Los Angeles(Xinhua) : Football star David Beckham has got Ruud Gullit, a Dutch soccer star of the 1980s and 1990s, as the new coach for Los Angeles Galaxy.
Gullit, who once played against Beckham in England, succeeded Frank Yallop to coach Beckham and the rest of the Los Angeles Galaxy.
Yallop was released from his contract Monday to become coach of the San Jose Earthquakes.
Gullit was named the world’s Player of the Year by British magazine World Soccer in 1987 and 1989. When he was named European Footballer of the Year in 1987, he dedicated the award to the then-imprisoned anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela.
He coached Chelsea to a victory in England’s FA Cup in 1997 and Newcastle United to the FA Cup final in 1999.
Gullit has been absent from coaching since 1999, apart from a nine-month stint with the Dutch club Feyenoord in 2004-05.
Since then, he has been a football commentator on British television and hosted a talk show on Dutch TV, where his guests included Mandela.
Gullit, 45, inherits a team that has missed the Major League Soccer (MLS) playoffs each of the past two seasons.
The Galaxy’s fortunes were expected to rise with Beckham’s midseason arrival, but a series of injuries limited him to five games.