Dick Advocaat was born on September 27, 1947, in Hague, the Netherlands as Dirk Nicolaas "Dick” Advocaat. He has two siblings Jaap, Jan, and Chris Advocaat. He belongs to white ethnicity and holds a Dutch nationality.
Dick Advocaat is one of the well-recognized players when he plays as a midfielder defensive. He began his career joining ADO Den Haag in 1966. For the club, his first appearance came in 1967, at the age of 21.
Advocaat then made his professional debut for the team against GVAV on May 21, 1967. He has scored 7 goals in 147 appearances. He is the member of the team that won the 2008 UEFA CUP.
After winning the Dutch Cup with the team, he has honorary citizenship of Saint Petersburg, making him the city’s first foreign honorary citizen in 1866.
Advocaat then sent on loan to San Francisco Gales in 1967. He has scored 1 goal in 7 matches before ending his loan deal.
Advocaat then signed a four-year deal with Roda JC in 1973. For the club, he made total 113 appearances scoring 2 goals before ending his contract. He then transferred to VVV-Venlo in 1977, July 1. Further, he left the club after two years scoring 6 goals in 74 appearances.
Advocaat moved to the United States and signed a contract with Chicago Sting for North American Soccer League (NASL). He left the club after making 32 appearance and 3 goals for the team.
After finishing the league, Advocaat returned to the Netherlands and started to play for his former club Den Haag. Further, he left the team after scored 1 goal in 11 appearances.
Advocaat then joined his ex-club, Chicago Sting in 1980. He has scored 1 goal in 31 appearances for the team.
Advocaat joined the Sparta Rotterdam for the 1980-81 season. He spent two years with the club, where he scored 6 goals in 61 matches. He also played for K.Berchem Sports around a year.
Advocaat ended his football career with the team Utrecht in 1984. As a football player, he scored 27 goals in 543 appearances in his whole career of 18 years.
Dick Advocaat was a former physical education teacher. He began his managerial career with DSVP, which is offered by his brother, Jaap. After four years with the team, he moved to HFC Haarlem in 1987, which he led about two years.
Advocaat then transferred to Schiedamse Voetbal Vereniging in 1989 as a manager, under his supervision the team won the Eerste Divisie champions (1989-90) season and Eredivisie (1990-1991).
Advocaat joined the Dordrecht in 1991 and led the team for a year. He then transferred to PSV in December 1994 and the team first match came against Ajax on January 1, 1995, when he became the manager.
At the club, Advocaat coached the existing players Luc Nilis and Ronaldo. While he was a manager, the team has been honored with Eredivisie title as well as qualified for the UEFA Champions League in the following year.
Further, Advocaat has managed numerous clubs including Rangers where the club won SPL League Cup and Scottish Cup. He also led the team, Borussia Monchengladbach, Zenit Saint Petersburg with the team; he won the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. Along with this, he has managed the club of AZ, Sunderland A.F.C, Fenerbahce and so on.
As of now, Advocaat has managed numerous national team including Russia, Belgium, South Korea, Netherlands, U.A.E, Serbia, etc. He worked as an assistant manager for the Netherlands national team in 1984 about three years.
After three years gap, Advocaat re-joined the national team as the same position of an assistant manager for a year. Later, he officially revealed a new manager of the Netherlands. His first appearance against Luxembourg was at the World Cup qualifier on June 9, 2017.
Advocaat also represented the team of U.A. E (2005), South Korea (2005-2006), Belgium (2009-2010), Russia (2010-2012), Serbia (2014), etc. His current players in the team are Robin Van Persie, Wesley Sneijder, Quincy Promes, etc.
His birth sign is Libra. There are rumors that Advocaat previously married and divorced; however, he hasn’t revealed the exact information about his married life, wife, and children. He is very clever to hide his personal information in front of media.
Besides, his wife once said that she got divorced from Advocaat if Advocaat stays with the Sunderland. After then, Sunderland raised over £2,000 to buy flowers for Dick Advocaat’s wife, after he decided to stay with the club.
Dick Advocaat has a "UEFA Pro Licence." He receives €7 million as a yearly salary from his profession. His salary is 15 times more than the salary of the Greece coach Fernando Santos. As of 2025, his net worth is estimated to be $10 million.
Advocaat owns a house in The Hague, Netherlands. His favorite brand is “Puma." At the of 51, while he was driving his Mercedes, he faced an accident, where 4 people got injured.
