Ernst Happel

Ernst Happel

Personal information
Full name	Ernst Franz Hermann Happel
Date of birth	29 November 1925(1925-11-29)
Place of birth	Vienna, Austria
Date of death	14 November 1992(1992-11-14) (aged 66)
Place of death	Innsbruck, Austria
Playing position	Defender
Youth career
1938–1942	Rapid Wien
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1942–1954	Rapid Wien	177	(8)
1955–1956	RC Paris	42	(9)
1956–1959	Rapid Wien	63	(17)
Total		282	(34)
National team
1947–1958	Austria	51	(5)
Teams managed
1962–1968	ADO Den Haag
1968–1973	Feyenoord
1973–1975	Sevilla
1975–1978	Club Brugge
1978	Netherlands
1979	Harelbeke
1979–1981	Standard Liège
1981–1987	Hamburger SV
1987–1991	FC Tirol
1991–1992	Austria
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Ernst Franz Hermann Happel (29 November 1925 – 14 November 1992) was an Austrian football player and coach.

He is regarded as one of the most successful managers ever, winning both league and domestic cup titles in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Austria as well as winning the European Cup twice, the first in 1970 and the second in 1983, and a runners-up medal at the 1978 FIFA World Cup. He is the first of three managers to have won the European Cup with 2 different clubs, Ottmar Hitzfeld and Jose Mourinho being the other two.

Playing career

Club level

Happel started his professional career at Rapid Wien, where he made his first team debut at 17 years of age. Forming a solid defensive partnership with Max Merkel, he played 14 years for Rapid, from 1943 till 1954 and 1956 till 1959, winning the Austrian Championship title 6 times. He was chosen in Rapid's Team of the Century in 1999.

The 2 years in between Happel played for Racing Club de Paris in France.

International level

He made his debut for Austria in September 1947 against Hungary and was a participant at the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland, where he helped them reach 3rd place, and also at the 1958 World Cup.

His last international was a September 1958 match against Yugoslavia. He earned 51 caps, scoring 5 goals.

Managerial career

After retiring as a player, Happel went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all time. He won the league title in four different countries. He also took two different clubs to gold in the European Champions' Cup (now the UEFA Champions League) and the Netherlands to second place in the 1978 World Cup. His first club was ADO Den Haag in 1962, with whom he won the Dutch Cup in 1968. After Den Haag he coached Feyenoord, with whom he won the Dutch championship in 1971, as well as the European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup in 1970.

At the 1978 FIFA World Cup in Argentina, Happel was coach of the Dutch national team and reached the final against the Argentine national team. Always a man of few words, Happel's pre-match pep talk is said to have consisted of just one sentence: "Gentlemen, two points." The Dutch subsequently lost.

During his career as coach Happel worked for several clubs, including Sevilla, Club Brugge (winning the Belgian Championship title several times) and Hamburg (1981–1987, German champions in 1982 and 1983, German Cup winner 1987).

In 1983 he won the European Cup again, 13 years after the triumph with Feyenoord Rotterdam, this time with Hamburg. He is one of 3 coaches in the history of the European Cup (now called UEFA Champions League) to win the title with two different clubs (the others being Ottmar Hitzfeld, who won with both Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich, and Jose Mourinho, who won with FC Porto and Inter Milan).

In 1987 Happel returned to Austria as coach of FC Swarovski Tirol. With FC Tirol he won the Austrian Championship title twice (1989 and 1990) before becoming coach of the Austrian national team in 1992.

Death

He died of lung cancer in 1992 aged 66. After his death, the biggest football stadium in Austria, the Praterstadion in Vienna, was renamed Ernst Happel Stadion. Four days after his death Austria played against Germany and reached a 0:0 draw. Ernst Happel's cap lay on the bench during the whole game.

Honours

As a player

• Austrian Football Bundesliga (6):
  • 1946, 1948, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1957
• Austrian Cup (1):
  • 1946
• Zentropa Cup (1):
  • 1951

As a coach

• ADO Den Haag
  • Dutch Cup: 1967–68
• Feyenoord
  • Dutch Championship: 1970–71
  • European Cup: 1969–70
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1970
• Club Brugge
  • Belgian Championship: 1975–76, 1976–77, 1977–78
  • Belgian Cup: 1976–77
  • UEFA Cup: 1975-76 (Runner-up)
  • European Cup: 1977-78 (Runner-up)
• Standard Liège
  • Belgian Cup: 1980–81
  • Belgian Supercup: 1981
  • Belgian Championship: 1979-80 (Runner-up)
• The Netherlands
  • FIFA World Cup: (Runner–Up) 1978
• Hamburger SV
  • German Championship: 1981–82, 1982–83
  • German Cup: 1986–87
  • European Cup: 1982–83
  • UEFA Cup: 1981–82 (Runner-up)
  • European Super Cup: 1983 (Runner-up)
  • Intercontinental Cup: 1983 (Runner-up)
• FC Swarovski Tirol
  • Austrian Championship: 1988–89, 1989–90
  • Austrian Cup: 1988–89

External links

• Player profile - Rapid Archive
• Career stats - National Football Teams

References

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Nereo Rocco (ITA)	European Cup Winning Coach 1969 – 1970	Succeeded by Rinus Michels (NED)
Preceded by Tony Barton (ENG)	European Cup Winning Coach 1982 – 1983	Succeeded by Joe Fagan (ENG)