Ernst Happel
![]() Happel in 1978 | |||
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ernst Franz Hermann Happel | ||
Date of birth | 29 November 1925 | ||
Place of birth | Vienna, Austria | ||
Date of death | 14 November 1992 | (aged 66)||
Place of death | Innsbruck, Austria | ||
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
Position(s) | 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) | |
International career | |||
1947–1958 | Austria | 51 | (5) |
Managerial career | |||
1962–1969 | ADO Den Haag | ||
1967 | → San Francisco Gales (USA) | ||
1969–1973 | Feyenoord | ||
1973–1974 | Sevilla | ||
1974–1978 | Club Brugge | ||
1977–1978 | Netherlands | ||
1979 | Harelbeke | ||
1979–1981 | Standard Liège | ||
1981–1987 | Hamburger SV | ||
1987–1991 | FC Swarovski Tirol | ||
1992 | Austria | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and 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 was the first of the five managers to have won the European Cup with 2 different clubs, Carlo Ancelotti, Ottmar Hitzfeld, José Mourinho and Jupp Heynckes being the other four. He is also one of four managers, along with Mourinho, Giovanni Trapattoni and Tomislav Ivić to have won domestic league championships in four different European countries.
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.[1]
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.[2]
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 5 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, Jose Mourinho, who won with FC Porto and Inter Milan, Jupp Heynckes, who won with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich and Carlo Ancelotti, who won with AC Milan and Real Madrid).
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
A heavy smoker for most of his adult life, Happel died of lung cancer in 1992 aged 66. In the wake of 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.
Managerial statistics
- As of 9 May 2012
Team | From | To | Record | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
ADO Den Haag | ||||||||
Feyenoord | ||||||||
Sevilla | ||||||||
Club Brugge | 21 January 1974 | |||||||
K.R.C. Harelbeke | ||||||||
Netherlands | 31 August 1977 | 25 June 1978 | ||||||
Standard Liège | 1 July 1979 | 30 June 1981 | ||||||
Hamburger SV | 1 July 1981 | 30 June 1987 | 241 | 132 | 57 | 52 | 54.77 | |
FC Tirol | 1 July 1987 | 1 December 1991 | ||||||
Austria | 1 January 1992 | 14 November 1992 | ||||||
Total | 241 | 132 | 57 | 52 | 54.77 | — |
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
References
- ^ Team of the Century – Rapid Archive
- ^ Appearances for Austrian National Team – RSSSF
External links
- Player profile – Rapid Archive
- Ernst Happel at National-Football-Teams.com
- Use dmy dates from June 2013
- 1925 births
- 1992 deaths
- Austrian footballers
- Austrian football managers
- SK Rapid Wien players
- RCF Paris players
- Ligue 1 players
- Austrian Football Bundesliga players
- Austria international footballers
- Olympic footballers of Austria
- Footballers at the 1948 Summer Olympics
- 1954 FIFA World Cup players
- 1958 FIFA World Cup players
- ADO Den Haag managers
- Feyenoord managers
- Sevilla FC managers
- Club Brugge KV head coaches
- Netherlands national football team managers
- Standard Liège managers
- Hamburger SV managers
- Austria national football team managers
- 1978 FIFA World Cup managers
- Eredivisie managers
- UEFA Champions League winning managers
- Austrian expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in France
- Austrian expatriates in France
- Austrian expatriates in the Netherlands
- Austrian expatriates in Spain
- Austrian expatriates in Belgium
- Austrian expatriates in Germany
- Deaths from cancer in Austria
- Sportspeople from Vienna
- Bundesliga managers
- Expatriate football managers in Belgium
- Expatriate football managers in Germany
- Expatriate football managers in the Netherlands
- Expatriate football managers in Spain
- Deaths from lung cancer
- Austrian expatriate football managers
- FC Swarovski Tirol managers
- KRC Harelbeke managers
- United Soccer Association coaches