Erik ten Hag

Erik ten Hag (born 2 February 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Premier League club Manchester United.

Ten Hag played as a centre-back and began his career with Eredivisie club Twente.

Erik ten Hag was born on 2 February 1970 in Haaksbergen, Overijssel.

Ten Hag played primarily as a centre-back for Twente, De Graafschap, RKC Waalwijk and Utrecht.

He joined De Graafschap in 1990, and won the Eerste Divisie in his first season.

Ten Hag also won the Eerste Divisie with De Graafschap in the 1990–91 season, ten years before winning the cup with Twente.

He rejoined Twente in 1992 and transferred to RKC Waalwijk two years later, where he remained for one season before signing with Utrecht in 1995.

Ten Hag returned to Twente for a third time in 1996, where he won KNVB Cup in 2001.

However in the second leg, a second-half hat-trick by Lucas Moura for Tottenham Hotspur, with the last goal being scored in the 96th minute to make it 3–2 (3–3 on aggregate) to win on away goals, eliminated Ajax.

He had three stints with Twente, with whom he won the KNVB Cup in the 2000–01 season.

He retired in 2002, at age 32.

He retired from active playing in 2002 at the age of 32 while playing for Twente, after the end of the 2001–02 Eredivisie season.

Following his retirement, Ten Hag took on a coaching role at Twente's academy, initially overseeing the U17 team, followed by the U19 team until 2006, when he was promoted to assistant manager.

He worked under Fred Rutten and later Steve McClaren until 2009.

He then joined PSV, working as an assistant under Rutten once more.

Ten Hag began his managerial career in 2012, when he was appointed by Go Ahead Eagles, where he led the club to promotion to the Eredivisie in his debut season.

In 2012, Ten Hag was appointed as manager of Go Ahead Eagles in the Eerste Divisie by Marc Overmars, who was a shareholder of the club.

During his only season at Go Ahead Eagles, he led the team to its first promotion in 17 years.

He then joined Bayern Munich II in 2013, winning promotion to the Regionalliga Bayern in 2014.

He coached Bayern Munich II from 6 June 2013, until 2015, when he was replaced by Heiko Vogel.

During his time as manager Ten Hag led his team to the Regionalliga Bayern.

He returned to the Netherlands in 2015 as sporting director and head coach at Utrecht.

Ten Hag then became the sporting director and head coach of Utrecht in summer 2015, on a two-year deal.

In his first season, he led the club to the 2016 KNVB Cup final, losing 2–1 to Giovanni van Bronckhorst's Feyenoord; a league finish of fifth put them in the playoffs for a UEFA Europa League place, losing 3–1 on aggregate to Heracles Almelo.

The following season, a fourth-place finish put Utrecht in the playoffs again, where they secured a European place on penalties against AZ Alkmaar.

He joined Ajax in 2017, where he won three Eredivisie titles, two KNVB Cups, and led the team to the semi-finals of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League.

In 2022, he was appointed as the manager of Manchester United.

Utrecht were sixth when Ten Hag left at the mid-point of the 2017–18 Eredivisie season.

On 28 December 2017, Ten Hag was appointed as the head coach of Ajax after the club dismissed Marcel Keizer.

His debut on 21 January 2018 was a 2–1 home win in De Klassieker against Feyenoord.

Ten Hag led the team to the semi-finals of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1997, by winning against defending champions Real Madrid 4–1 in the Santiago Bernabéu at the round of 16 stage, and also beating Juventus away 1–2 having drawn the first leg 1–1 at home in the quarter-finals.

In the first leg of the semi-final, he led his team to a 1–0 win against Tottenham Hotspur in the recently completed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

He won his first managerial trophy with Ajax on 5 May 2019, the 2018–19 KNVB Cup, beating Willem II in the final.

Ten days later, Ajax won the Eredivisie as well, after a 1–4 away victory over De Graafschap, completing a double.

At the end of the season, Ten Hag signed a new contract until 2022.

Ajax began their 2019–20 season with a 2–0 victory over PSV in the 2019 Johan Cruyff Shield.

During the 2019–20 Eredivisie season, Ajax won 14 and drew two of their first 16 matches.

This was followed by successive defeats to Willem II and to AZ.

He signed a deal until June 2020.

He arrived at a team that had already been eliminated from the domestic cup, as well as the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and Europa League.