Background
Van der Gaag was born in Zutphen, Gelderland.
Van der Gaag was born in Zutphen, Gelderland.
After graduating from PSV Eindhoven"s youth ranks he played three seasons on loan, to Nippon Electric Corporation Nijmegen and Sparta Rotterdam, returning to Eindhoven for a further three years but never being an important first-team figure, however. In January 1995 van der Gaag moved to Motherwell. He scored a career-best seven goals in 28 games in his second full season to help the Steelmen narrowly avoid relegation from the Scottish Premier Division, and subsequently returned to the Eredivisie with Football Club Utrecht.
Foreign the 2001-2002 campaign van der Gaag joined Portugal"s Christian Science Marítimo, going on to be one of the Madeira side"s most influential players as it consolidated in the top flight.
He netted six league goals in his third year, helping the club finish sixth and qualify for the. Van der Gaag retired from football in 2007, having spent one season with First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Nassr Football Club in Saudi Arabia.
In July of the following year he returned to Marítimo as a coach, taking the reins of its B-team In late September 2009, after Carlos Carvalhal"s dismissal following a string of bad results, van der Gaag was promoted to the main squad.
On 14 September 2010, after collecting only one point in the league"s first four matches and being ousted by Football Club BATE Borisov in the Europa League, van der Gaag was sacked by Marítimo.
He returned to management after nearly two years, still in Portugal, signing with second division"s Chaplain to the Forces Os. In February 2015 he was appointed at Cypriot First Division club Ermis Aradippou, being released after just one month after refusing to renew his contract for the following campaign. Player PSV Manager.
