Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar in action for Manchester United
Personal information
Full name	Edwin van der Sar
Date of birth	October 29, 1970 (1970-10-29) (age 37)
Place of birth	Voorhout, Netherlands
Height	1.97 m (6 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Manchester United
Number	1
Youth clubs
1990–1992	Ajax
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990–1999 1999–2001 2001–2005 2005–	Ajax Juventus Fulham Manchester United	226 (1) 066 (0) 126 (0) 099 (0)
National team2
1994–	Netherlands	126 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:54, 11 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 10 June 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Edwin van der Sar (born October 29, 1970 in Voorhout) is a Dutch professional 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.

Career

Club career

AFC Ajax

Edwin van der Sar began his career at hometown club Foreholte and then VV Noordwijk, where he was spotted by Ajax Amsterdam. After going through the ranks of Ajax's youth system, he enjoyed a long and successful stint in the senior side, winning the 1991-92 UEFA Cup and the 1995 UEFA Champions League, as well as the 1995 Best European Goalkeeper award. He lost the 1996 UEFA Champions League Final in a penalty shootout against Juventus. He made a total of 226 appearances for Ajax and scored a penalty for Ajax to complete a 8-1 victory over De Graafschap in the 1997-98 season.

Juventus

He went on to make 66 Serie A appearances for Juventus, eventually losing his place to Gianluigi Buffon; van der Sar remains the first and only non-Italian to keep goal for the Turin club.^[1].

Van der Sar at Fulham

Fulham

His move to the Premiership took him first to Fulham in 2001, reportedly for around £7.7 million. Initially signing a four year contract, he notched up 126 appearances.

Manchester United

He moved to Manchester United on 1 June 2005 for a reported fee of £2 million, although the exact transfer fee was undisclosed. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson considered him the best goalkeeper to play for the club since Peter Schmeichel.^[2]

On 5 May 2007, his penalty save helped assure a 1-0 triumph over Manchester City on the Manchester derby. The following day, Chelsea's failure to beat Arsenal at the Emirates ensured Manchester United's ninth Premier League trophy and van der Sar's first. He was also named to the 2006-07 PFA Team of the Year. Three months later, he was a catalyst in Manchester United's 16th FA Community Shield victory, as he saved three consecutive penalties in a shootout after Manchester United and Chelsea played to a 1-1 draw at the end of regular time. ^[3]

On 21 December 2007, van der Sar signed a new one-year deal, keeping him at Manchester United until the 2008-09 season.^{[citation needed]}

The 2007-08 season was a mixed bag for him despite some great performances because of his niggling groin injury. However he helped United secure their second successive Premier League title on the final day and helped win the Champions League by saving the final penalty at the penalty shootout stage, the penalty from Nicolas Anelka. ^[4]Alex Ferguson also commented that Edwin Van der Sar was the most calm goalkeeper he has ever seen in his whole career as a manager. He also swore in an interview (interview available on Manchester United official site; only accessable by e-members) that if one looked closely enough, he could see Van der Sar smiling as he stretches to stop Nicolas Anelka’s spot-kick.

International career

Van der Sar was included in Holland's 1994 World Cup squad but did not play. He had to wait until June 7, 1995 for his international debut, against Belarus. He was in goal for three successive eliminations from major competitions by penalties: Euro 96, France 98 and Euro 2000.

Edwin van der Sar in training with the Netherlands prior to Euro 2008.

Euro 2004

However, during the penalty shootout at the Euro 2004 quarter-final against Sweden, Van der Sar saved a penalty from Olof Mellberg, helping Netherlands to win the shootout by 5-4 and go to the semi-finals of that tournament, in which the team lost to Portugal.

2006 World Cup

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.^{[citation needed]}

Van der Sar has represented the Dutch national team 125 times, which makes him Holland's most capped player. This puts him in the top forty 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.^{[citation needed]}

Euro 2008

On the day of his 37th birthday, Edwin was interviewed by Radio 538 and said that he intends to retire from international football following the Netherlands' participation in Euro 2008. In the first match against, he captained his team to victory. The Netherlands beat Italy 3-0, with 3 great saves from van der Sar himself. Apart from Sweden, Netherlands is the only team against which Italy has lost 3-0, their worst defeat. ^[5]

Honours

Club

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998
• KNVB Cup: 1993, 1998, 1999
• UEFA Champions League: 1995
• UEFA Cup: 1992
• European Super Cup: 1995
• Intercontinental Cup: 1995

Fulham

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2002

Manchester United

• FA Premier League: 2007, 2008
• English League Cup: 2006
• Community Shield: 2007
• UEFA Champions League: 2008

Individual

• Best European Goalkeeper: 1995
• Dutch Football Goalkeeper of the Year: 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997
• Dutch Golden Shoe: 1998

Personal life

Van der Sar is married to Annemarie van Kesteren. The wedding ceremony took place at the Beurs van Berlage, the doorstep of Hotel Krasnapolsky, in Amsterdam, on 20 May 2006.

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

References

Awards
Preceded by Michel Preud'homme	UEFA Goalkeeper of the Year 1995	Succeeded by Andreas Köpke
Preceded by Ed de Goey	Dutch Football Goalkeeper of the Year 1994 – 1998	Succeeded by Jerzy Dudek
Preceded by Jaap Stam	Dutch Golden Shoe Winner 1998	Succeeded by Michael Mols