Dutch national coach Louis van Gaal has been suffering from prostate cancer for some time. This was announced by coach on Sunday evening in a TV show.
Tragic news from the football world: Legendary coach Louis van Gaal is suffering from cancer. This was announced by the coach of the Dutch national team on the Dutch TV show “Humerto” on RTL. It is an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
Van Gaal initially kept the news to himself, he didn’t want his players to hear about it. “I didn’t want to influence their performances,” he explained.
His illness was kept secret
Both the hospital, where he was treated during the national team’s training camp, and his family played a part in keeping it secret, as van Gaal says: “I was treated preferentially. I was allowed to go in and out through the back entrance . And if I went to an appointment, I was immediately allowed to move to another room.”
Louis van Gaal continued: “You see, prostate cancer doesn’t kill you. You usually die from underlying diseases. But it’s an aggressive form of prostate cancer. I’ve had 25 radiation treatments.” The disease was therefore diagnosed at the end of 2020, and the treatments began a year later.
“I love my job”
“I thought I was healthy. But I’m not.” Last Tuesday, van Gaal was on the sidelines in Elftal’s international match against Germany in Amsterdam (1-1) despite a corona infection.
