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Edwin van der Sar

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Edwin van der Sar
File:Van-der-sar-at-watford373.jpg
Personal information
Full name Edwin van der Sar
Height 1.97 m (6 ft 5+1⁄2 in)[1]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
 Manchester United
Number 1
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 29 March 2007

Edwin van der Sar (born October 29, 1970 in Voorhout, Netherlands) is a professional Dutch footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He is captain of the Dutch national team and plays club football for Manchester United in the English Premier League. He was a member of the 2006/2007 PFA Team of the Year.

Club career

Early career

Van der Sar began his career at Foreholte (Voorhout's local football team), then moving to VV Noordwijk, where he was spotted by Ajax. After going through the ranks of Ajax's youth system, he enjoyed a long and successful Ajax career, winning the UEFA Champions League in 1995, as well as many other awards (including the UEFA Cup in 1992). In total, he made 226 appearances for Ajax.

He went on to play for Juventus, eventually losing his place to Gianluigi Buffon, which he called a betrayal, and "not a nice ending" of his career there. In total, he made 66 appearances for the Italian club. So far he remains the first and only non-Italian to play in goal for Juve. [2]

Moving to the Premiership

His move to the premiership took him first to Fulham in 2001, reportedly for around £7.7 million. [3] Initially signing a four year contract, he notched up 127 appearances for Fulham in his spell.

Van der Sar playing for Manchester United

He later moved to Premiership club Manchester United on 1 June 2005 for a reported fee of £2 million, although the exact transfer fee was undisclosed. Van der Sar was signed to solve goalkeeper woes at Manchester United who had had a string of unsuccessful No. 1s. Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson considers him the best goalkeeper Manchester United had since Peter Schmeichel. [4] He renewed his original two year contract in December 2006, signing for a further year to keep him at the club till the end of the 2007/2008 season.

Sir Alex Ferguson has publicly stated he sees no reason why van der Sar cannot continue to play for this time (at the end he will be nearing 38), saying: "Edwin's fit, lean and hungry and he can play for another two years, easy."

Van der Sar is nicknamed the Jolly Green Giant because of his height (197 cm or 6'6) and his green goalkeeper's kit at Manchester United. [5]

On February 4, 2007, playing for Manchester United in a Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur, van der Sar broke his nose in a collision with the Irish striker Robbie Keane [6].

On May 5, 2007 in a game for Manchester United against Manchester City he saved a penalty kick from Darius Vassell. That kept United ahead after Cristiano Ronaldo' s goal again from a penalty kick gave them the lead at the first half. Later, United's win confirmed their 16th league title.

International career

Van der Sar made his international debut on June 7, 1995 against Belarus. He has been in goal for all three recent eliminations from major competitions by penalties: Euro 96, 1998 FIFA World Cup and Euro 2000.

During the penalty shootout at the end of the Euro 2004 quarter-final against Sweden, van der Sar saved a penalty from Olof Mellberg.

Prior to the 2006 World Cup group match against Ivory Coast, van der Sar had not conceded a goal in 10 consecutive non-friendly matches and kept a clean sheet for 1,013 minutes, an all-time European record. [7]

Edwin van der Sar has represented the Dutch national team 118 times, which makes him Holland's most capped player. That also puts him in the top sixty most capped players of all time. As captain of the Netherlands, he broke Frank de Boer's record in the 2006 World Cup second round match against Portugal.

In spite of the disappointment of this Second Round loss, he confirmed that he will continue to play for the national team during the Euro 2008 qualifiers and the jointly hosted finals in Austria and Switzerland if Netherlands qualify, though he missed the Netherlands' 0-0 draw with Romania on March 25, 2007 due to a calf injury.

Edwin van der Sar during 2006 World Cup

Honours

Personal life

Van der Sar is married to Anne-Marie van Kesteren. The wedding ceremony took place at the Beurs van Berlage, the doorstep of Hotel Krasnapolsky, in Amsterdam, on May 20, 2006. Ruud van Nistelrooy was amongst those attending the ceremony.

The couple have two children: a son, Joe, and a daughter, Lynn. Joe was on pitch with his father celebrating with after he saved one penalty as the Netherlands beat Sweden 5-4 on penalties in the Quarter-Finals of Euro 2004.

References

Wikiquote has quotations related to Edwin van der Sar.

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