Edwin van der Sar

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Edwin van der Sar bigraphy, stories - Footballer

Edwin van der Sar : biography

29 October 1970 –

Edwin van der Sar () (born 29 October 1970) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Ajax, Juventus, Fulham and Manchester United. He is the most capped player in the Netherlands national team’s history. He currently works as an analyst and has stated an interest in coaching in the near future.. VoetbalPrimeur.nl. Retrieved on 2011-09-23.. Hln.be. Retrieved on 2011-09-23.

He started his senior career at Ajax and is considered to be a member of a golden generation of players at the club. He remained there for nine years before moving to Italian club Juventus and then to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United. He is one of the few footballers to have won the UEFA Champions League with two different teams – with Ajax in 1995 and Manchester United in 2008; in the latter, he was also named UEFA Man of the Match. Van der Sar also won the UEFA Cup with Ajax in 1992.

Throughout a long and successful career, Van der Sar achieved and set numerous records. In the 2008–09 season he set the world league clean sheet record by not conceding a single goal for 1,311 minutes. Along with being the most capped player for the Netherlands national team, with 130 caps, he is also the oldest player to win the Premier League, at 40 years and 205 days old. Individually Van der Sar has won several honours, including Best European Goalkeeper in 1995 and 2009, and UEFA Club Goalkeeper of the Year in 2009. He is considered, by critics and fellow players, as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time.

Post-playing career

On 3 August 2011, a testimonial match was played at the Amsterdam Arena in honour of Van der Sar. The match featured the goalkeeper’s "dream team", consisting of Wayne Rooney, John Heitinga, Louis Saha, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidić, André Ooijer, Dirk Kuyt, Gary Neville, Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Boudewijn Zenden and Dennis Bergkamp with Alex Ferguson as manager. They faced the current AFC Ajax first team, led by Frank de Boer.

Prior to this match two shorter matches took place. One featured the Ajax and Manchester United youth teams, and another one featured Ajax’s 1995 squad against the Netherlands national team of 1998. The Ajax squad featured among others Finidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, Frank de Boer, Winston Bogarde, Nordin Wooter, Ronald de Boer, Danny Blind, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars and Frank Rijkaard with it being managed by Louis van Gaal. The Netherlands squad featured among others Wim Jonk, Dennis Bergkamp, Roy Makaay, Ruud Hesp, Aron Winter, Richard Witschge and Pierre van Hooijdonk with it being managed by Guus Hiddink.

The viewership numbers in the Netherlands alone peaked at 2 million and it had a 26% total market share.. Voetbalzone.nl. Retrieved on 23 September 2011. The income generated by the match was to be donated to two charities (Make a Wish Foundation and Laureus);. Ajax.nl (20 June 2011). Retrieved on 23 September 2011. it generated so much money, however, that Van der Sar announced afterwards he would be starting his own charitable foundation to help spend the money.. SoccerNews.NL. Retrieved on 23 September 2011.

During the event, it was announced that Van der Sar would be working as an analyst for the Netherlands Broadcasting Foundation covering the 2011-12 UEFA Champions League. Van der Sar’s son, Joe, made written comments stating his father would be working as a goalkeeping coach at Ajax within five years. Van der Sar himself said he did not want to make a full commitment to this, but confirmed it was likely and he was interested in building up his coaching career slowly, starting at the lower levels.

On 27 May 2012, he participated in the Soccer Aid 2012 Match, playing for the Rest of the World side in the first half, making a full-length save from John Bishop. He was replaced at half-time by comedian Patrick Kielty.

Club career

Ajax

Born in Voorhout, Van der Sar began his career at his hometown club, Foreholte, and then VV Noordwijk. At a relatively late age, he was brought to the attention of Louis van Gaal, and subsequently signed for Ajax. Even though he joined late he went into the reserve team and bided his time before getting his first team call up by Louis van Gaal. He enjoyed a long and successful stint in their senior side, winning the 1991–92 UEFA Cup and the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League, as well as the 1995 Best European Goalkeeper award. He was in goal for Ajax in the 1996 UEFA Champions League Final, but had to make do with a runner-up medal as they lost the penalty shootout against Juventus. He made a total of 226 appearances for Ajax and scored a penalty for Ajax to complete a 9–1 victory over De Graafschap in the 1997–98 season. In his first full season as Ajax No. 1 he won the Dutch Football Goalkeeper of the Year, he would then go on to retain the award for the next 3 consecutive years.