Biography And Everything You Needs To Know About Manchester United Formal Coach Erik ten Hag

Erik ten Hag (born 2 February 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who most recently managed Premier League club Manchester United.

Ten Hag played as a centre-back and began his career with Eredivisie club Twente. He joined De Graafschap in 1990, and won the Eerste Divisie in his first season. He rejoined Twente in 1992 and transferred to RKC Waalwijk two years later, where he remained for one season before signing with Utrecht in 1995. Ten Hag returned to Twente for a third time in 1996, where he won KNVB Cup in 2001. He retired in 2002, at age 32.

Ten Hag began his managerial career in 2012 at Go Ahead Eagles, where he led the club to promotion to the Eredivisie in his debut season. He then joined Bayern Munich II in 2013, winning promotion to the Regionalliga Bayern in 2014. He returned to the Netherlands in 2015 as head coach and sporting director at Utrecht. He joined Ajax in 2018, where he won three Eredivisie titles, two KNVB Cups, and led the team to the semi-finals of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League. In 2022, he was appointed as the manager of Manchester United. In his first two seasons with the club, United won the EFL Cup and FA Cup. On 28 October 2024, he was dismissed as manager after Manchester United lost to West Ham United the previous day

Erik ten Hag was born on 2 February 1970 in Haaksbergen, Overijssel

Ten Hag played primarily as a centre-back for Twente, De Graafschap, RKC Waalwijk and Utrecht. He had three stints with Twente, with whom he captained the side to win the KNVB Cup in the 2000–01 season.

Ten Hag also won the Eerste Divisie with De Graafschap in the 1990–91 season, ten years before winning the cup with Twente. He retired from active playing in 2002 at the age of 32 while playing for Twente, after the end of the 2001–02 Eredivisie season.

Following his retirement, Ten Hag took on a coaching role at Twente’s academy, initially overseeing the U17 team, followed by the U19 team until 2006, when he was promoted to assistant manager. He worked under Fred Rutten and later Steve McClaren until 2009. He then joined PSV, working as an assistant under Rutten once more.

It was announced on 18 April 2012 that Ten Hag would take over as manager Eerste Divisie club Go Ahead Eagles on a two-year contract, effective from the start of the 2012–13 season. During his only season at Go Ahead Eagles, he led the team to its first promotion in 17 years.

Ten Hag was appointed as Bayern Munich II manager on 27 June 2013 on a two-year contract. He served until 2015, when he was replaced by Heiko Vogel. During his time as manager, Ten Hag led his team to the Regionalliga Bayern title.

Eredivisie club Utrecht announced on 22 April 2015 that Ten Hag would become the club’s head coach and sporting director on a two-year contract from 1 July. In his first season, he led the club to the 2016 KNVB Cup final, losing 2–1 to Giovanni van Bronckhorst‘s Feyenoord; a league finish of fifth put them in the playoffs for a UEFA Europa League place, losing 3–1 on aggregate to Heracles Almelo. The following season, a fourth-place finish put Utrecht in the playoffs again, where they secured a European place on penalties against AZ. Utrecht were sixth when Ten Hag left at the mid-point of the 2017–18 Eredivisie season

On 28 December 2017, Ten Hag was appointed as the head coach of Ajax after the club dismissed Marcel Keizer, and commenced in the role on 1 January 2018 on a two-and-a-half year contract. He signed a deal until June 2020. He arrived at a team that had already been eliminated from the domestic cup, as well as the qualifying rounds of the Champions League and Europa League. His debut on 21 January 2018 was a 2–0 home win in De Klassieker against Feyenoord.

Ten Hag led the team to the semi-finals of the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League for the first time since 1997, by winning against defending champions Real Madrid 4–1 in the Santiago Bernabéu at the round of 16 stage, and also beating Juventus away 1–2 having drawn the first leg 1–1 at home in the quarter-finals. In the first leg of the semi-final, he led his team to a 1–0 win against Tottenham Hotspur in the recently completed Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. However in the second leg, a second-half hat-trick by Lucas Moura for Tottenham Hotspur, with the last goal being scored in the 96th minute to make it 3–2 (3–3 on aggregate) to win on away goals, eliminated Ajax.

He won his first managerial trophy with Ajax on 5 May 2019, the 2018–19 KNVB Cup, beating Willem II in the final. Ten days later, Ajax won the Eredivisie as well, after a 1–4 away victory over De Graafschap, completing a double. At the end of the season, Ten Hag signed a new contract until 2022.

Ajax began their 2019–20 season with a 2–0 victory over PSV in the 2019 Johan Cruyff Shield. During the 2019–20 Eredivisie season, Ajax won 14 and drew two of their first 16 matches. This was followed by successive defeats to Willem II and to AZ. Ajax’s form following these defeats fluctuated, with the club going on to lose three further games in their next eight, as well as a second league defeat of the season to AZ. However, due to the emergence of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the Eredivisie season was null and voided, which meant that despite Ajax being top on goal difference to AZ, there wouldn’t be an official winner of the 2019–20 Eredivisie season. Ajax’s European campaign was relatively less successful compared to the previous season, having finished third in their group in the 2019–20 Champions League and being subsequently relegated to the UEFA Europa League. Ajax was resultantly knocked out by Getafe after a 3–2 aggregate loss in the Round of 32 of the 2019–20 Europa League.

On 21 April 2022, Ten Hag was appointed as manager of Manchester United starting from the end of the 2021–22 season until June 2025, with the option of extending for a further year. Mitchell van der Gaag and Steve McClaren joined Ten Hag as part of his coaching staff. On 16 May, it was confirmed that Ten Hag had left his Ajax role early to begin his preparations as Manchester United manager for the 2022–23 season.

Ten Hag lost his first Premier League match, 2–1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on 7 August. Following a 4–0 defeat away to Brentford on 13 August in his second Premier League match, Ten Hag became the first Manchester United manager since John Chapman in 1921 to lose his first two games in charge. On 22 August, Ten Hag won his first competitive game as Manchester United manager when his side recorded a 2–1 victory against arch-rivals Liverpool at Old Trafford. This was United’s first league win against Liverpool since March 2018. On 11 January 2023, Ten Hag led Manchester United to a 3–0 win over Charlton Athletic in the EFL Cup, and in doing so became the fastest Manchester United manager to reach 20 competitive wins, achieving the feat in 27 games. On 26 February, Ten Hag’s side beat Newcastle United 2–0 to win the EFL Cup, claiming their first trophy since 2017. However, in their first league game after lifting the trophy, Ten Hag’s side lost a record 7–0 at Anfield, home of their rivals Liverpool. It was the heaviest defeat in the history of that fixture, as well as United’s joint-heaviest defeat ever, and the first time they had conceded seven goals since 1931.