Willem van Hanegem
Dutch footballer
Willem "Wim" van Hanegem (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈʋɪləɱ ˈʋɪɱ vɑn ˈɦaːnəɣɛm]; born 20 February 1944) is a Dutch former football player and coach who played as a midfielder. In a playing career spanning over 20 years, he won several domestic honours in the Netherlands, as well as both the European Cup and UEFA Cup with Feyenoord. He was also part of the Dutch national team that were runners-up in the 1974 FIFA World Cup.
Widely considered one of the greatest Dutch footballers in history, he earned the nickname 'De Kromme' ('The Crooked One' or 'The Bent One'), initially due to his posture as a consequence of bow legs and later because of his trademark bent passes and contrarian commentary. Known for his aggressiveness, intelligence and technical playmaking abilities, Van Hanegem was often praised by contemporaries like Johan Cruyff. For his significant contributions to the club's rise to domestic and European success, Feyenoord honored Van Hanegem in 2014 by naming one of its stadium's stands after him.
As a manager, he won the league and cup with Feyenoord and spent a period as the Dutch national team's assistant coach. His most recent job as manager was for FC Utrecht, from 2007 to 2008. He writes a regular column about football for Algemeen Dagblad, one of the Netherlands' principal daily newspapers.
Early life
Van Hanegem was born on 20 February 1944 in Breskens, the son of Lo van Hanegem (1905-1944) and Anna van Grol.
The public source identifies “Willem van Hanegem” as dutch footballer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Willem, Hanegem and Dutch.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Feb 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q353017. VIAF identifies the subject as 38121923. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1944, 1974, 2014 and 2007.
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This entry incorporates text from “Willem van Hanegem” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.