Graafschap – the team he still supports to this day. Spells at PSV and in the USA with the San Jose Earthquakes were sandwiched by returns to De Graafschap. He retired from football in 1982, aged 36, and moved into coaching.

Early Career

Hiddink’s first role in management was as the assistant manager at De Graafschap. After some impressive reports, PSV Eindhoven offered him the Assistant Manager position. Three years as assistant soon led to being offered the main manager role when the head-coach resigned. Hiddink scooped his first silverware in his first full season in charge – leading PSV to the 1988 European Cup. He has a habit of making the team play to the best of their abilities – playing above themselves.

After three Dutch league titles, Hiddink wanted a new challenge, and found it in Istanbul with Fenerbahce. He lasted just over a year in ‘hell’ before he was dismissed. He was slowly learning about the subtleties of the international game, and a stint in Spain with Valencia helped to broaden his horizons further.

On 1st January 1995 he took on the tough role of being Dutch national team manager, a job that should be easy given the quality of the players but made difficult by constant in-fighting and factions within the squad. At a disappointing Euro 96 he was forced to send Edgar Davids home in disgrace, which won him the respect of the other players and the media. By France World Cup 98 Hiddink had started to forge together a team that was happy together, and played great football. Denis Bergkamp led the line as Holland made it to the Semi-Finals, losing unluckily to Brazil.

Unfortunate spells at Real Madrid and Real Betis followed, before he took up another international role – leading an underestimated South Korean side to the Semi-Finals at World Cup 2002 (with home support), beating the Italians and Spanish on the way.

Hiddink then returned to PSV, winning another three league titles, and getting the Dutch side as far as they have ever been in the Champions League. Whilst still with PSV, he managed the Australian national side – taking over in 2005 ahead of their World Cup 2006 campaign. Qualification was simple enough, but their performances in the final tournament – getting to the knockout-stages – surpassed all hopes and expectations. When Australia went out, Hiddink moved on – he had already agreed to a contract with Russia.

Hiddink’s hard-working approach to the game helped Russia to qualify for Euro 2008, ahead of England who were also in their qualification group, and the Russians were a revelation in the final tournament – reaching the semis before losing to eventual tournament-winners Spain.

Current Club

Halfway through Russia’s World Cup 2010 qualification games, Hiddink was approached by close friend Roman Abramovich to take over at Chelsea until the end of the season. Hiddink was effectively fire-fighting, though Chelsea were still close enough to challenge for the Premier League, and in the FA Cup and Champions League.

International

Guus Hiddink is a master of the international game. He has led his home-country (Holland), South Korea, and Australia into the knock-out stages of the World Cup, and is on course to take a fourth team, Russia, to World Cup 2010. He is effective at making unglamorous teams perform better by getting the players to play at their absolute maximum. Hiddink will no doubt have more international appointments in the future, and has not ruled out a return to the Oranje.