Giovanni van Bronckhorst

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Giovanni van Bronckhorst
Personal information
Date of birth February 5, 1975
Place of birth Rotterdam, Netherlands
Height 1.76m
Nickname Gio
Position SB (L)
WB (L)
Club information
Current club FC Barcelona
Number 12
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1993-1994
1994-1998
1998-2001
2001-2003
2003-		 RKC Waalwijk
Feyenoord
Rangers F.C.
Arsenal F.C.
FC Barcelona		 12 (2)
103 (22)
71 (13)
41 (2)
82 (5)
National team**
1996- Netherlands 63 (3)

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of May 27, 2006.
** National team caps and goals correct
as of November 15, 2006.

Giovanni Christiaan van Bronckhorst aka Gio (born February 5, 1975 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch football (soccer) defender and midfielder, who currently plays for Barcelona in La Liga. Despite sometimes being mistaken for Italian due to his first name, his heritage is actually Dutch-Moluccan.

Prior to joining Barcelona, Van Bronckhorst played for RKC Waalwijk (1993-94), Feyenoord (1994-98), Rangers (1998-2001), and Arsenal (2001-03). He has earned 56 caps for the Dutch national team (as of May 2006), and played for his country in the 1998 World Cup, Euro 2000, Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.

Contents

[edit] Rangers

Van Bronckhorst was already a regular international when he signed for Rangers in 1998, joining up with compatriot Dick Advocaat, the Scottish club's new manager. In his first competitive game for Rangers, a remarkable UEFA Cup tie away to Irish League side Shelbourne (although played at Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park), Van Bronckhorst marked his debut with a finely-struck goal as Rangers came back from 3-0 down to win the match 5-3. Van Bronckhorst went on to score 22 goals for Rangers (13 in the league, three in the Scottish Cup, one in the Scottish League Cup, three in the Champions League and two in the UEFA Cup), mostly as a play-making midfielder of notable skill and subtlety, before an £8.5 m transfer to Arsenal in the summer of 2001.

[edit] Arsenal

Arsène Wenger signed van Bronckhorst to replace the midfield void left by the departure of Emmanuel Petit from Arsenal and he was expected to partner Patrick Vieira in the centre. [1] However, his period at Arsenal was marked by a cruciate knee ligament injury which saw him sidelined after only a few months at the club. When he returned, his role was increasingly minimal and he found himself on the bench more often than on the pitch. He did not leave Arsenal FC without any silverware, however, as he collected the Premiership and an FA Cup winners' medal although he was not given the extended run of first-team action to develop as a player.

[edit] FC Barcelona

Gio in 2006.
Enlarge
Gio in 2006.

As the 2003-2004 season approached, Van Bronckhorst had the opportunity to move to FC Barcelona and work with new boss Frank Rijkaard as part-exchange for the transfer of Cesc Fàbregas to Arsenal. After adapting to his new role as a left back, he helped Barca to a revival in the second half of the season. He won the Primera Liga title with Barca in the 2004/05 season after some of his finest displays together with 4 goals to his credit. In 2005/06, he helped his club repeat as Liga champions while winning the 2006 Champions League as well. In Spain, he styled his shirt name to 'Gio' as opposed to his time at Arsenal where his name was 'Van Bronckhorst'.

[edit] National Team

Van Bronckhorst made his national team debut in August of 1996 and has since gone on to earn 60 caps, including two World Cup and two Euro Cup campaigns. While not appearing in World Cup 1998 and only seeing limited action in Euro 2000 as cover for leftback Arthur Numan, later national team coaches appreciated is leftback capabilities, most notably Dick Advocaat who played him for the Netherlands in the Euro 2004 competition in Portugal. The Dutch team eventually reached the semi-finals of the tournament where Portugal proved too strong for them.

Most recently, he was a regular in the national team for the 2006 World Cup qualification campaign. However, in the Round of 16 match against Portugal, he received a red card in a match that saw four red cards given, a World Cup record. Interestingly, Van Bronckhorst was seen watching the closing minutes while sitting next to his Barca teammate Deco of Portugal, who was issued a red card moments earlier.

[edit] External link

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1], BBC Sport 13 August 2001


Netherlands Netherlands squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 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
Netherlands Netherlands squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 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
FC Barcelona - Current Squad

1 Valdés | 2 Belletti | 3 Motta | 4 Márquez | 5 Puyol | 6 Xavi | 7 Guðjohnsen | 8 Giuly | 9 Eto'o | 10 Ronaldinho | 11 Zambrotta | 12 van Bronckhorst | 15 Edmílson | 16 Sylvinho | 18 Ezquerro | 19 Messi | 20 Deco | 21 Thuram | 22 Saviola | 23 Oleguer | 24 Iniesta | 25 Jorquera | 28 Ruben | 29 Valiente | 32 Crosas | 33 Jeffrén | Coach: Rijkaard
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