Happel is regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time,[1][2][3] winning both league and domestic cup titles in the Netherlands, Belgium, West Germany, and Austria.

This is the best result ever for a non-domestic manager in a World Cup alongside Englishman George Raynor's Swedish runner-up campaign in 1958.

[4] He was the first of the six managers to have won the European Cup with two clubs (Carlo Ancelotti, Ottmar Hitzfeld, José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola and Jupp Heynckes being the other five).

He is also one of six managers–– along with Ancelotti, Mourinho, Giovanni Trapattoni, Tomislav Ivić, and Eric Gerets–– to have won top-flight domestic league championships in at least four countries.

Forming a solid defensive partnership with Max Merkel, he played 14 years for Rapid, from 1943 until 1954 and 1956 until 1959, winning the Austrian Championship title six times.

He smuggled himself into the Soviet occupation zone with the excuse that he had seen from afar his house was still standing and that he'd started playing at Rapid Vienna again.

Four days after his death, Austria played against Germany and reached a 0–0 draw; Happel's cap lay on the bench during the entire match.

Rapid Wien[10] Austria ADO Den Haag[11] Feyenoord[12] Club Brugge[13] Standard Liège[16] Hamburger SV[17] Swarovski Tirol[18] Netherlands