Also, De Visser, in his role as personal advisor to Roman Abramovich, was influential in bringing Hiddink to the Russia national team and later to Chelsea as caretaker manager following the dismissal of Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari.

It was at PSV where he led the team to its first ever European Cup triumph in 1988 (and The Treble), affirming the Eindhoven club's ranking as one of the three giants of Dutch football, alongside rivals Ajax and Feyenoord.

Hiddink also had a coaching stint at Turkish club Fenerbahçe in 1990, but was dismissed after one year, later joining Spanish giants Valencia.

This loss signalled an end of another era for Hiddink, as he resigned as Netherlands national coach soon after, where he was then appointed manager of Spanish giants Real Madrid.

Hiddink became manager of Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid in the summer of 1998, replacing Jupp Heynckes, but poor league form and off-pitch remarks about the board and finances of the club prompted his termination in February 1999.

[13] Hiddink's first year in charge was met with heavy criticism from the South Korean media,[13] as he was often spotted together with his girlfriend when some felt[13] he should instead have been busy working on the team.

In the 2005–06 Champions League season, PSV made it through the group stage, but was eliminated in the first knockout round, having lost five of its starting 11 (Park Ji-sung to Manchester United, Lee Young-pyo to Tottenham Hotspur, Mark van Bommel to Barcelona, Johann Vogel to Milan and Wilfred Bouma to Aston Villa) to transfers.

During the World Cup, a Sydney newspaper started a humorous campaign to lure him away from Russia by proposing a national "Guus tax" to pay his wages.

[23] An early controversial[24] call by the Egyptian referee that awarded a goal to the Japanese team, despite an apparent foul to Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, had the Australians playing catch up until the last eight minutes.

After scoring the first goal, Cahill was lucky to get away with a potential foul when he tripped Japan's Yūichi Komano, who had dribbled into the Australian penalty area.

However, after a win against Andorra, and England losing out to Croatia on the last match day, Russia and Hiddink secured qualification for the final stages of Euro 2008.

At the tournament, the Russians managed to reach the semi-finals with victories against the Netherlands in the quarter-finals[28] and defending champions Greece in the group stage.

[30][31] In March 2008, however, Hiddink had already chosen to exercise the two-year extension with Russia, keeping him in the national team's head coaching role until 2010.

[32] In November 2009, Russia was defeated by Slovenia in a 2010 World Cup qualifying play-off, casting doubt on future ambitions.

[40] Hiddink only lost once during his tenure as Chelsea manager, a 1–0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane, where Luka Modrić scored the only goal of the match.

[citation needed] In his last game as interim coach of Chelsea, he won the 2009 FA Cup by beating Everton 2–1 at Wembley.

Even though throughout his tenure at Chelsea various players asked him to stay, including captain John Terry, Michael Ballack and Petr Čech, Hiddink always stated that he intended to return to his post with Russia.

[citation needed] On 16 February 2010, Turkish Football Federation President Mahmut Özgener and Hiddink held talks in Amsterdam.

[43] His contract with Turkey began on 1 August 2010,[43] and his staff included assistant manager Oğuz Çetin and goalkeeping coach Engin İpekoğlu.

Emre Belözoğlu gave Turkey the lead in the 82nd minute after converting a spot kick, followed by Arda Turan doubling the scoreline after netting from 30 yards out.

[citation needed] Hiddink resigned following Turkey's failure to qualify for Euro 2012 after losing 3–0 on aggregate to Croatia in the playoffs.

[48] On 28 March 2014, it was announced that Hiddink would return to manage the Dutch national team after Louis van Gaal would step down following the 2014 World Cup.

[49] His second spell in charge of the team began with a 2–0 defeat to Italy in a friendly on 4 September 2014, with both goals conceded and a red card received within the first ten minutes of the match.

[57] On 19 December 2015, Hiddink was appointed first-team manager of English side Chelsea until the end of the 2015–16 season, following the dismissal of José Mourinho; he joined the club in the same capacity he did back in 2009.

After being made interim manager, Hiddink spoke, saying he was "excited to return to Stamford Bridge" and "I am looking forward to working with the players and staff at this great club and especially renewing my wonderful relationship with the Chelsea fans.

[62] After failing to lead the nation to 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification, Hiddink contracted COVID-19 in 2021, prompting Patrick Kluivert to step in as interim manager of the team.

In February 2007, Hiddink was given a six-month suspended jail sentence and fined €45,000 after being found guilty of tax evasion by a Dutch court.

Prosecutors had demanded a ten-month prison sentence for Hiddink, who was accused of evading €1.4 million in Dutch taxes by claiming to be a resident of Belgium from 2002 to 2003.

The Dutch Tax Intelligence and Detection Service claimed that he had not spent enough nights at his Belgian house which he had stated was his primary address.

[66][67] De Graafschap San Jose Earthquakes PSV Eindhoven Netherlands Real Madrid South Korea Russia Chelsea Individual Bibliography