Ernst Happel Biography

Ernst Happel, born 29 November 1925 in Vienna, died 14 November 1992 in Innsbruck, was an Austrian football coach and player. Having spent the majority of his playing career with

, Happel played a season for the RC Paris, before returning to Rapid Wien, where he retired from playing football in 1959.

He was one of Austria's top players in the 1950s, and played in the 1954 and 1958 World Cups, coming third in 1954 in Switzerland. In total, Ernst Happel played 51 matches for the

, scoring 5 goals.

Ernst Happel is the most successful Austrian football coach. He started his coaching career with the Dutch club ADO Den Haag and then went on to Feyenoord. He managed to lead Feyenoord to their greatest success ever when they won the European Cup in 1970.

Furthermore, it was the first time a Dutch club team won the tournament. In 1978, Happel was back in the Netherlands as the national team coach of the Netherlands football team, which went on to a World Cup runner-up title in Argentina.

Happel became the new coach of Hamburger SV in 1981 and guided the club through its most successful period, winning leagues and cups but most notably winning the European Cup in 1983. He then left Hamburger SV in 1987 and returned home to Austria.

All You Need to Know About Ernst Happel Biography

He was the first coach to win the UEFA Champions League with two different clubs. Only he, Carlo Ancelotti, Ottmar Hitzfeld, José Mourinho and Jupp Heynckes have done this to date.

Following Happel's death, Austria's national football stadium, the Praterstadion, was renamed the Ernst-Happel-Stadion.

Ernst Happel Information

Now that we know the Austrian coach much better, in this section of

Ernst Happel biography

we will share more general information about him such as

Ernst Happel nationality

to let you know him even better.

Ernst Happel Bio

• Full Name: Ernst Franz Hermann Happel

• Nickname: N/A

• Profession: Professional Football Coach

Ernst Happel Physical Stats

• Weight: 74 Kg

• Height: 1.78 m

• Eye Color: Light Blue

• Hair Color: Grey

Ernst Happel Football Information

• Position: Defender

• Jersey Number: 3

• Professional Debut: 1942

Ernst Happel Date of Birth and Personal Info

• Date of Birth: 29 November 1925

• Birth Place: Vienna, Austria

• Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius

• Nationality: Austrian

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Ernst Happel biography

as we want to share some info about

Ernst Happel childhood

.

Ernst Happel Early Life

Ernst Happel was born in Vienna and at a young age joined the youth ranks of Rapid Wien, which was forced to join the German league from 1938. After becoming German champions in 1941, Rapid had to send numerous players to the war front, which led to 17-year-old Happel making his debut in the first team of coach Leopold Nitsch in the 1942/43 season.

As a defender, Happel went on to win the double with Rapid in 1946, which was again playing in the Austrian league. Over the next few years, Happel went on to win four more league titles with Rapid and the Centropa Cup.

Then in 1954, Racing Club de Paris was promoted back to Division 1. In order to strengthen his team, coach Auguste Jordan signed big names like Happel and French international Roger Marche. The Austrian spent two seasons with the Parisians, but with his team, which had the Polish top striker Thadée Cisowski, they always finished in the middle of the table.

Happel returned to his hometown after two years in France. He returned to Rapid Wien, with whom he captured the title for the sixth time in 1957. Happel was named in Rapid's "team of the century" in 1999.

Austria national team

The 21-year-old Happel played his first-ever match for the Austrian national team in September 1947. At that time, it was national coach Edi Bauer who granted him his first chance in the national team. The following year, he was part of the team that was qualified to play at the Olympic Games in London. The Austrian team was knocked out in the first round by Sweden, who later won the competition.

The defender then went on to take part in the 1954 World Cup in Switzerland. Happel and his comrades won their group stage and made it to the quarterfinals, in which the host country was thrashed 7-5 after a hat-trick by Theodor Wagner, among others.

Austria then lost in the semi-finals to the later winner West Germany (6-1). In the third-place playoff, Austria clinched third place with a win against defending champion Uruguay (3-1). This third-place finish in 1954 is still the best World Cup performance in the history of the Austrian national team.

Happel also played in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden. However, on this occasion, Austria did not make it through the group stage. Coach Karl Argauer's team did not win a single game and was able to score only two goals in the group stage.

Now stay tuned to this section of

Ernst Happel biography

as we want to share some info about his coaching career.

Ernst Happel Profile

Between 1959 and 1961, Happel worked as a player coach for Rapid Wien. The ex-defender also turned out to be a successful coach; in 1960 he conquered his seventh national title with Rapid, and a year later the club also won the cup.

ADO Den Haag

The Austrian young coach made the switch to

in 1962. Happel, who was appointed as successor to coach Rinus Loof in The Hague and took charge of players such as Harry Heijnen, Piet de Zoete, Jan Villerius, Aad Mansveld and Dick Advocaat, was especially successful in the KNVB Cup.

They reached the final in 1963, 1964 and 1966, but failed to win the trophy each time. Only in 1968 did ADO manage to win the cup. During the final of the tournament, Happel's team went on to beat national champions Ajax 2-1 after goals from Schoenmaker and Kees Aarts.

As a result of the final victory, ADO was able to take part in the European Cup II for the first time a season later. Happel knocked out his fellow countrymen from Grazer AK in the first round but was subsequently eliminated from the tournament by FC Köln.

Feyenoord

After enjoying seven seasons in The Hague, Happel moved to

, where he replaced Ben Peeters as head coach. At Rotterdam, he had the opportunity to work with talented players such as Willem van Hanegem, Coen Moulijn, Rinus Israël, Ruud Geels, Wim Jansen and Austrian Franz Hasil, who Happel knew from his time at Rapid Wien.

This was the start of a golden era for the club. Happel, who emphasised discipline, was famous for his tactical masterpieces and often used German - "Tactics is the brainchild of Rinoes, Wiellem and Coentje" - to propel Feyenoord to the final of the 1970 European Cup.

At the end of extra time, Feyenoord beat Celtic 2-1 to become the first Dutch club to win the European Cup. After the match, Scottish coach Jock Stein lauded Happel's tactics: "Celtic did not lose to Feyenoord, I lost to Happel."

Feyenoord also won the Intercontinental Cup a season later. In the first match of the final against Estudiantes, Feyenoord turned a 2-0 deficit into a 2-2 draw. Meanwhile, the return leg at De Kuip was a hard-fought one, which Feyenoord won 1-0 after a goal by substitute Joop van Daele. This also made Feyenoord the first Dutch club to win the Intercontinental Cup. They were also very successful in the Eredivisie that season, as Happel won his first and only Dutch league title in 1971.

In the next two seasons, Feyenoord was unable to win any trophies. In both 1972 and 1973 seasons, Happel's team finished second in the Dutch league, just behind champions Ajax.

Sevilla

The successful Austrian coach switched from Rotterdam to the Spanish city of

in 1973. He was only on the job for a few months at the club, which had dropped to the Segunda División A in 1973. Happel was relieved of his duties in January 1974.

Now stay tuned to this section of Ernst Happel biography as we want to share some info about his career in

.

Club Brugge

In 1974, Henk Houwaart, who had previously worked with Happel at ADO from 1962 to 1967, introduced the Austrian to the board of his then employer

. Happel was appointed on 21 January 1974 to replace the sacked Jaak de Wit at the West Flemish club.

He quickly turned the blue and black team around. Within a few months, the club parted company with celebrated stars such as Erwin Vandendaele, Johan Devrindt and Pierre Carteus, and introduced new talents such as René Vandereycken, Paul Courant, Birger Jensen and Jan Sørensen.

Furthermore, Happel introduced the bonus system (low basic salary, high-profit bonuses) and trained his players in a physically demanding way, resulting in excellent results in Belgium and Europe from 1975 onwards.

Club Brugge won the 1975/76 national championship and also made it to the final of the UEFA Cup. However, Club Brugge had to accept defeat from coach Bob Paisley's

team in the final. The club lost the first match at Anfield 3-2, although they took an early 0-2 lead. In their return game, the score was 1-1.

The following year, Happel's team reached the quarterfinals of the European Cup I and triumphed in the domestic double. Club Brugge won the exciting cup final against rival RSC Anderlecht by 4-3 thanks to two goals from English striker Roger Davies, among others.

Happel's Club Brugge achieved its peak in 1978. For the third time in a row, the team became the national champions and was the first and only Belgian club to make it to the final of the European Cup I. Club Brugge again had to face Paisley's Liverpool in the final, which was played at Wembley Stadium. Without the help of the injured striker Raoul Lambert, Happel watched his team lose 1-0 after a goal by Kenny Dalglish.

In the summer of 1978, despite the arrival of top talent Jan Ceulemans, Happel's Club Brugge began to decline from the 1978/79 season onwards. Club Brugge had a poor start to the league and was knocked out in the first round of the European Cup I by Wisla Kraków. The cooperation with the Austrian manager was ended in November 1978.

Netherlands national team

Starting in 1977, the Bruges board of directors permitted Happel to start working for the Dutch national team. In preparation for the 1978

, Happel had a friendly against Club Brugge, but he participated in the final tournament in Argentina without his former favourite Willem van Hanegem, who stepped down when he was told he would not be given a place in the starting line-up, and Johan Cruyff, who had retired from international duty in 1977.

The absence of Van Hanegem made Arie Haan the key midfielder in Happel's team, while the Anderlecht player demonstrated his worth in the second group stage by scoring two important goals against West Germany (2-2) and Italy (2-1).

For the second time in a row, the

made it to the World Cup finals and had to play host nation Argentina. Before kick-off, the game was marred by an incident regarding the cast cuff of René van de Kerkhof. The Argentine team wanted Van de Kerkhof, who had fractured his hand, to leave the field due to his "dangerous cuff", while the winger had been playing with the cuff for almost the entire tournament and had no problems.

The incident led Happel to threaten not to start the final. After extensive negotiations, it was finally agreed that Van de Kerkhof would play in the World Cup final. The hard-fought final finished after extra time in a 3-1 victory for the host country. After the final, he left the Netherlands national team.

Harelbeke

Having left Club Brugge, Happel found himself at KRC Harelbeke. The Austrian was convinced by politician and industrialist Pierre Lano, a friend of his, to start working for the former second division team in January 1979. During the 1978/79 season, Harelbeke ended in eleventh place in the Second Division under his leadership.

Standard Liege

After his stint at Harelbeke, Happel went back to the highest level in Belgium. His name was linked with Anderlecht in 1979, but eventually, he was persuaded by secretary-general Roger Petit to go to

.

The club that despite the presence of top players like Eric Gerets, Michel Preud’homme, Ralf Edström, Ásgeir Sigurvinsson and Guy Vandersmissen, had been searching for a new national title since 1971 had a good start to the 1979/80 season - on the third matchday they beat archrival Anderlecht 5-2 - but were unable to outplay Happel's former employer Club Brugge. With four points behind Club Brugge, Standard became runners-up.

Standard had to accept defeat from Tomislav Ivić's Anderlecht a year later but managed to reach the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. There, Standard was knocked out by FC Köln after a game that was disrupted by a minor penalty for the West Germans and the cynical Nazi salute by Standard defender Michel Renquin after his dismissal. The team of Happel won the 1981 Belgian Cup for the first time since 1967. They defeated KSC Lokeren, which had the notorious attacking trio Lato-Lubański-Larsen, 4-0 in the final.

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Hamburger SV

The Austrian was taken to Germany by Günter Netzer, former footballer and then manager of

, following the cup win with Standard. In Hamburg, Happel replaced the Yugoslav Branko Zebec, who had already been dismissed in December 1980 because of his drinking problem.

HSV grew into a European top club under the strict management of the Austrian. In contrast to his predecessor, Happel was unable to use English crowd favourite Kevin Keegan, who in 1980 had signed a contract with Southampton in his homeland, but he was able to count on key players such as playmaker Felix Magath, captain Manfred Kaltz, the powerful striker Horst Hrubesch and libero Franz Beckenbauer, who came back to Germany after an American adventure with New York Cosmos.

Already in his first season in Germany, Happel was a hit. The club won the German national title in 1982 and made it to the UEFA Cup final that year, where they lost both their first and second games to Sweden's IFK Göteborg.

It was not until 1983 that the desired European success was achieved. The HSV of Happel participated in the 1982/83 season in the European Cup I as the national champions. They defeated Dynamo Berlin, Olympiakos, Dynamo Kiev and Real Sociedad, and in the final, they faced the French star footballer Michel Platini's Juventus.

After an early goal by Magath, HSV won the final by the slimmest of margins. This made Happel the first coach to win the prestigious cup with two different clubs. The Hamburg club also confirmed its excellent form at home, winning the league title for the second year in a row.

However, in the 1983/84 season the club, which watched Hrubesch leave for Happel's former club Standard, once again had to be satisfied with the vice-championship title. It seemed that Happel's team was becoming lost in the game.

HSV lost to coach Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen in the UEFA Super Cup and the Brazilian Grêmio proved too strong for the Germans in the Intercontinental Cup after extra time. On two occasions, Happel looked for new players; in 1984, Gerard Plessers transferred from Standard to HSV, and a year later the German Heinz Gründel came on board. Then in 1986, playmaker and club icon Magath retired.

Then, in 1987, the rejuvenated HSV won the vice-championship again. Happel also succeeded in qualifying for the DFB-Pokal final with his team for the first time that year. HSV won the cup final 3-1 against Stuttgarter Kickers.

Swarovski Tirol

Happel then returned to Austrian football in 1987. He was appointed coach of FC Swarovski Tirol, which he immediately started training three times a day with heavy cardio and strength exercises. During his first season, Swarovski Tirol went down in the cup final to Kremser SC. The following year, Happel's team managed to win the double. In the cup final, FC Admira/Wacker was defeated. The Austrian club clinched the national title a year later.

Austria national team

The 66-year-old Happel was appointed national coach of his native country in January 1992. He passed away eleven months later as a result of lung cancer. He was in charge of Austria national team for only 9 matches, with his last match being the 5-2 win against Israel on 28 October 1992.

Just four days after his death, Austria went up against Germany. To honour Happel, his headgear was placed on the bench during the match. The Prater Stadium in Vienna was renamed the Ernst Happel stadium in 1992. His son Ernst Happel junior unveiled a bust in the Kuip stadium in Rotterdam on 23 January 2005.

Style of Play

Happel was famous for his many insightful and pointed quotes about players and coaches. For instance, he believed that coaches are made, not born. According to him, the ideal midfielder needs to have "eyes in the back of his head". Happel also encouraged wide-open football with plenty of goals, arguing that a 5-4 victory was better than a 1-0 victory, and stressed that teams often needed to take risks to succeed.

About coaches, who practised the principle of personal guardianship, Happel spoke ironically, and said that such coaches would always 'have 11 donkeys on the pitch'.

Happel also spoke sharply about the relationship between coach and players: he thought it unnecessary to "put up a wall" between coach and players, but called for "a couple of bricks" so that the players would not be distracted by non-football circumstances. In addition, he said he was not a friend of the players and preferred to stay away from them.

Reception

Ernst Happel is regarded by many to be one of the best footballers in the history of Austrian football. However, as a coach, he was more successful and managed to win many trophies with different football clubs, thus establishing himself amongst the best football coaches.

Ernst Happel outside Football

The Second World War left its mark on the life of Ernst Happel. Austria was swallowed up by National Socialist Germany. Whoever wanted to continue playing football with Rapid was automatically a member of Hitler Jugend. He was not a supporter of the regime. He wanted to get on the nerves of the Nazis. When the Hitler Jugend joined in their choirs, he would refuse to sing with them and continued to do so until they kicked him out. Because of this, he did not receive the necessary team stamps to play football.

He was forced to go to the Eastern Front in 1943. Even though he never actually fought, he got arrested by the Americans in 1945. He made his escape on a train from Munich, just as in the film: getting on at one end, getting off at the other. His journey back to Vienna took months and he used an excuse to smuggle himself past the Russian zone.

Ernst Happel Personal Life

In this section of Ernst Happel biography, we will take a deeper look into his personal life and share some information about things like

Ernst Happel life story

and

Ernst Happel religion

, stay tuned.

Family, Children and Relationships

Ernst Franz Hermann Happel was the child of Karoline Nechiba and an unknown father. She married a man called Franz Happel, from whom he inherited the name. The marriage was one without love and there were many problems in the family.

He never had a happy family. He viewed himself as a victim and was also very angry and deeply disappointed in his parents. When he was four years old, his grandmother - of Czech origin - took him under her wing. She was employed as a market vendor.

Ernst Happel never married or had a lengthy relationship with anyone during his life and therefore has no children.

Philanthropy

During his career in football, the famous Austrian coach took part in many charity projects and helped many charitable causes.

Legal Issues

Ernst Happel never had any legal issues or disputes during his career both as a player and coach, and there are no such reports either in the English or German media.

Ernst Happel Career Statistics

In this section of Ernst Happel biography, we will take a look at his career stats on the international and club level.

Club

During a 17-year playing career, Ernst Happel played a total of 282 league games for Rapid Wien and RC Paris, scoring 34 goals which are good for a defender.

International

Between 1947 and 1958, he also was able to represent his country in a total of 51 matches, in which he also scored 5 goals.

Managerial

During his lengthy and rich coaching career on the club level, Ernst Happel achieved a 55.49 percent win ratio with 707 wins, 294 draws and 273 defeats in a total of 1274 matches that he managed his teams.

Ernst Happel Honors

As a player, Happel won many titles with Rapid Wien, including the Austrian Football Bundesliga, Austrian Cup and Zentropa Cup. He also finished in third place in the 1954 World Cup together with his national team.

As a coach, he has won many more trophies, with the most notable of them including the Dutch Cup, 

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