Aron Winter

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Aron Mohamed Winter (born March 1, 1967 in Paramaribo, Suriname) is a retired Dutch footballer. He was a member of the Dutch national team that won the 1988 European Football Championship.

He began his career by playing for amateur club SV Lelystad before joining Ajax Amsterdam when he was 19 years of age. His first game for Ajax was the match against FC Utrecht on 6 April 1986 which his team won 3-0. Winter achieved two KNVB Cups (1987 and 1988), the Eredivisie title (1990), the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1987) and the UEFA Cup (1992) with the club before moving on to Italy where he played for Lazio Roma in 1992.

His midfield role at Lazio was to replace the 'enfant terrible' Paul Gascoigne and he played the defensive midfield position for many years in the Serie A.

In the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he scored a goal against Brazil in the quarter-finals.

Despite his tenure at Lazio for 3 years, they were unable to win any titles and in 1996, Winter joined Inter Milan where he played alongside Roberto Baggio, Giuseppe Bergomi and Gianluca Pagliuca. Together they won the UEFA Cup in 1998. Further, he was selected for the national team for the Euro 96 as well as the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France.

His age showed after the brilliant 1998 World Cup and he left Inter for his former club Ajax in 1999. Frank Rijkaard who was then appointed manager of the Netherlands informed Winter after the World Cup that his chances for the 'Oranje' are limited as they had similar players for his position who were younger than him. True to his pedigree for hard work, he maintained a fine form for Ajax enough to earn a place in Rijkaard's Euro 2000 squad.

In 2001, he was loaned out to Sparta Rotterdam after a high-profile dispute with then Ajax coach Co Adriaanse where he played 32 games and scored a goal before finishing his career at Ajax where he chose to retire.

Having represented his national team 84 times, scoring six goals, Winter is currently the fifth most capped player for the Dutch national team.

	Netherlands squad - 1990 World Cup
1 van Breukelen | 2 van Aerle | 3 Rijkaard | 4 R. Koeman | 5 van Tiggelen | 6 Wouters | 7 E. Koeman | 8 Vanenburg | 9 van Basten | 10 Gullit | 11 Witschge | 12 Kieft | 13 Rutjes | 14 van 't Schip | 15 Roy | 16 Hiele | 17 Gillhaus | 18 Fräser | 19 van Loen | 20 Winter | 21 Blind | 22 Menzo | Coach: Beenhakker

	Netherlands squad - 1994 World Cup Quarter-finalists
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

	Netherlands squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place
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