Erik ten Hag won the Rinus Michels Award for Trainer of the Year on Monday. Ajax’s trainer is rewarded after he became champion of the Netherlands by force majeure. Ten Hag trumped Sjors Ultee (Fortuna Sittard), Fred Grim (RKC Waalwijk), Henk Fraser (Sparta Rotterdam) and Thomas Letsch (Vitesse) in the battle for the prize.
Ten Hag also won the Rinus Michels Award in 2019 and 2016. Ten Hag thus succeeds itself, because no winner was designated in 2020 after the prematurely ended season. Ajax’s trainer saw his team become champions with sixteen points ahead of PSV. Moreover, Ajax won the TOTO KNVB Cup by beating Vitesse 2-1 in the final.
In his word of thanks, Ten Hag reflects on the support he feels from director of football affairs Marc Overmars. “Marc gave me the opportunity. The way in which we work together is very valuable to me. You cannot do it alone. You need support, backing from the management. It is always blowing at Ajax, it is never calm there. You are as good as your last game and at the moment we are not very good”, he refers with a wink to the 0-4 defeat against PSV in the battle for the Johan Cruijff Scale.
The committee of the Rinus Michels Award also hands out an oeuvre prize to Dick Advocaat. He is honored for his achievements as a trainer in the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, Advocaat was a trainer of PSV, Feyenoord, AZ, FC Utrecht, Sparta, Haarlem and SVV. He became champion with PSV in 1997. This summer he said goodbye to Feyenoord and signed a contract as national coach of Iraq.
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