Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil on 1 September 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer and manager. Known for his ability to play multiple positions, he won the 1987 Ballon d'Or and was a long-time Netherlands national team captain, leading them to the UEFA Euro 1988 title.
Gullit moved from PSV to AC Milan in 1987 for a world record transfer fee,"The history of the world transfer record". BBC News. Retrieved 10 May 2014 joined by compatriots Marco van Basten and, a year later, Frank Rijkaard. They won two Scudetti and two European Cups together, Rijkaard having missed out on the 1987–88 Serie A title. Individual awards would inevitably follow especially for Gullit when, in addition to the Ballon d'Or, he was named World Soccer Player of the Year in 1987 and 1989.
In 1995, Gullit signed for Chelsea and was appointed the club's player-manager a year later. In his managerial debut season, he led Chelsea to FA Cup success, the club's first major title for 26 years, and in doing so, became the first overseas manager to win the FA Cup.
Aside from the victorious Euro 1988 campaign, Gullit also represented the Netherlands at the 1990 FIFA World Cup and Euro 1992. In 2004, Gullit was named one of the Top 125 greatest living footballers as part of FIFA's 100th anniversary celebration.
Early life Gullit was born as Rudi Dil in Amsterdam to George Gullit, a Surinamese emigrant who arrived in the Netherlands with Frank Rijkaard's father Herman Rijkaard, and Dutch mistress Ria Dil from the Jordaan district of Amsterdam. The Gullit family lived in one split level room on the top floor of a small apartment building. Gullit's father worked as an economics teacher at a local school, his mother as a custodian at the Rijksmuseum.
Gullit developed his football skills in the confines of the Rozendwarsstraat, and street football was instrumental in his formative years. Gullit's first team were the Meerboys, where he joined as a junior in 1970. At the age of ten, however, Gullit moved from the Jordaan to Amsterdam Old West where he played street football alongside Rijkaard. Gullit joined the DWS club after his move, and came to the attention of the Dutch youth team, where he played alongside future full international teammates, Erwin Koeman, Ronald Koeman and Wim Kieft.
It was during his time at DWS that Gullit first took to using his father's surname, rather than his registered surname (from his mother), as he thought Gullit sounded more like a footballer.Ruud Gullit, My Autobiography, p31
Club career HFC Haarlem On 22 September 1978, Gullit signed his first professional contract for HFC Haarlem, then coached by former West Bromwich Albion player Barry Hughes. He made his debut for the club at just 16 years and 11 months old, becoming at the time the youngest player in Eredivisie history.Ruud Gullit, My Autobiography, p34 Haarlem finished bottom of the Eredivisie in his first season, but bounced back to win the following season's Eerste Divisie title, where Gullit was named the league's best player.Ruud Gullit, My Autobiography, p35
In the 1981–82 season, Gullit was in fine form as Haarlem finished fourth and qualified for Europe for the only time in their history. In that same season, Gullit scored the goal he would later consider his finest: "Playing against Utrecht I went past four defenders and then the goalkeeper, and scored. It was an unforgettable goal for me."Glanville p3 Hughes was so impressed with the young Gullit that he described him as the "Dutch Duncan Edwards".
In total, Gullit made 91 league appearances for Haarlem, scoring 32 goals.
Feyenoord
The young Gullit was considered as a signing by English sides Arsenal and Ipswich Town, but managers Terry Neill and Bobby Robson turned him down. Neill later said that he considered £30,000 too much for "this wild kid". Gullit therefore moved to Feyenoord in 1982, where he made 85 league appearances, scoring 31 goals. At Feyenoord, Gullit found himself playing in his second season, 1983–84, alongside Johan Cruyff, while the assistant manager was Willem van Hanegem, and they were to leave a lasting impression.
Gullit's first season saw Feyenoord miss out on major honours, but the following year they completed the league and cup double. Gullit was named Dutch Footballer of the Year in recognition of his contribution to Feyenoord's success. At Feyenoord, Gullit occupied an increasingly advanced role in midfield, having played predominantly as a sweeper at Haarlem.Glanville p1 While at Feyenoord, Gullit faced racism as manager Thijs Libregts was alleged to have referred to Gullit as "blackie" and criticised him for being lazy, though Libregts defended himself by stating that it was merely a nickname.Glanville, p4 While playing for Feyenoord at St Mirren in September 1983, he was racially abused and spat on by supporters of the Scottish club. Gullit called it "the saddest night of my life".
PSV
In 1985, Gullit moved to PSV for 1.2 million Dutch guilders and wound up scoring 46 goals in 68 league appearances for the team. Gullit was again named Footballer of the Year in 1986 as he helped PSV capture the Eredivisie crown, a feat they repeated the following year.
AC Milan Gullit signed for AC Milan in 1987, paying the then world record transfer fee of 18 million guilders as a replacement for Ray Wilkins. Milan's club president Silvio Berlusconi had an ambition to revive the fortunes of the Italian club which had stagnated after its glory days in the 1960s. Among Gullit's teammates at the club were compatriot van Basten, who came at the same time. Later, they were joined by fellow compatriot, close friend as well as van Basten’s Ajax teammate, Rijkaard. The club also had a young Paolo Maldini, along with a more experienced Franco Baresi. Gullit's exploits with first PSV and then Milan helped him win the Ballon d'Or award in 1987 which he dedicated to Nelson Mandela.
When he first arrived at Milan, Gullit initially struggled to fit in as he spoke no Italian and was new to living in a foreign country.Ruud Gullit, My Autobiography, p49 Gullit's first season at Milan, however, saw the club win the Scudetto for the first time in nine years, under coach Arrigo Sacchi. Initially used on the right of an attacking trio alongside van Basten and Pietro Virdis, after van Basten was injured it became a front two. The following season Milan built on their domestic success by adding the European Cup to their list of honours. That performance was followed by a 4–0 victory over Steaua București in the 1989 final, with Gullit scoring two crucial goals. According to Gullit: “The year that we won the Champions League, in the semi-final against Real Madrid I got injured. My meniscus was broken. I got a very quick operation so that I could play the final. The next season when I started to train again, not only my meniscus was damaged but also the cartilage, so for that reason, I couldn't play almost the whole season. It was hard because I was on the edge of maybe not playing football anymore.".
The following year, Milan retained the trophy as they defeated Benfica in the 1990 final. However, serious injuries sustained to the ligaments of his right knee limited Gullit's playing time, and he managed just two domestic games in the 1989–90 season before appearing in the Cup Final.
In 1990–91, Milan's pursuit of a third consecutive European Cup was cut short by Marseille at the quarter-final stage. Having drawn the first leg at the San Siro, Milan trailed to a Chris Waddle goal with little time remaining when the floodlights went out. After a short delay the lighting was restored, but Milan had returned to their dressing room and refused to return to complete the game. UEFA awarded Marseille a 3–0 victory and expelled Milan from all European competitions for the following season.
While Milan continued their domestic dominance by winning the scudetto in both 1991–92 (a season in which they went undefeated) and 1992–93, Gullit's position became an increasingly peripheral one under new coach Fabio Capello. This was illustrated by his omission from the 1993 Champions League final in which Milan lost to Marseille, as under the UEFA rules clubs were only allowed to field three foreigners, which was later abolished after the decision of the Bosman ruling. Gullit: "After my injury, I was not the Ruud Gullit anymore what I was before. I had to adjust myself to a different way of playing football, because of the injury and because I was that much out of the game. I had to adapt my game, but I could deal with it. But of course, the role at Milan was less important than before, because at that moment the rotation system was introduced. So we were only allowed to have three foreigners. So sometimes you couldn't play. So that was also hard. When you are used to playing most of the games and all of a sudden you have to rest, so that was hard.”.
Torino was interested in signing him, with the chairman claiming that an agreement with Milan was likely.El entrenador 'merengue' desmiente el interés por contratar a Gullit . Mundo Deportivo, 2 July 1993 Bayern Munich was also in talks with Gullit, but they fell through. Instead, Gullit was loaned to Sampdoria.
Sampdoria In 1993, Gullit moved to Sampdoria and led them to victory in the Coppa Italia in the 1993–94 season. He also scored the winner in a 3–2 victory over Milan, one of 15 goals he scored during the league campaign. He returned to Milan and scored in the season-opening 1994 Supercoppa Italiana against Sampdoria, but soon returned to the Genoese club before the midway point of the 1994–95 season, with Alessandro Melli being loaned in the opposite direction as part of the deal. During his time with Sampdoria, Gullit served under future England national team manager Sven-Göran Eriksson and the two developed a strong understanding and mutual respect.
Chelsea
In July 1995, Gullit signed for Chelsea on a free transfer. Initially played as sweeper by manager Glenn Hoddle with limited success, Gullit was moved to his more familiar role in midfield, where he scored six goals. The signing of Gullit, alongside the likes of Mark Hughes and Dan Petrescu, propelled Chelsea to the semi-final of the FA Cup, although they only finished 11th in the FA Premier League.
Gullit had some difficulties adapting to the style of play at Chelsea: "I would take a difficult ball, control it, make space and play a good ball in front of the right back, except that he didn't want that pass. Eventually Glenn said to me, 'Ruud, it would be better if you do these things in midfield.'" His adjustment, however, was rapid and he ended the season by being named runner-up to Eric Cantona as Footballer of the Year.
Gullit has since often stated in interviews that it was in London he enjoyed his career the most and felt happiest: "Every time I played for Chelsea, I thought, 'Nice game, beautiful stadium, great crowd, I'm playing well.' It was the only time I really had fun." In moving to Chelsea, Gullit played an important part in the "foreign revolution" as numerous high-profile international stars, such as Italian Gianfranco Zola and Dutchman Dennis Bergkamp, joined Chelsea and Arsenal respectively, which helped to increase the Premier League's worldwide profile.
International career 1980s
In 1981, on his 19th birthday, Gullit debuted for the Netherlands national team against Switzerland as a substitute, a game the Dutch lost 2–1.