"Out of respect for my sweet wife" - Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal says he is not superstitious and wears 'orange underpants' only on matchday

Netherlands national team manager Louis van Gaal has revealed that he wears 'orange underpants' on matchdays out of respect for his wife. The Dutch boss was asked at the press conference where he announced the Netherlands squad for the World Cup on Friday (11 November) about his wife claiming he was superstitious.

Van Gaal then revealed that while he is not superstitious as such, he does wear orange underpants that were gifted to him by his wife on matchdays to respect her wishes. The Netherlands boss replied (via the Sun):

“No. I received orange underpants from her. Do you really think I will wear these orange pants every day? I only do it on match days. This is why I wear it. Out of respect for my sweet wife.”

• Is it true what your wife said, that you are superstitious?

Van Gaal: “No. I received orange underpants from her. Do you really think I will wear these orange pants every day? I only do it on match days. This is why I wear it. Out of respect for my sweet wife.” https://t.co/MSvsn680LJ

Van Gaal's eccentric personality has taken center stage over the years. One such instance occurred during his stint as Bayern Munich manager when the Dutchman dropped his trousers in front of his players as a display of authority.

Luca Toni, a former Bayern striker who shared a short period of time with the Netherlands boss at the Bundesliga outfit, revealed:

"The coach wanted to make clear to us that he can drop any player. It was all the same to him because, as he said, he had the balls. He demonstrated this literally by dropping his trousers. I have never experienced anything like it, it was totally crazy. Luckily I didn't see a lot because I wasn't in the front row."

"I saw a couple of naked players" - Louis van Gaal reveals awkward calls with Netherlands players ahead of World Cup in Qatar

Van Gaal revealed the awkward FaceTime calls he had to have with his players to explain his decisions while choosing the World Cup squad. Van Gaal said (via GOAL):

"It's not easy to give players the message that they didn't make the squad. I spent one hour and 45 minutes in total to explain my decisions to the players via FaceTime. That was not an easy task, I'll tell you that. I also had to take into account that some of the guys play in England."

"There's obviously the one-hour time difference. I saw a couple of naked players because they were still in bed or had only just gotten up."

Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal has named his 26-man World Cup squad...

#NED | #WorldCup https://t.co/BojqBGjVkT

Netherlands will play their World Cup opener against Senegal on 21 November.