Edwin van der Sar

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Edwin van der Sar
Personal information
Full name Edwin van der Sar
Date of birth October 29, 1970 (age 36)
Place of birth    Flag of Netherlands Voorhout, Netherlands
Height 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in)[1]
Nickname The Jolly Green Giant
The White Rabbit
the flying Dutchman
van der Star
Het IJskonijn (The Ice Rabbit)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club Manchester United
Number 1
Youth clubs
1990–92 Ajax
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1990–1999
1999–2001
2001–2005
2005–
Ajax
Juventus
Fulham
Manchester United
226 (1)
066 (0)
115 (0)
065 (0)   
National team2
1995– Netherlands 119 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 4 March 2007.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 29 March 2007.
* Appearances (Goals)

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.

Contents

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]

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
Van der Sar playing for Manchester United

He later moved to Premiership club Manchester United on 5 June 2005, in a transfer for reported fee of £2 million, signing a two year deal. 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 contract in December 2006, keeping him at the club till the end of the 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].

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 1998 World Cup quarterfinals against Argentina, van der Sar was headbutted by Ariel Ortega, which earned the Argentinean a red card.

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
Edwin van der Sar during 2006 World Cup

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.

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Manchester United F.C. - Current Squad

1 van der Sar | 2 Neville | 3 Evra | 4 Heinze | 5 Ferdinand | 6 Brown | 7 Ronaldo | 8 Rooney | 9 Saha | 11 Giggs | 13 Park | 14 Smith | 15 Vidić | 16 Carrick | 18 Scholes | 20 Solskjær | 21 Dong | 22 O'Shea | 23 Richardson | 24 Fletcher | 27 Silvestre | 29 Kuszczak | 32 Cathcart | 33 Eagles | 38 Heaton | Manager: Ferguson


Flag of Netherlands Netherlands squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Flag of Netherlands

1 van der Sar | 2 Jaliens | 3 Boulahrouz | 4 Mathijsen | 5 van Bronckhorst | 6 Landzaat | 7 Kuyt | 8 Cocu | 9 van Nistelrooy | 10 van der Vaart | 11 Robben | 12 Kromkamp | 13 Ooijer | 14 Heitinga | 15 de Cler | 16 Maduro | 17 van Persie | 18 van Bommel | 19 Vennegoor of Hesselink | 20 Sneijder | 21 Babel | 22 Timmer | 23 Stekelenburg | Coach: van Basten

Flag of Netherlands Netherlands squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place Flag of Netherlands

1 van der Sar | 2 Reiziger | 3 Stam | 4 F. de Boer | 5 Numan | 6 Jonk | 7 R. de Boer | 8 Bergkamp | 9 Kluivert | 10 Seedorf | 11 Cocu | 12 Zenden | 13 Ooijer | 14 Overmars | 15 Bogarde | 16 Davids | 17 van Hooijdonk | 18 de Goeij | 19 van Bronckhorst | 20 Winter | 21 Hasselbaink | 22 Hesp | Coach: Hiddink

Flag of Netherlands Netherlands squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup Quarter-finalists Flag of Netherlands

1 de Goeij | 2 F. de Boer | 3 Rijkaard | 4 Koeman | 5 Witschge | 6 Wouters | 7 Overmars | 8 Jonk | 9 R. de Boer | 10 Bergkamp | 11 Roy | 12 Bosman | 13 van der Sar | 14 van Gobbel | 15 Blind | 16 Numan | 17 Taument | 18 Valckx | 19 van Vossen | 20 Winter | 21 de Wolf | 22 Snelders | Coach: Advocaat

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