Professional Soccer Coach and Player. As a defender for Rapid Vienna and RC Paris, he played in 282 games with 34 goals from 1942 to 1959, winning six Austrian championships. He also represented Austria 51 times with 5 goals and finished third with them in the 1954 FIFA World Cup. But he is probably best known as a coach, leading the Netherlands to the FIFA World Cup final in 1978 vs Argentina. As a club coach, he won championships in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. He also won Europe's top club trophy, the European Champions Cup, twice: in 1970 with Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Dutch league and in 1983 with Hamburg SV of the German Bundesliga. After his death from lung cancer, the main stadium in Vienna was named after him. He was selected to the World All Star Team in 1953, and in 1997 a street in Rotterdam was named for him. He was also voted as Austria's Coach of the Century.
Professional Soccer Coach and Player. As a defender for Rapid Vienna and RC Paris, he played in 282 games with 34 goals from 1942 to 1959, winning six Austrian championships. He also represented Austria 51 times with 5 goals and finished third with them in the 1954 FIFA World Cup. But he is probably best known as a coach, leading the Netherlands to the FIFA World Cup final in 1978 vs Argentina. As a club coach, he won championships in Austria, Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands. He also won Europe's top club trophy, the European Champions Cup, twice: in 1970 with Feyenoord Rotterdam of the Dutch league and in 1983 with Hamburg SV of the German Bundesliga. After his death from lung cancer, the main stadium in Vienna was named after him. He was selected to the World All Star Team in 1953, and in 1997 a street in Rotterdam was named for him. He was also voted as Austria's Coach of the Century.
Bio by: Kenneth Gilbert
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