Maarten Stekelenburg

For the Dutch football manager with the same name, see Maarten Stekelenburg (born 1972).

Maarten Stekelenburg

Personal information
Full name	Maarten Stekelenburg
Date of birth	22 September 1982 (1982-09-22)
Place of birth	Haarlem, Netherlands
Height	1.97 m (6 ft 5 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Roma
Number	24
Youth career
	Zandvoort '75
	Schoten
1997–2002	Ajax
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2002–2011	Ajax	191	(0)
2011–	Roma	13	(0)
National team‡
2004–	Netherlands	40	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 May 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 19:30, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Maarten Stekelenburg (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈmaːrtə(n) ˈsteːkələ(n)ˌbʏrx]; born 22 September 1982 in Haarlem) is a professional Dutch football goalkeeper who plays for Serie A club Roma and also the Netherlands national football team.

Stekelenburg is product of the Ajax youth system, where he followed in the footsteps of Edwin van der Sar, who he succeeded in the Dutch national team, with whom he reached the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Ajax

Stekelenburg (center, with Urby Emanuelson, Wesley Sneijder, Zdeněk Grygera, and John Heitinga) played for Ajax from 1997–2011.

Stekelenburg began his career at Zandvoort '75 before joining VV Schoten, which he left for Ajax when he was 15 years old. He made his official debut for Ajax on 24 February 2002, in a game against NAC Breda. At the start of the 2002–03 season he won his first prize when Ajax won the Johan Cruijff-schaal. In 2004 he and Ajax won the Eredivisie championship, having played 10 matches that season.

He became the first goalkeeper at Ajax in the 2005–06 season. In 2006 he won his first KNVB Cup. At the start of the 2006–07 season he won his second Johan Cruijff-schaal, which he helped his team defend the next season, and later on in 2006–07, he won his second KNVB Cup.

Stekelenburg was named Ajax "Player of the Year" for the 2007–08 season, succeeding Wesley Sneijder. During the 2008–09 season, he lost his place in the goal to Kenneth Vermeer due to injuries. He re-established himself as the first-choice keeper under new manager Martin Jol and subsequently had a very strong season for both Ajax and the Dutch national side. During the 2009-10 season Stekelenburg went on to have a consistent season, playing in all of Ajax's Eredivisie games and Europa League games, after they were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League in the group stages. Stekelenburg unfortunately sustained a finger injury which kept him out for the remainder of the season. He made a total of 51 appearances on the 2010/11 season in all competitions.

After winning the 2010/11 Eredivisie on May 15, 2011, Stekelenburg dropped the trophy while standing on top of the Ajax team coach with Vertonghen. He won Ajax Player of the Year for the second time.

Roma

On August 1, 2011 it was announced that Stekelenburg officially transferred to the Italian club for an estimated €6 million, making him the first Dutch footballer to ever play for Roma. He picked the no. 24 shirt, which is the day his son was born.

International career

Stekelenburg made his international debut for the Netherlands on 3 September 2004 against Liechtenstein, whom they beat 3–0.

2006 World Cup

He was called up by then manager Marco van Basten for the squad of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, but he did not play any game during this tournament as Edwin van der Sar was first choice.

Stekelenburg with Lorenzo Ebecilio and Gregory van der Wiel.

Euro 2008

Despite his international debut in 2004, Stekelenburg was called up to Marco van Basten's Euro 2008 squad to play as understudy to Edwin van der Sar. He took part in the Group C match against Romania on 17 June. With Netherlands already having qualified for the quarter finals, coach Marco van Basten fielded a second-string side, to give players like Stekelenburg a game.

In a September 2008 friendly match against Australia, Stekelenburg was sent off after 44 minutes into the first half for fouling Joshua Kennedy. Stekelenburg is the first goalkeeper of the Dutch national side ever to receive a red card.

2010 World Cup

Since the retirement of Edwin van der Sar from the national team, Stekelenburg has been the first-choice keeper under manager Bert van Marwijk. Stekelenburg was included in the preliminary squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. On 27 May 2010, van Marwijk announced that he would be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the competition. Stekelenburg helped the Netherlands reach the final of the competition against Spain by making big saves throughout the tournament, memorably the save from Kaká in the Netherlands 2-1 victory against Brazil in the quarterfinals. Only conceding 6 goals in the whole tournament (2 of them being penalty kicks). Then despite making a number of saves in the final, he ended up on the losing side, conceding the only goal of the game to Andrés Iniesta in the 116th minute of the match.

Statistics

Club

Stekelenburg (right) with Jan Vertonghen at Ajax.

Club	Season	League		Cup		League Cup		Europe		Other		Total
		Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Ajax	2002–03	9	0	0	0	–		3	0	1	0	13	0
	2003–04	10	0	0	0	–		1	0	0	0	11	0
	2004–05	11	0	1	0	–		4	0	1	0	17	0
	2005–06	27	0	4	0	–		6	0	4	0	41	0
	2006–07	32	0	4	0	–		9	0	5	0	50	0
	2007–08	31	0	1	0	–		4	0	5	0	41	0
	2008–09	12	0	1	0	–		2	0	0	0	15	0
	2009–10	33	0	7	0	–		10	0	0	0	50	0
	2010–11	26	0	4	0	–		13	0	1	0	43	0
	Total	191	0	22	0	–		52	0	17	0	282	0
Career total		191	0	22	0	–		52	0	17	0	282	0

Statistics accurate as of match played 8 May 2011

Maarten Stekelenburg with Holland.

International

Netherlands national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2004	1	0
2005	0	0
2006	2	0
2007	7	0
2008	5	0
2009	9	0
2010	15	0
2011	1	0
Total	40	0

Statistics accurate as of match played 15 May 2011

Honours

Club

Ajax

• Eredivisie (2): 2003–04, 2010–11
• KNVB Cup (3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2009–10
• Johan Cruijff Shield (4): 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007

International

Netherlands

• FIFA World Cup Runner-up: 2010

Individual

• AFC Ajax Player of the Year: 2008, 2011

External links

• Maarten Stekelenburg – FIFA competition record
• Official Ajax profile
• (Dutch) Wereld van oranje.nl Profile
• National Football Teams