Wilfred Bouma

Wilfred Bouma

Personal information
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s)	Left Back, Centre back
Team information
Current team	PSV
Number	3
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–2005	PSV	168	(19)
1996–1998	→ MVV (loan)	55	(13)
1998–1999	→ Fortuna Sittard (loan)	33	(5)
2005–2010	Aston Villa	83	(1)
2010–	PSV	0	(0)
International career‡
1995	Netherlands U20	3	(1)
2000–2009	Netherlands	35	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 25 May 2009 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 5 April 2010

Wilfred Bouma (born 15 June 1978) in Helmond, North Brabant is a Dutch international footballer who plays for PSV Eindhoven. Bouma is a technically refined left back/centre back who is known for his hard working nature, defensive positioning and tackling ability.

Club career

Early career

Bouma started his career at amateur club SV Rood-Wit '62 before joining PSV on a youth contract in 1994. The PSV head coach at the time, Aad de Mos handed him his professional debut against Willem II on October 26, 1994 which his team lost 2–1. After not featuring for a long time, he was loaned out to MVV in 1996 and played in the Eerste Divisie where he scored seven goals in 18 games. The following season, he scored sixteen goals in 33 games after helping his team back into the Eredivisie. After impressing at Fortuna Sittard in 1998–99, he was drafted back into the PSV squad the following season.

Back at PSV

At PSV, he played as a left winger and as forward because of his quick pace and direct passing, teaming up with Arnold Bruggink and at times, with Ruud van Nistelrooy. When Arthur Numan went off to Rangers at the end of the 1999–00 season, Bouma was moved to left-back where he had to compete with Danish international Jan Heintze.

With the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers entering its crucial stages, Bouma was handed his international debut for the Dutch national team against the Republic of Ireland on 2 September 2000. In the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal, he was chosen by Dick Advocaat to play as a central defender and he has also retained that spot while playing for PSV under Guus Hiddink in the 2004–05 season.

Aston Villa

Just before the close of the international transfer window, Bouma signed for Aston Villa on 30 August 2005 for £3.5 million. He struggled to establish himself during the 2005–06 campaign at Villa Park, as his debut season was heavily tarnished with injuries. However, when Martin O'Neill replaced boss David O'Leary, Bouma – after recovering from a hamstring injury – replaced stand-in left-back Gareth Barry.

Under O'Neill, Bouma begun to flourish during the 2006–07 season – he established himself as first choice left back and went onto total 28 appearances in the claret and blue shirt. This lead to Bouma becoming a cult hero at Villa Park, most notably for his strong tackling, and determined nature in defence. This turn in form also attributed to Bouma reclaiming his place in the Dutch National Team, playing in the friendly against Russia in February 2007, the tour of Asia in June 2007 and the following UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying fixtures.

On 9 February 2008, Bouma – who was in the process of making his 76th appearance in claret and blue – netted his first goal for the club in the 48th minute of the match against Newcastle United. The deflected goal levelled the game at 1–1, before a hat-trick by teammate John Carew, wrapped up a 4–1 victory.

Upon returning from international duty for the Netherlands at Euro 2008, Bouma participated in both legs of Aston Villa's Intertoto Cup third round tie against Odense, however the second leg at Villa Park on 26 July 2008 was marred by a serious ankle injury to the full-back. Bouma caught his studs on the turf as he attempted to challenge opposition forward Baye Djiby Fall. Initially, the injury looked like a horrific break, however reports later confirmed that Bouma had suffered a dislocation, an injury which looked set to keep him out until October. His recovery however took much longer. Bouma's increasing importance to the Villa cause, as well as his 'cult-hero status' was noted as he was carried off early in the tie whilst being accompanied by a 30,000 strong chant of support by the Villa faithful.

On 9 September 2008, Bouma signed a new two-year deal at Villa Park with the option of a third year.

In January 2009 it was announced that Bouma, along with other long-term absentee John Carew had returned to full training. He was scheduled to return on 16 February for the reserves but he pulled out at the last minute because he "felt sore". On 2 March 2009, Bouma finally played 90 minutes in a 4–3 win in a reserve match against Chelsea. However, he suffered a setback on his road to recovery in April after learning bone fragments had broken away from his ankle, and underwent surgery soon after.

On 16 September 2009, after being out of action for fourteen months, it was announced that Bouma had resumed full training with the club. However, Bouma's injury worries were not yet over. Yet to make a return to Villa's first team, Bouma suffered another set back and was again out of action with a stubbed toe injury.

On 29 January 2010, Aston Villa announced that Bouma had finally returned to full training following eighteen months of absence through injury. However, while Bouma played a full ninety minutes for the Aston Villa reserves in February 2010, he never made a return to the first team. On 6 May 2010, Aston Villa confirmed that Bouma was set to leave the club at the end of the 2009-2010 season.. Bouma said his goodbyes to the Villa faithful during half-time of the home defeat to Blackburn in their final league game, later stating that he intended to address the fans but "just couldn't do it" after becoming too emotional.

Return to PSV

On 26 June 2010, it was revealed that Bouma's former club PSV Eindhoven had offered him a trial at the club in an attempt to revive his career and he joined up with the rest of the PSV squad for pre-season training. The signing of a two-year contract with PSV was completed at the end of August 2010.

International career

Bouma training with the Netherlands.

As of July 2008, Wilfred Bouma has played for the Netherlands 35 times, scoring twice. Bouma made his debut on September 2, 2000, in the 2–2 draw with the Republic of Ireland. Several steady appearances followed in the coming years, including 4 appearances at Euro 2004, whilst playing as a centre-back. Bouma was included in the Dutch squad for Euro 2008, and he made 2 appearances, coming on as a 78th substitute against France and playing the full 90 minutes against Romania. Bouma's only two goals at international level came within 4 months of each other, as the defender netted in the 3–2 defeat to Czech Republic in the group stage of Euro 2004. He then went onto net the opener against Macedonia in October of the same year, in a match which ended 2–2.

Wilfred Bouma: International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	June 19, 2004	Estádio Municipal, Aveiro, Portugal	Czech Republic	1–0	2–3	Euro 2004
2.	October 10, 2004	City Stadium, Skopje, Macedonia	Macedonia	0–1	2–2	2006 World Cup qualification

Career statistics

Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1994–95||rowspan="3"|PSV||rowspan="3"|Eredivisie||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||1||0 |-colspan="2"|- |1995–96||4||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||4||0 |- |1996–97||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||1||0 |- |1996–97||rowspan="2"|MVV||Eerste Divisie||18||7||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||18||7 |- |1997–98||Eredivisie||33||6||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||33||6 |- |1998–99||Fortuna Sittard||Eredivisie||33||5||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||33||5 |- |1999-00||rowspan="7"|PSV||rowspan="7"|Eredivisie||27||9||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||3||0||30||9 |- |2000–01||20||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||7||1||28||1 |- |2001–02||27||3||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||10||0||37||3 |- |2002–03||27||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||6||0||33||1 |- |2003–04||32||5||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||12||2||44||7 |- |2004–05||26||1||1||0||colspan="2"|-||14||0||41||1 |- |2005–06||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||3||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2005–06||rowspan="4"|Aston Villa||rowspan="4"|Premier League||20||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||21||0 |- |2006–07||25||0||1||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||28||0 |- |2007–08||38||1||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||39||1 |- |2008–09||0||0||||||||||2||0|||| Template:Football player statistics 3252||37||2||0||colspan="2"|-||52||3||306||40 Template:Football player statistics 483||1||3||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||88||1 Template:Football player statistics 5335||38||5||0||2||0||52||3||394||41 |}

Honours

PSV Eindhoven

• Eredivisie: Winner 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005
• KNVB Cup: Winner 2005
• Johan Cruijff-schaal: Winner 2000, 2001, 2003

Personal life

Wilfred Bouma married in June 2007. Bouma lives in Streetly, West Midlands with his wife Anja, son Thomas and daughter Lola.

External links

• Wilfred Bouma at Soccerbase
• Wilfred Bouma at Wereld van Oranje (archived) (in Dutch)