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Date of Birth: Saturday, August 29, 1970
Birth Place: Holland
Height: 197cm
Position: Goalkeeper
Former Clubs/Teams: Fulham FC, Juventus FC, Ajax

Biography

Edwin van der Sar is a goalkeeper for Manchester United in the English Premier League. He retired from international football with the Netherlands in October 2008, after a record-breaking 130 appearances for the Oranje. Edwin is one of the few players to have won the Champions League with two different clubs (Ajax and Manchester United), and is considered the best goalkeeper since Peter Schmeichel at Old Trafford.

Childhood

Edwin van der Sar was born on 29th October 1970, in the coastal town of Voohout, Netherlands. He knew from a very young age that he wanted to become a goalkeeper, with his height giving him an advantage between the sticks. He was signed up for the Ajax Amsterdam youth teams when he was in his teens, after a brief spell at his local club VK Noordwijk.

Early Career

Van der Sar signed professional forms at the age of 18, but it wasn’t until he was 20 years old that he made his league debut for the club – though he was named on the bench for practically every match. His debut came in the 90/91 season, when he found himself in the first-team because of an injury to his goalkeeping rivals. He was a member of the UEFA Cup winning side of 1992, but only became an established first-teamer the season after, and became an integral member of the squad.

The famous Ajax team featured an abundance of young Dutch talent, with Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, the De Boer twins, a young Dennis Bergkamp and so many others. Van Der Sar helped them to lift four league titles, the Champions League in 1995, and the Inter Continental Cup to confirm the youngsters as champions of the World!

With many of his team-mates moving on to Italy and Spain, Edwin took the opportunity to test himself in pastures new – leaving for Juventus. He became the first ever non-Italian ‘keeper at the club, but could do nothing to help them win trophies as Sven Goran Eriksson’s Lazio and then Roma stomped to the titles in the two seasons he was in Turin. A young Gianluigi Buffon was bought by the Old Lady for £32m, and van der Sar was given the option of staying on the bench or moving on – he chose the latter, and moved to lowly Fulham for £7m.

At Fulham, Edwin was forced to accept that he was no longer playing for one of the great European teams – his season’s centred on helping the club to reach mid-table rather than to compete for the trophies. He still helped Fulham to lift the Intertoto Cup, but the north London club failed to meet his ambitions.

Current Club

When Edwin van der Sar signed for Manchester United in July 2005, he ended a period of great instability in nets – with many trying but failing to fill legendary goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel’s boots. Fabien Barthez had looked the part at times, but at other times had failed miserably, whilst the less said about Massimo Taibi the better. Manager Sir Alex Ferguson was looking for a safe pair of hands, which is exactly what he got.

Edwin’s move to United coincided with Jose Mourinho moving to Chelsea, and the Red’s leanest time in recent years. Whilst Chelsea spent big on established world-class players, United opted to invest in kids with potential, and this started paying off when van der Sar won his first Premier League title in 06/07, and followed it up with a phenomenal league and Champions League double the year after.

International

Edwin van der Sar is Holland’s most-capped professional footballer, beating Ronald de Boer’s record of 126 matches at Euro 2008, after over 14 year’s association with the Oranje. He had been taken to USA 1994 as a youthful reserve ‘keeper, and then suffered the disappointments of penalty-shootout knock-outs in Euro 96, France 98 and Euro 2000. Because of bickering within the squad, the Dutch have yet to make their mark on World football since the great Johan Cruyff. They failed to even make the 2002 World Cup in Japan, then had heart-break in the semi’s at Euro 2004, the quarters at World Cup 2006, and quarters again at Euro 2008. He retired after Euro 2008, but was back in action later in the year when even the Dutch government pleaded for him to return for a week because of injuries to Timmer and Stakaelenberg.