Ruud Gullit Biography

He was widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, captaining the Dutch national team that won the UEFA Euro 1988, and was also a member of the FIFA World Cup 1990 and Euro 1992 squad.

At club level, he moved to Milan from

in 1987 for a world record transfer fee. In Milan, he was part of a Dutch trio, including Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard.

With Milan, Gullit won three Serie A titles and two European Cups. He signed for

in 1996 and was appointed the club's player-manager a year later.

He led Chelsea to FA Cup success in his debut season, the club's first major title for 26 years, and thus became the first overseas manager to win the FA Cup.

In 1987, Gullit won the Ballon d'Or and was named the 1987 and 1989 World Soccer Player of the Year. Normally an attacking midfielder, during his career he was a versatile player, appearing in various positions.

As part of FIFA's 100th-anniversary celebration, he was named one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers in 2004. And now it's time to learn more about

Ruud Gullit Biography

.

Everything You Need to Know About Ruud Gullit Biography

Ruud Gullit has often been considered one of the best players ever to play the game.

Gullit started out in Amsterdam as a street footballer, but he had made his Dutch first division debut for HFC Haarlem.

He subsequently moved to the Dutch club

and moved to PSV Eindhoven after his evolution into an attacking midfielder who could also play as a forward.

During his time at PSV Eindhoven, he became one of the world's best attacking players, but his best years as a footballer were reserved for AC Milan, the Italian club.

As the team evolved into one of the greatest football teams in history, he helped Milan win a number of trophies in both the national and European championships.

Gullit also played for and managed the English club Chelsea, before leading a series of clubs with no success. And it will be nice to learn more about the Ruud Gullit biography.

Ruud Gullit Information

Ruud Gullit bio

• Full name:

  Ruud Gullit

• Nickname:

  Rudi Dil

Ruud Gullit Birth Place and personal information

• Ruud Gullit date of birth:

  1 September 1962

•  Birth Place:

  Amsterdam, North Holland

• Ruud Gullit Nationality:

  Dutch

• zodiac sign:

  Virgo

• Ethnicity:

  Dutch

• Ruud Gullit religion:

  Christianity

• Ruud Gullit age:

  58 years

Physical Stats

• Height

  : 190 Centimeters

• Weight

  : 82 kg

Family information

• Father

  : George Gullit

• Mother

  : Ria Dil

• brother(s): 

  N/A

• sister (S):

  N/A

• Marital Status:

  Unmarried but he was married 3 times

• EX-wifes

  : Yvonne de Vries, Cristina Pensa, Estelle Cruijff

• Children

  : 6

Football Information

• Profession

  : association football player

• Known For:

  Soccer Player

• Salary:

  US$2 million per year

• Net Worth

  : $12 million

• Playing Position:

  Attacking Midfielder / Forward / midfielder

• Current Club Team:

  no team

• Current National Team:

  Netherlands

• Jersey Number:

  10

Body measurement

• Hair Color:

  Black

• Eye Color:

  Dark brown

Stay tuned to read more of

Ruud Gullit Biography

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Ruud Gullit Early Life

Now it’s time to know about

Ruud Gullit childhood

story:

Gullit was born Rudi Dil in Amsterdam to George Gullit, a Surinamese immigrant who, with Herman Rijkaard, the father of Frank Rijkaard, and Ria Dil, his Buitenvrouw, came to the Netherlands from the Jordaan district of Amsterdam.

The family lived on the top floor of a small apartment building in a single split-level room. Gullit's father worked at a local school as an economics tutor and his mother worked at the Rijksmuseum as a custodian.

In the precincts of Rozendwarsstraat, Gullit developed his football skills, and in his formative years, street football was instrumental. Gullit's first team was the Meerboys, which he joined in 1970 as a junior.

At the age of 10, however, Gullit transferred from Jordaan to Amsterdam Old West, where, alongside Frank Rijkaard, he played street football.

Gullit joined the DWS club after his relocation and came to the attention of the Dutch youth team, where he played alongside potential greats like Erwin Koeman, Ronald Koeman, and Wim Kieft.

It was during Gullit's tenure at DWS that he first used his father's surname, rather than his reported surname, as he thought it sounded more like a soccer player.

He has formally kept his mother's surname and continues to sign all contracts as Ruud Dil. Then it's time to learn more about Ruud Gullit biography and his life.

Ruud Gullit Profile

Gullit started his senior career at HFC Haarlem at the age of 16. In 1982, he transferred to Feyenoord after three fruitful seasons in which Gullit scored 32 goals in 91 games.

Once there, he had to play with Johan Cruyff for a full season, which left a lasting impression on the young Gullit. Unsurprisingly, that was his breakthrough season as well; Gullit was named Dutch Footballer of the Year, in addition to helping Feyenoord win the Eredivisie.

Gullit moved to PSV Eindhoven in 1985, which saw him come under critique from fans of Feyenoord. Gullit managed to improve as a player amid the growing scrutiny, which saw him once again be appointed Dutch Footballer of the Year in 1986.

In both of his seasons with PSV, Gullit captured the Eredivisie crown, scoring 46 times in 68 appearances. Stay tuned to read more of Ruud Gullit Biography:

Style of Play

Gullit, a full and flexible player, epitomized Total Football's ethos as he was instinctively talented in many positions, and was able to support his team both defensively and offensively because of his work-rate and tactical intelligence.

Normally used as an attacking midfielder or as a second striker, he was able to play anywhere on the wing or also in the middle, anywhere in the midfield, or around the front line.

His key characteristic was his athleticism, regarded as one of the best players of all time, as he used his power and pace, together with his technique, to considerable effect; as he was tall and an outstanding jumper, he was also excellent in the air.

Yet Gullit was an elegant player, exceptionally for a man of his size, who also possessed outstanding natural balance, poise, technical ability, and dribbling abilities, which gave his game a graceful look.

Gullit was also renowned for his intellect, imagination, vision, and aerial skills attribute that helped him score goals early in his career and allowed him to play a deeper role late in his days as a playmaker, where he was known for creating opportunities for teammates.

To become a legendary figure in world football, Gullit thus fused physical appearance with flair, mental acuity, formidable technique, and natural touch. Despite his talent, Gullit suffered throughout his career with injuries, which later impacted his fitness.

The brilliance of Gullit led George Best to remark in 1990, "By any standards, Ruud Gullit is a fantastic player." He's had all the talent.

He doesn't mind doing anything with the ball. And he seems as if he's loving it every second. This is what makes him a far better player than Maradona, by my reckoning.

In all of the top athletes, both have the main attribute you can find: balance. You simply can't knock the ball off them. With Pele, Beckenbauer and Cruyff, it was the same.

Reception

in 1995 , Shepherd managed to convince the childhood

fan to return home to the North East to succeed Gullit, having failed to attract Robson from

once Kevin Keegan resigned in 1997.

This time around, it did not take much persuasion to persuade the former England manager to take charge at St James' Park. Shepherd said of Robson’s appointment: “This time we did the deal. He didn’t ask about how much, he just said: ‘I want to come.’ “He got a huge reception outside St James’ Park.”

The Magpies finished third and fourth in the Premier League during his tenure, qualifying for the Champions League in the process, after five extremely successful years at Newcastle, and also reached a semi-final of the FA Cup - Robson and United began the 2004/05 campaign in a disappointing fashion.

Goal Celebration

Considering that he played as a midfielder and his main job was to create more chances, but he always tried to put himself in the position of scoring, and the joy of his goal after scoring was such that he shouts with his fists and would run towards the corner point. Now it's time to learn more about Ruud Gullit biography and his life.

Ruud Gullit Outside Football

He became a coach after his football career and we will mention several of them below. Chelsea, Newcastle, Terek Grozny, Feyenoord, and the

were coached by him.

And he spent most of his time with his family in the post-football era, increasing his coaching knowledge and not being able to win honors.

In 1988, along with the reggae band Discovery Moment, Gullit achieved 3 hits in the Dutch Top 40 with the anti-apartheid single "South Africa." He had previously had a modest success with the single 'Not the Dance Kind' in 1984.

Gullit spent several years working as a football analyst during his time at Newcastle, having previously invented the word 'sexy football' during his spell as a BBC pundit for Euro 1996 and also playing for Chelsea professionally.

Gullit used the phrase to describe teams that played glamorous football with an emphasis on the defense-penetrating pass-and-move game, such as

at that tournament.

Gullit had a talk show on Dutch TV until 2006, where he interviewed Nelson Mandela, among others. When Gullit was declared the 1987 Ballon d'Or recipient, he dedicated the prize to Nelson Mandela, who was incarcerated at the time.

Since then, Gullit has said in interviews that, after he was released, he met Mandela, and that Mandela said to him, "Ruud, I have lots of friends now. When I was on the inside, you were one of the few."

Ruud Gullit Personal Life

Now its time to read about

Ruud Gullit life story

:

Ruud Gullit got married on three occasions. In 1984, his first marriage was to Yvonne de Vries. The marriage lasted for seven years, and Charmayne & Felicity produced two daughters for the couple.

Cristina Pensa's second marriage also ended in a divorce. She had two children born to him: Sheyenne and Quincy. He has two children with his third wife, Estelle Cruyff: Maxim and Joelle.

Family, Children, Relationship

When she was 17 and still at school, Estelle met Ruud at a nightclub. Four years apart, the couple married and had two children together. When she was 19, she gave birth to their two-year-old daughter, Joelle, and the family lived in an apartment on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

'Ruud does not know that, over the years, he has affected me too badly,' she added. 'I wonder if he was mindful of how much pain he caused me.

'I needed the suffering to stop,' De Telegraaf told her. 'I think he can meet someone who is able to make him happy. Over the years, it has been obvious that I was not able to make him happy.

Ok, on my own, not with myself" Ruud knows that I know it all. He's not exactly a bad guy, but he's got one particularly bad habit. I've been looking forward to a romantic, lovely life with Ruud.

I was involved in sharing the remainder of my life with him. He was cheerful and sweet. I wasn't able to wait to start a family with him. I don't want to forget that we had wonderful moments, or it wouldn't have lasted 16 years.'

Estele said that Ruud is an "adorable parent" who "as a woman, sometimes makes you melt." But she said that it's not enough to be a decent parent.

The former European Footballer of the Year was married twice before, and his ex-wives have four children. Ruud told the Dutch media that he was getting divorced due to new changes in his life. This story is about his family before he is not married to another one after 2013.

Philanthropy

One of the best things that anyone can do is charitable work, and footballers are actually ahead of the curve. Philanthropy is a quality that exists in every person, but there is no knowledge of Ruud Gullit.

And we can't tell for sure what sort of charitable work he's done, and we're going to have to wait and see whether he can find some details.

He's played a lot of charitable games as well, and because he's a humanitarian, a lot of humanitarian work can be said to have been done, although little has been said about it in the mainstream.

Legal issues

No special legal issue was found for Ruud Gullit so stay tuned to read more of

Ruud Gullit Biography

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Ruud Gullit career statistics

He played for five teams during his playing career and was able to have a good football career, which we want to briefly discuss below.

Club

The first team that he played for was HFC Haarlem and now we want to read about it.

HFC Haarlem

In 1978, under trainer and former West Bromwich Albion player Barry Hughes, Gullit signed professionally for HFC Haarlem. For Haarlem, Gullit made 91 league starts, scoring 32 goals.

At only 16 years of age, he made his debut for the club, becoming the youngest player in Eredivisie history at the time. The club finished bottom of the Eredivisie in his first year at Haarlem but bounced back to win the Eerste Divisie the following season. 

Gullit was named the season's best player in the Eerste Divisie. Gullit was in good condition in the 1981–82 season as Haarlem finished fourth and qualified for Europe for the first time in their history.

Gullit scored the goal he would later consider his best during the same season: "Playing against Utrecht I went past four defenders and then the goalkeeper, and scored. 

It was an unforgettable goal for me." Hughes was so impressed with the young Gullit that he described him as the "Dutch Duncan Edwards".

Feyenoord

The young Gullit was considered by the English team Arsenal and Ipswich Town as a signing, but he was turned down by managers Terry Neill.

Neill later told "this wild kid" that he considered £ 30,000 too much. Thus, in 1982, Gullit moved to Feyenoord, where he made 85 league starts, scoring 31 goals.

Gullit found himself playing alongside Dutch legend Johan Cruyff at Feyenoord when Wim van Hanegem was the assistant manager, and they were meant to leave a lasting impression.

PSV

Gullit transferred to PSV for 1.2 million Dutch guilders in 1985 and ended up scoring 46 goals for the club in 68 league appearances. In 1986, as he helped PSV grab the Eredivisie title, Gullit was again named Footballer of the Year, a feat they repeated the following year.

It was at PSV that Gullit really started to develop himself as a footballer of the world-class and his distinctive, dreadlocked look made sure he would catch the attention of the largest clubs in Europe.

Gullit was also singled out by huge numbers of Feyenoord fans for criticism, who called him a "wolf" and accused him of going for money to Eindhoven.

Milan

In 1987, Silvio Berlusconi signed Gullit for Milan, paying 18 million guilders as a substitution for Ray Wilkins for the then world record transfer fee.

Compatriots Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard, along with Paolo Maldini and Franco Baresi, were among his teammates at the club.

Gullit and then Milan's first PSV exploits helped him win the 1987 Ballon d'Or award that he dedicated to Nelson Mandela. Gullit was initially struggling to integrate when he arrived in Milan, as he spoke no Italian and was not accustomed to living in a foreign world. 

However, Gullit's first season at Milan saw the club win the Scudetto under coach Arrigo Sacchi for the first time in nine years. He was originally used alongside Van Basten and Pietro Virdis on the right of an attacking trio, but it was changed to a front two following Van Basten's injury.

By adding the European Cup to their list of honours, Milan improved on their domestic performance the next season.

Sampdoria

Gullit transferred to Sampdoria in 1993 and led them in the 1993-94 season to success in the Coppa Italia. In a 3–2 victory over Milan, he also scored the winner.

In 1994, Gullit was briefly re-signed by Milan but soon returned to Sampdoria before the 1994-95 season culminated. He worked under manager Sven-Goran Eriksson during his tenure and both had a good understanding and shared respect. He netted 15 goals in his short tenure at Sampdoria.

Chelsea

Along with the likes of Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu, the signing of Gullit pushed Chelsea to the FA Cup semi-finals, but their league form was disappointing.

Gullit has had some difficulties transitioning to the Chelsea style of play: "I would take a difficult ball, control it, make space and play a good ball in front of the right-back, except that he didn't want that pass.

Eventually, Glenn said to me, 'Ruud, it would be better if you do these things in midfield.'" His adjustment was fast, however, and by being named runner-up to Eric Cantona as Footballer of the Year, he finished the season.

International career

In 1981, on his 19th birthday, Gullit made his international debut as a substitute for the Dutch national team against

, a match the Dutch lost 2-1.

The squad struggled to qualify for both the 1982 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 1984 during its early international career - losing out on goals scored as Spain In the latter race, needing an 11-goal win to advance, in their final qualifying game, the trounced minnows Malta 12-1.

In 1985, after the Dutch lost out on qualifying for the World Cup at the hands of neighbors Belgium in a play-off, there was more anger. The Netherlands looked to be ready for qualification in Rotterdam despite having lost 1-0 in

when they led 2-0 before a late Georges Grün goal took Belgium through on away goals.

However, as he helped his country win Euro 1988 under coach Rinus Michels, Gullit was one of the core players for the Netherlands. The Netherlands defeated England and the Republic of Ireland to reach the semi-finals, having lost their opening game of the tournament to the Soviet Union.

The Netherlands faced the Soviet Union again in the final after beating West Germany 2–1 in Hamburg. With a header, Gullit opened the scoring and Marco van Basten scored a volley from a close angle to complete a 2-0 victory. Thus, Gullit became the first Dutch captain to keep international silverware aloft.

As one of the favorites, the Dutch traveled to the 1990 World Cup, but the team struggled to perform as anticipated. Gullit's knee wounds hampered his play, but his dribble and shot at Ireland helped the Netherlands qualify for the second round.

They reached West Germany there, in a game marred by an argument between Rudi Völler and Frank Rijkaard. By defeating the Netherlands 2-1 and going on to win the championship, the Germans gained revenge for their loss at Euro 1988.

Ruud Gullit Honours

During his game, Ruud has won many teams, national and personal honors, which we will mention below.

Player

• HFC Haarlem:

  Eerste Divisie: 1980–81

• Feyenoord:

  Eredivisie: 1983–84, KNVB Cup: 1983–84

• PSV:

   Eredivisie: 1985–86, 1986–87

• Milan:

  Serie A: 1987–88, 1991–92, 1992–93, Supercoppa Italiana: 1992, 1994, European Cup: 1988–89, 1989–90, UEFA Super Cup: 1990, Intercontinental Cup: 1990

• Sampdoria:

  Coppa Italia: 1993–94

• Netherlands:

  UEFA European Championship: 1988

• Individual:

  Dutch Footballer of the Year: 1984, 1986, Dutch Golden Shoe: 1986, Dutch Sportsman of the Year: 1987, Ballon d'Or: 1987; Runner-up 1988, World Soccer Magazine World Footballer of the Year: 1987, 1989

Manager

• Chelsea:

  FA Cup: 1996–97

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