Netherlands national football team coach Louis van Gaal has revealed that he has prostate cancer and is currently receiving treatment, but he still intends to lead the Mills team in the World Cup after seven months in Qatar.
The 70-year-old told Dutch broadcaster RTL that the players “don’t realize it”, adding that he had undergone 25 sessions of radiotherapy, including during the Dutch national team’s training camps.
The former Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester United coach, who began treatment last year after being diagnosed in 2020, said the players “think I’m healthy, but I’m not.”
He added in an interview on the occasion of the upcoming release of a movie about his life titled “Louis”: “This is part of my life. I’ve been through a lot in my life, sickness and death, I became the richest person because of those experiences.”
Van Gaal, who contracted the coronavirus last week, broke his hip in 2021 after falling off a bike.
Van Gaal, who is supervising the Dutch national team for the third time in his career, sparked controversy last month, when he considered the decision to grant Qatar the organization of the 2022 World Cup “ridiculous”, accusing the International Federation (FIFA) of taking this step for “financial and commercial reasons”, prompting the Secretary-General of the Supreme Committee for Projects. And the Qatari legacy, Hassan Al-Thawadi, to respond to it.
The Netherlands, runners-up for the 1974, 1978 and 2010 World Cups, fell in the first group in the World Cup along with host Qatar, Ecuador and Senegal, knowing that they missed the last edition in Russia 2018 after they finished third with Van Gaal in the 2014 finals in Brazil. The Netherlands is playing the opening match of the World Cup With Senegal on November 21.
United, who was supervised by Van Gaal between 2014 and 2016, was among those who wished their former coach to recover. He tweeted: “Everyone at Manchester United is standing behind our former coach in his fight against cancer. Sending you courage and strength, Lewis.”
As for Barcelona, who supervised him twice and led him to the league title, he tweeted, “Our thoughts and prayers are with former Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal… Stay strong, Luis, and recover quickly.”
Former Barcelona star, English striker Gary Lineker, top scorer of the 1986 World Cup, tweeted, “Best wishes and hopes for a speedy recovery for Louis van Gaal.”
Surprising return to the Dutch national team
Van Gaal had returned to the orange team after the resignation of former coach Frank de Boer, after a disappointing exit from the round of 16 in the European Cup last summer.
“Dutch football has always been close to my heart and coaching the national team is, in my opinion, a key position for our football progress. Coaching the national team is an honor for me,” said the serious coach, who led the Netherlands from 2000-2002 and 2012-2014, after his recent return.
During Van Gaal’s first period as coach of the Netherlands, the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
The former Sparta Rotterdam defender moved in the 1980s to coach United but was sacked two days after winning the FA Cup in 2016. He said at the time that winning the cup with the “Red Devils” was “the greatest achievement of my career”.
The sober coach who led Ajax Amsterdam to the Champions League title in 1995 and then runner-up in 1996, announced his retirement from coaching in January 2017.
Before that with Barcelona between 1997 and 2000, he won the Spanish League twice with the Catalan team. He returned to him in 2002 for an unsuccessful period, and also trained Bayern Munich between 2009 and 2011, where he won the League title and the European Champions League runner-up.
“Most of the time we don’t die of prostate cancer,” Van Gaal said. “There are often underlying diseases that can be fatal in this type of cancer.”