Words: Finlay Stanley // @AFCFinners

The list of managers who have won multiple European cups is a distinguished one, including the likes of Bob Paisley, Carlo Ancelotti, Brian Clough, Sir Alex Ferguson, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola. But there is a quiet man from Austria whose name often gets overlooked.

Ernst Happel managed for well over 30 years and in this time won honours throughout Europe, including two European cups, becoming the first manager to win the trophy with two different clubs.

There can be little doubt that Ernst Happel is the most underrated manager of all time.

Ernst Happel, 26 May 1978.
Photo Credit: Dutch National Archive

Ernst Happel was born in Vienna, Austria, on the 29th November 1925. His footballing career began as an apprentice with Rapid Vienna. The young Happel would be banned from team meetings, as his strong opposition to Adolf Hitler’s regime meant he refused to sing along to Hitler Youth songs. When serving on the eastern front during the Second World War, he was arrested, but he escaped by jumping out of a train, and ran back home to Vienna.

Over two spells playing for Rapid Vienna as a defender, he would win 6 Austrian titles, and also played a part in Austria reaching 3rd place at the 1954 World Cup. He soon embarked on a managerial career that would begin with ADO Den Haag in the Netherlands. He would guide them to 3 KNVB cup finals in his first four seasons there, and went one better to win in in 1968, defeating Rinus Michel’s legendary Ajax side in the final.

Happel posing with his trophy haul while coaching Hamburg, 1983.
Photo Credit: Getty Images

He gained attraction, and would be appointed manager by Feyenoord, who at the time were champions of the Netherlands. They built a strong team around the likes of Coen Moujiln, Rinis Israel and Willem Van Hannegan, and he quickly justified his appointment.

He subsequently took them to the 1970 European Cup final, where they would face Jock Stein’s Celtic, a side who had won the trophy 3 years before. The game took place at the San Siro.

Whilst Celtic would take the lead, goals from Rinus Israel and One Kindvall ultimately won the cup for Feyenoord, and they became the first ever Dutch team to be crowned champions of Europe, in a moment that put Dutch football on the map. Whilst their bitter rivals Ajax would win the next 3 European cups, it was Happel who had catapulted Dutch football onto the international stage.

He guided them to further honours in the following campaign, in the form of the Intercontinental Cup and the Eredivisie, the first league title of Happel’s career. However, a barren spell soon followed, and the next two years bore no trophies. He would leave for a brief spell with Seville, but had little success, and then joined Club Brugge in Belgium.

This was far more successful. Happel would ring the changes, changing the squad around, installing incredibly demanding training sessions, and also giving his players a low salary with high winning bonuses. The methods paid off, as he won three Belgium titles in a row, as well as the Belgian cup in 1977. His hopes of a European trophy were thwarted twice by Bob Paisley’s Liverpool though, as the reds defeated Brugge in the 1976 Eufa cup final and the 1978 European cup final.

Wim van Hanegem, Ernst Happel and Coen Moulijn.
Photo Credit: WikiMedia Commons

Happel’s reputation was still strong in the Netherlands, and he took up management of the National Team in 1977 - alongside his position at Brugge - to lead them in the 1978 World Cup. Despite Johan Cruyff sitting out the tournament, Happel guided them to the final. Always a man of few words, his pre-match team talk contained exactly three: “Gentlemen, two points.” Sadly though, Argentina would defeat the Dutch 3-1 after extra time.

Losing a European Cup final and World Cup final within the space of a few months took its toll on Happel, and he chose to take a break from the game. He had a spell with second tier Belgian side Harelbeke in 1979, followed by a spell at Standard Liege, where he won a Belgian Cup. He then took the job at Hamburg in West Germany. Hamburg had recently achieved success under another greatly underrated manager in Branko Zebec, who lead them to a Bundesliga title and a European Cup final in 1980, where they lost to Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest. The hope was that Happel could use his prestige in the European Cup to see them over the line.

And did he ever.

Happel hit the ground running, winning a Bundesliga in his first season, and they would reach the UEFA cup final but ultimately fall to Swedish outfit IFK Göteborg, who defeated them 4-0 on aggregate. They retained the Bundesliga the following season, going 36 games without defeat, while also reaching another European final; this time though, it was the biggest of all.

Hamburg would face Juventus in the 1983 European Cup final in Athens, and a goal from Felix Magath won them the trophy. Ernst Happel became the first manager to win the trophy with two separate clubs, and out of character, Happel danced on the touchline after the game in celebration. Hamburg keeper Uli Stein commented on how it was such a bizarre sighting; he likened it to seeing the pope in swimwear.

Doing what he did best.
Photo Credit: Football Makes History

Sadly though, he wasn’t able to replicate his success at Hamburg, only winning the DFP Pokal in 1987, and homesickness taking over, he decided to return home to Austria. He guided Swarovski Tirol to two Austrian League titles and an Austrian Cup. This makes him one of the few managers to have won a league title in 4 different countries alongside Carlo Ancelotti, Jose Mourinho, and Giovanni Trappatoni.

Happel was eventually offered his dream job; management of the Austrian National team. It would be the fitting way to wrap up his career. It was not to be a fairytale, though.

Ernst Happel grew up amongst the famous Viennese coffee houses that saw people discuss football tactics over coffee and cigarettes whilst playing cards, and he developed a lifelong smoking habit. While he never married, his companions of cognac and cigarettes were never far away. Sadly, these would be his undoing.

He contracted lung cancer in 1992, which by the end of that year, saw him lose his life at the age of 66. Four days after he passed away, Austria and Germany would play each other, with Happel’s cap placed on the bench throughout the game in tribute, and the largest football stadium in Austria was renamed in his honour soon after. It was a tragic end to a glorious career.

In a managerial adventure that took him across Europe, saw him conquer 4 different countries and Europe itself twice, his huge list of honours puts many managers to shame. Hamburg and Feyenoord have not been champions of Europe since, and he deserves to be recognised as one of the greatest managers of all time.

He may have been a man of few words, but you can’t argue that Ernst Happel wasn’t a man of many trophies.