The Dick Advocaat file

May 11 2008

DICK ADVOCAAT has enjoyed a glittering career in football since starting out as an unheralded midfielder in his native Holland.

Here, Mail Sport looks at the Zenit St Petersburg gaffer's colourful life and times.

1966: Signs first professional contract with ADO Den Haag where he makes 147 appearances.

1984: After playing at Roda, Sparta Rotterdam and Utrecht he moves into coaching with HFC Harlem.

1992: Appointed assistant to "The General" Rinus Michels with Holland and succeeds him a year later earning the nickname "The Little General".

1994: Leads Holland to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in America but loses to Brazil before returning to club football with PSV.

1996: Wins his first trophy as a coach - the KNVB Cup with PSV and lands the Dutch title a year later.

1998: Becomes Rangers' first foreign coach and wins five trophies before leaving in 2002.

2004: Back in charge of Holland but quits after fierce criticism following the semi-final exit to Portugal at the European Championships.

2005: After six months at Germany's Borussia Moenchengladbach he becomes coach of UAE but leaves for South Korea just four months later.

2006: Korea are knocked out in the first phase of the World Cup and he quits to take charge of Zenit St Petersburg in Russia.

2008: Wins the Russian title with Zenit then reaches the UEFA Cup Final.