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Wesley Sneijder

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Wesley Sneijder
Personal information
Height 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s) Midfielder / Attacking Midfielder / Winger
Team information
Current team
 Real Madrid
Number 10
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2002–2007 Ajax
2007- Real Madrid
International career‡
2003– Netherlands
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 15 April 2009
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11 February 2009

Wesley Sneijder (pronunciationⓘ) (born June 9, 1984, in Utrecht, Netherlands) is a Dutch football midfielder. He has played for Ajax and currently plays for Real Madrid. He is a regular player for the Dutch national team, in the 2006 FIFA World Cup and at two European Championships (2008 and 2004).

Early life

Wesley Sneijder was born on June 9, 1984 in Utrecht into a football family: his father was a player, his older brother Jeffrey played for Stormvogels Telstar and his younger brother Rodney plays for the youth academy of Ajax.

Club career

Ajax

Although Sneijder was not born in Amsterdam, he started his career in the Ajax's famous youth academy. He made his debut for Ajax in a 2-0 win at Excelsior on December 22, 2002 when manager Ronald Koeman, troubled by an injury-filled squad called him up, advised by Danny Blind, the then-coach of the Ajax youth-squad. He rapidly established himself in the role of midfield general and occasional left winger. Despite his short height, he is quick, strong on the ball and his passing range is enhanced by his ambidexterity.[1][2] He is also considered to be a dead-ball specialist.[3]

Real Madrid

On August 12, 2007, Ajax agreed to sell Sneijder to Real Madrid for €27 million, according to the club's web-site, making him the second most expensive Dutch football player. He was the second of three Dutchmen to sign for Real Madrid for the 2007 season joining Royston Drenthe and later Arjen Robben. He also was given the number 23 which was worn by David Beckham for four full seasons at Real Madrid.

In his first La Liga match for Real Madrid he scored the winner in the Madrid derby against Atlético Madrid. On the second matchday, he scored two goals against Villarreal, one of them on a direct free-kick.

Sneijder capped a fine first season in Spain by hitting a stunning free kick in the last game of the season against Levante at the Bernabeu and taking his goal tally to 9 in La Liga in a season which also saw Real retain their title.

On August 3, 2008 Sneijder was stretchered off in the pre-season friendly at Arsenal with a suspected cruciate ligament injury after a collision with Abou Diaby. Sneijder had an MRI which confirmed the extent of the injury to be not as bad as first feared. It is expected that he will be out for at least 3 months.[4] However, he managed to recover in time and was included in the starting eleven for the Champions League clash against Juventus at Turin.

On September 2, 2008 AS reported that after Robinho's departure to Manchester City for €42m Wesley Sneijder is Real Madrid's new number 10.[5]. One day later Real Madrid confirmed on their web site Sneijder's new number. His previous number 23 was taken over by his fellow Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart [6] whose preferred number is 23.

Dutch magazine Voetbal International conducted a poll to decide who was the best Dutch free-kick taker. Sneijder received an overwhelming 70% of the votes while Arsenal's Robin van Persie came second with 21% and then Ajax and currently Real Madrid striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar was third with 3% of the votes.[7]

International career

Sneijder (right) with Arjen Robben training for the Netherlands.

Sneijder debuted with the Netherlands Under-21 side against Czech Republic on March 28, 2003. His first game with the Dutch national team was against Portugal on April 30 that same year, when he became the eighth youngest man to play for the Netherlands in the first team’s history.

Euro 2004

Sneijder reached the Euro 2004 semifinals with the Netherlands. He began the competition mainly on the bench, and was subbed into two group stage matches. He had also contributed two goals in the qualifying tournament.

World Cup 2006

Sneijder started all four games for the Netherlands at the World Cup in Germany. He received one of the record sixteen yellow cards doled out during the infamous Round of 16 clash with Portugal ("Battle of Nuremberg"); Portugal went on to win 1-0.

Euro 2008

In the build-up to Euro 2008, Sneijder scored a free kick in a friendly against Wales on May 31, making it his second strike from a direct free kick in a row. The game ended 2-0 with goals from Real Madrid pair, Arjen Robben and Sneijder.

Sneijder marked his 24th birthday in style by scoring one of the goals of the tournament; the second goal in the 31st minute of the Euro 2008 match against the World Cup Champion, Italy. Following Giovanni van Bronckhorst's goal-line clearance and subsequent run into the Italian half, Sneijder received a headed ball from Dirk Kuyt and volleyed it with an acrobatic strike past Gianluigi Buffon. This brought the score to 2-0 after Ruud van Nistelrooy's opener five minutes previous. The match finished with a 3-0 victory to the Dutch after a third goal was scored by Giovanni van Bronkhorst after another run by him following a crucial save from Edwin van der Sar. Sneijder's second goal contributed to the Netherlands first victory over Italy in thirty years which was the biggest defeat Italy had suffered since Sweden beat them by the same margin in 1983. Many fans and pundits agreed that this goal was one of the best of the tournament. On June 13, he scored another goal for Holland in the Euro 2008 group stage match against France in the 92nd minute from outside the box finishing the ball in the corner of the net bouncing off the crossbar on its way in. The match finished 4-1 for Holland. Although the Dutch lost to the Russians in the quarter-final, Sneijder was named in the Team of the Tournament for his strong performances.

No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Ref.
1 2003-10-11 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands  Moldova 2-0 5-0 Euro 2004 qualifying
2 2003-11-19 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands  Scotland 1-0 6-0 Euro 2004 qualifying playoffs
3 2004-08-18 Råsunda Stadium, Stockholm, Sweden  Sweden 1-1 2-2 Friendly match
4 2005-06-08 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands  Finland 1-1 3-1 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
5 2005-08-17 Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona, Spain  Andorra 0-3 0-3 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
6 2007-03-24 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands  Russia 2-0 4-1 Friendly match
7 2007-09-08 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands  Bulgaria 1-0 2-0 Euro 2008 Qualification
8 2007-10-17 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands  Slovenia 1-0 2-0 Euro 2008 Qualification
9 2008-05-01 Feijenoord Stadion, Rotterdam, Netherlands  Wales 2-0 2-0 Friendly match
10 2008-06-09 Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne, Switzerland  Italy 2-0 3-0 UEFA Euro 2008 group stage
11 2008-06-13 Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne, Switzerland  France 4-1 4-1 UEFA Euro 2008 group stage

Template:Ig footer

Career statistics

As of 15 April 2009

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2

2002-03 Ajax Eredivisie 17 4 3 1 3 0 23 5
2003-04 30 9 1 0 7 1 38 10
2004-05 30 7 4 2 7 0 41 9
2005-06 19 5 3 2 7 4 29 11
2006-07 30 18 4 1 9 1 43 20

Template:Football player statistics 2

2007-08 Real Madrid La Liga 30 9 2 0 5 0 37 9
2008-09 22 2 0 0 1 0 23 2

Template:Football player statistics 3126||43||15||6||33||6||174||55 Template:Football player statistics 451||13||2||0||6||0||59||13 Template:Football player statistics 5168||54||17||6||39||6||223||66

Personal life

Sneijder married Ramona Streekstra on June 18, 2005. They have one son, Jessey, born September 4, 2006. The couple divorced on January 21, 2009. [citation needed] On May 8, 2008, it was reported that Sneijder had prevented his younger brother Rodney from a summer transfer to his current club, Real Madrid. Sneijder said, "Real Madrid wanted him and Rodney was very happy about that. But when I heard, I stopped the discussions. I am not in favour of juniors increasingly going to top clubs. I've told him that he first must make a break through at Ajax. "[9]

Club Playing Honours

AFC Ajax
Real Madrid FC

Individual Playing Honours

References

  1. ^ Wesley Sneijder
  2. ^ Two-footed Sneijder the fulcrum of Holland's new counter-attacking style
  3. ^ Wesley Sneijder
  4. ^ "Sneijder avoids going under the knife". Realmadrid.com. 2008-08-04. Retrieved 2008-08-05.
  5. ^ "El vestuario no le aceptaba y el dorsal 10 lo llevará Sneijder". as.com. 2008-09-01. Retrieved 2008-09-02.
  6. ^ "Sneijder switches to'10' and Van der Vaart takes over '23'". realmadrid.com. 2008-09-03. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
  7. ^ http://www.realmadrid.com/cs/Satellite/en/News/1193040487675/1202743981130/noticia/Noticia/Sharpshooter_Sneijder.htm
  8. ^ "Gespeelde wedstrijden". KNVB. Retrieved 2007-05-16.
  9. ^ "Sneijder blocked Real Madrid move for kid brother". Retrieved 20 May 2008. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |dateformat= ignored (help)
  10. ^ "Spain dominate Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com. 2008-06-30. Retrieved 2008-06-30.
  11. ^ "Carslberg Goal of the Day". UEFA.com. Retrieved 2008-07-03.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wesley Sneijder.
Awards
Preceded by AFC Ajax Talent of the year
2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by AFC Ajax Player of the year
2006–2007 		Succeeded by
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