
FC Zurich is once again relying on a Dutchman: Mitchell van der Gaag is taking over from Ricardo Moniz. The 53-year-old has experience as a head coach, but was most recently assistant to Erik ten Hag for many years. And worked with absolute world stars.
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- FC Zurich has found what it was looking for in its search for a new coach. Mitchell van der Gaag becomes head coach of FCZ.
- The Dutchman was assistant coach to Erik ten Hag at Ajax Amsterdam and Manchester United between 2021 and 2024.
- Van der Gaag experienced a major shock in his early days as a coach in Portugal: he suffered a cardiac arrest during a match.
When Mitchell van der Gaag is asked to introduce himself to the fans in an interview on FC Zurich's own YouTube channel, the Dutchman is brief: "I'm 53 years old, started my coaching career in Portugal, then worked in Cyprus and Holland. Then I went to Manchester United as an assistant coach. That's it in a nutshell."
Van der Gaag could go on and on. For example, he could say that he worked very closely with Erik ten Hag, the current coach of Bayer Leverkusen, from 2021 to 2024. First at Ajax, then at Manchester United. As ten Hag's assistant coach, he worked closely with world stars such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen.
Cardiac arrest during a match
Before that, he was head coach for many years. The former defender (including PSV Eindhoven) started his coaching career in Portugal in 2008 with the second team of CS Maritimo. He was promoted to head coach of the first team in September 2009. Van der Gaag then moved to Belenenses, where they were promoted to the top national league in the 2012/13 season.
Despite the success, his time at Belenenses came to an end in September 2013 - due to a shocking incident. Van der Gaag suffered a cardiac arrest during a match. "His heart stopped ... He was dead," former goalkeeper Matt Jones, who played for Belenenses at the time, told The Athletic."It was only at half-time that we realized what had happened because everything happened so quickly. There was a defibrillator on the bench, which was used to resuscitate him."
It was only later that the Belenenses professionals learned that their coach suffered from a serious heart condition, had a pacemaker and an internal defibrillator that saved his life that night. Because of the serious incident, van der Gaag resigned as coach and took a break.
Back to success with attacking football?
A year and a half later, he returned to football. Van der Gaag worked as a coach in Cyprus with Ermis Aradippou and then in his home country with Eindhoven, Excelsior Rotterdam and NAC Breda before joining the second team of Ajax Amsterdam in 2019, where he met Erik ten Hag.
He is regarded as a great communicator who likes to set the tone and expects his players to adhere to his philosophy. He sees a good work ethic as the key to success. "I have a clear plan for my style of play. It should be attack-oriented and position-oriented football," he says. "I hope that we can achieve something with this football."
His family lives in Portugal. His sons Jordan and Luca also play football there in the lower leagues. Van der Gaag describes himself as a quiet guy, which is why he mostly stayed in the background during his years as Erik ten Hag's assistant coach. With one exception: in 2022, he caused a stir among Manchester United fans when he drove up to the club's premises in a Lamborghini.