Ruud Gullit

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Personal information
Ruud Gullit

Full name	Ruud Dil Gullit
Date of birth	September 1, 1962
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Position	Midfield
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1978-1982 1982-1985 1985-1987 1987-1993 1993-1994 1994 1995 1995-1998	Haarlem Feyenoord Rotterdam PSV Eindhoven AC Milan Sampdoria AC Milan Sampdoria Chelsea	91 (32) 85 (30) 68 (46) 117 (35) 31 (15) 8 (3) 22 (9) 49 (4)
National team
1981-1994	Netherlands	66 (16)
Teams managed
1996-1998 1998-1999 2004-2005	Chelsea Newcastle United Feyenoord
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Ruud Gullit (born September 1, 1962) is a Dutch footballer coach and former player, who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s. He was a member of the Netherlands national team at the Euro 88 and the 1990 World Cup. He was named the European Footballer of the Year in 1987 and the World Soccer European player of the year in 1987 and 1989. He was a versatile player, as he played several positions during his career.

1 Club career
2 National team
3 Managerial career
4 After football
5 Personal life
6 Honours
7 Further reading

[edit] Club career

Gullit, of Surinamese descent, was born Ruud Dil in Amsterdam. He signed for Meerboys as a junior in 1970. In 1978, he signed professional forms for HFC Haarlem by coach and former West Bromwich Albion F.C. player Barry Hughes. Gullit made 91 league appearances for Haarlem, scoring 32 goals.

In 1982, he moved to Feyenoord, where he made 85 league appearances, scoring 30 goals. In 1985 he moved to PSV Eindhoven for ƒ1.2 million (£400,000), for which he scored 46 goals in 68 league appearances.

Silvio Berlusconi signed Gullit for A.C. Milan in 1987, paying the then record fee of ƒ17 million ((€7.7 million, £6million)). Among his teammates at that club were countrymen Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, along with Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi. From 1988 to 1992, Milan captured three Serie A titles and two European Cups (1989 and 1990).

He won the European Footballer of the Year award in 1987 and dedicated it to Nelson Mandela.

After his retirement from international football in 1993, Gullit moved to Sampdoria and led the club to victory in the final of the 1993/1994 Italian Cup. AC Milan re-signed him in 1994, but he returned to Sampdoria to finish the 1994/95 season.

In July 1995, he signed for Chelsea F.C. on a free transfer. Initially played as sweeper by manager Glenn Hoddle with limited success, Gullit was moved to his more familiar role in midfield, where he scored six goals.

[edit] National team

In 1981, on his 19th birthday, Gullit made his international debut for the Netherlands national team against Switzerland.

He was one of the key players for the Netherlands helping his country win the Euro 88.

Before the 1994 World Cup, Gullit walked out of the training camp and retired from international football.

[edit] Managerial career

In the summer of 1996, when Glenn Hoddle left Chelsea to become manager of the England national team, Gullit was appointed as a player-manager. Gullit made a promising start to his managerial career when in the first season as a player-manager he guided Chelsea to an FA Cup title in 1997, the club's first major trophy in 26 years. Gullit became the first non-British manager to win the FA Cup. The club also finished at a credible sixth place in the Premiership. The following season, with Chelsea in the second place in the Premiership and proceeding to the quarterfinals in two cup competitions, he was sacked, allegedly for a disagreement with the club's board over the compensation. ^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, he was named manager of Newcastle United F.C., and his managerial career again was on track, with an FA Cup final appearance in his first year. In the following season, fans began to turn against him after a poor run of results, and a well-publicised contretemps with star striker and local hero Alan Shearer and captain Robert Lee did not put him in a favorable light.^{[citation needed]} Gullit even refused to assign Lee a squad number. On a match between Newcastle and local rivals Sunderland following the latter's return to the Premiership, Gullit, to the surprise of many, left the usually starting strikers Alan Shearer and Duncan Ferguson on the bench. Newcastle lost 2-1. Gullit resigned three days later, after only five games into the 1999-2000 season.

[edit] After football

After his spell at Newcastle, Gullit spent several years working as a football commentator and coined the term sexy football [[1]] Before the start of the 2004/2005 season, he took charge of Feyenoord Rotterdam quitting at the end of that season without any honours.

By 2006, Gullit had a talk show on Dutch TV, where he has interviewed, amongst others, Nelson Mandela [2]. He also appeared as a pundit for English TV during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

He is currently an analyst for the Eredivisie on Talpa TV and on Sky Sports for UEFA Champions League games.

[edit] Personal life

Gullit has been married three times and has six children:

Yvonne de Vries - 1984 to 1991: two children, daughters Felicity and Charmayne.
Cristina Pensa - 1994 to May 2000: two children, son Quincy and daughter Sheyenne.
Estelle Cruijff - 3 June 2000 - present: She is the niece of Johan Cruyff. They have two children, son Maxim and daughter Joëlle.

[edit] Honours

National team

1988 European Championship winner (Netherlands)

Club

1984 Dutch Cup winner (Feyenoord)
1984 Dutch League champion (Feyenoord)
1986 Dutch League champion (PSV Eindhoven)
1987 Dutch League champion (PSV Eindhoven)
1988 Serie A Champion (Milan AC)
1988 Italian Super Cup winner (Milan AC)
1989 UEFA Champions League winner (Milan AC)
1990 European Super Cup winner (Milan AC)
1990 Intercontinental Cup winner (Milan AC)
1990 UEFA Champions League winner (Milan AC)
1992 Italian Super Cup winner (Milan AC)
1994 Italian Super Cup winner (Milan AC)
1992 Serie A champion (Milan AC)
1993 Serie A champion (Milan AC)
1994 Italian Cup Winner (Sampdoria)

Individual

1987 European Footballer of the Year
1987 World Soccer Magazine European Footballer of the Year
1989 World Soccer Magazine European Footballer of the Year

Preceded by: Igor Belanov	European Footballer of the Year 1987	Succeeded by: Marco van Basten
Preceded by: Diego Maradona	World Soccer Player of the Year 1987	Succeeded by: Marco van Basten
Preceded by: Marco van Basten	World Soccer Player of the Year 1989	Succeeded by: Lothar Matthaus
Preceded by: Glenn Hoddle	Chelsea Manager 1996 - 1998	Succeeded by: Gianluca Vialli
Preceded by: Kenny Dalglish	Newcastle United Manager 1998 - 1999	Succeeded by: Steve Clarke (caretaker)
Preceded by: Bert van Marwijk	Feyenoord Rotterdam Manager 2004 - 2005	Succeeded by: Erwin Koeman

Preceded by: Hein Vergeer	Dutch Sportsman of the Year 1987	Succeeded by: Steven Rooks

[edit] Further reading

FIFA interview with Gullit from March 2005 - fifaworldcup.yahoo.com - FIFA, 2005 - retrieved October 2006.

	Netherlands squad - 1990 World Cup
1 van Breukelen \| 2 van Aerle \| 3 Rijkaard \| 4 R. Koeman \| 5 van Tiggelen \| 6 Wouters \| 7 E. Koeman \| 8 Vanenburg \| 9 van Basten \| 10 Gullit \| 11 Witschge \| 12 Kieft \| 13 Rutjes \| 14 van 't Schip \| 15 Roy \| 16 Hiele \| 17 Gillhaus \| 18 Fräser \| 19 van Loen \| 20 Winter \| 21 Blind \| 22 Menzo \| Coach: Beenhakker