Former Real Madrid and Chelsea manager Guus Hiddink has announced his retirement from coaching.
Hiddink, 74, was managing Curacao but has left that post having battled COVID-19 earlier this year. The illness saw Patrick Kluivert take temporary charge, but Hiddink has now decided to call time on his remarkable career.
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"Lately, with COVID, I haven't worked much, " Hiddink told SBS 6. "Coincidentally I was talking with the president of the Curacao federation and we came to the conclusion it was better that I stop for a while, because they are going in a new direction. But I'm going to stop totally."
Hiddink was then asked whether he would follow fellow Dutch manager Dick Advocaat's path where he announced his retirement from the sport only to then return.
"Am I going to do an Advocaat. No, no," Hiddink added.
The news means Hiddink's 34-year managerial career has come to an end. He started at PSV Eindhoven in 1987 and had two spells there while he has also coached Fenerbahce, Valencia, Real Madrid, Real Betis and Anzhi Makhachkala. He also had two spells as interim manager at Chelsea while he has coached Russia, South Korea, Turkey, Australia and the Netherlands.
Hiddink led PSV to six Eredivisie titles across his two spells there and he also guided them to the 1988 European Cup. He won the 2009 FA Cup at Chelsea and took Netherlands and South Korea to the 1998 and 2002 World Cup semifinals respectively.
His last role in management was at Curacao, who failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.