China's national football team faces a coaching change for their March friendly; the 78-year-old veteran coach sacrifices World Cup for his daughter

Written by Han Bing On March 27, China’s national team will face the World Cup newcomers Curaçao in a friendly match in Sydney, Australia. Yet, only a month before the game, Curaçao unexpectedly changed coaches. On February 23, the 78-year-old Dutch maestro Dick Advocaat relinquished his chance to make World Cup history in order to tend to his sick daughter, resigning on his own accord. During his farewell press conference, Advocaat stated that family has always come first for him.

As early as last November, before Curaçao’s crucial World Cup qualifier against Jamaica, Advocaat had already taken leave and returned to the Netherlands to care for his ailing wife. Watching from home as Curaçao, without a coach, was held to a draw by Jamaica and missed an early qualification spot, the elderly coach was moved to tears in front of the TV. Fortunately, Curaçao ultimately qualified on merit, becoming the smallest football association by area and population ever to reach the World Cup.

After Curaçao qualified, Advocaat admitted that his hasty departure was driven by concern for his wife, and upon returning home, he learned her illness was not as severe as initially thought. Because the head coach was absent, Curaçao nearly missed qualification, and Advocaat almost lost the chance to lead a team at the World Cup again after 20 years. However, this time his resignation was a well-considered decision. In the coming months, he will devote himself fully to caring for his seriously ill daughter and cannot fulfill coaching duties, so he must step down. Curaçao’s team doctor, Van Eck, also resigned to provide necessary medical support for Advocaat’s daughter.

For a professional coach, giving up the chance to make World Cup history is a very difficult choice. Advocaat could have etched his name in World Cup records by leading Curaçao in their debut appearance. He would have also surpassed Otto Rehhagel, who coached Greece at age 72 in 2010, becoming the oldest head coach to participate in the World Cup.

Throughout his coaching career, Advocaat has participated in two World Cups: with the Netherlands in 1994 and South Korea in 2006. To fulfill his World Cup dream once more, he coached five national teams over the past 20 years (Belgium, Russia, Serbia, the Netherlands, and Iraq) without success. In 2024, he took charge of Curaçao, assembling a fully naturalized squad through his Dutch football connections, finally earning a third World Cup coaching opportunity. As a player, Advocaat once played in the United States and has long wished to coach there again. He was the Netherlands’ head coach during the 1994 USA World Cup and could have returned as a coach for the 2026 USA World Cup 32 years later.

Unfortunately, his daughter’s sudden serious illness forced him to give up. Advocaat values family deeply and rarely shares private details. Even Dutch media do not know his daughter’s name. It is known that his ill daughter is from his previous marriage, while his current wife, Daveka, also has health issues. This is why Advocaat has frequently returned to the Netherlands in recent years to be with his family.

There have been precedents in world football where coaches gave up their careers for family. In March 2019, Spain’s coach Luis Enrique resigned to focus on treating his daughter Xana, who was diagnosed with bone cancer; sadly, she passed away five months later. In 2004, AS Roma’s coach Claudio Ranieri also resigned a week before the Serie A season to care for his wife Manuela, who was battling breast cancer recurrence, forfeiting his first million-euro salary. He continued caring for her during his tenure at Fiorentina until her death in November 2007. Last May, the young coach of Ligue 1’s Reims stepped down to care for his wife hospitalized with thyroid cancer-induced encephalitis.

Advocaat’s successor is the 63-year-old Dutch coach Louis van Gaal, who was originally the first choice for Curaçao’s coaching position in 2024 but declined due to health concerns, allowing Advocaat to seize the historic chance. Now that van Gaal is willing to take over, Curaçao’s football association welcomes him. Van Gaal’s debut as Curaçao’s coach will be the March 27 match in Sydney against China. He also has a prior connection to Chinese football: in early 2009, when Zhou Haibin joined PSV Eindhoven, van Gaal was the head coach but did not give the Chinese player any playing time. Sixteen years later, van Gaal’s first match as Curaçao’s coach will be against China’s national team.