Rafael van der Vaart

Rafael van der Vaart
Personal information
Full name	Rafael Ferdinand Van Der Vaart
Date of birth	February 11, 1983 (1983-02-11) (age 26)
Place of birth	Heemskerk, Netherlands
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current club	Real Madrid
Number	23
Youth clubs
1987–1993 1993–2000	De Kennemers Ajax
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2005 2005–2008 2008–	Ajax Hamburg Real Madrid	117 (52) 074 (29) 011 0(4)
National team2
2001–	Netherlands	061 0(13)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 November 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22:09, 24 September 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (born February 11 1983 in Heemskerk) is a Dutch footballer who plays for Spanish La Liga side Real Madrid C.F. and the Dutch national team. He is an attacking midfielder but usually functions as a playmaker. Despite not being a striker, van der Vaart does have a knack for scoring vital goals, scoring 29 in 74 games for former club Hamburg.

Biography

Rafael van der Vaart was born to a Spanish mother (from Chiclana de la Frontera, Cádiz), hence his Spanish name, and a Dutch Yeniche father. On June 10th 2005 he married Sylvie van der Vaart (née Meis) and on May 28, 2006, their son Damian Rafael was born.

Career

Ajax Amsterdam

Rafael van der Vaart with Ajax.

Van der Vaart is a product of AFC Ajax's youth system that produced Johan Cruyff, Edwin van der Sar, Dennis Bergkamp and Real Madrid teammate Wesley Sneijder. He was enrolled in a youth trial at the age of ten, and he eventually joined Ajax on a trial basis. Van der Vaart made his debut at seventeen for the Ajax senior side in a 1-1 draw with FC Den Bosch in the 1999-00 season.

In the 2000-01 season, Ajax coach Co Adriaanse increased van der Vaart's playing time by moving him to the attacking midfielder position. He was voted as European Talent of the Year by Italian football website CalcioManager.^[1]

The next season, van der Vaart suffered a serious knee injury and was out for several months. Shortly after returning to action, he reinjured the same knee on April 2, 2002, requiring an operation that involved the removal of his entire meniscus. He missed the rest of the season and finished with fourteen goals. In 2002-03, Ajax won the Amsterdam Tournament, though injury limited van der Vaart to twenty-one league appearances, in which he scored eighteen goals.

Van der Vaart was named team captain by coach Ronald Koeman for the 2004-05 season. During an international match against Sweden on August 18 2004, he was injured by then Ajax teammate Zlatan Ibrahimović. Ajax sold Ibrahimović to Juventus F.C. two weeks later and van der Vaart took Ibra's spot as a striker.^[2] His on-pitch performance suffered due to being played out of position and he was stripped of the team captaincy by Koeman as a result, while the media criticized him for being overweight and spending too much time in the Dutch nightlife with his then-fiancée, The Music Factory VJ Sylvie Meis.^[3] In September, a league match against ADO Den Haag was temporarily halted by the officials due to incessant anti-Semitic chants by opposing fans directed at Meis.^[4] The incident, coupled with his ongoing injury problems that resulted in an average of only 23 league appearances in five seasons with Ajax, led him to announce that he was leaving the club at the end of the year.

Hamburger SV

Van der Vaart's €5.5 million transfer to Bundesliga club Hamburger SV on June 1 2005^[5], raised many eyebrows. Johan Cruyff himself commented in his De Telegraaf column, "I don't know what to say about it or what Rafael van der Vaart is doing in Hamburg."^[4] Van der Vaart finished his first season as the team's top scorer as Hamburg finished third in the league and won the 2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup. He assumed the team captaincy for the '06-07 season.

In the 2007-08 season, van der Vaart scored 12 league goals as Hamburg finished fourth in the league, while reaching the round of sixteen in the UEFA Cup. During the UEFA Cup away win at FC Zürich, he tore ankle ligaments and was out of action for several weeks. Despite interest from clubs such as Chelsea F.C.^[6] and Valencia CF,^[7] he stated that he would stay at Hamburg until the end of the season, but opted out of signing a contract extension.^[8][9]

Real Madrid

Van der Vaart in action for Real Madrid.

Towards the end of the 2007-2008 season, van der Vaart was linked to a move to several clubs including Atlético Madrid and Juventus. Atlético made a €15 million bid for the Dutchman^[10] but in the end it was their cross-town rivals who got van der Vaart's signature instead.

On August 4, 2008, Real Madrid and Hamburg reached a €13 million agreement for van der Vaart's transfer, Real Madrid's only summer signing.^[11] He signed a five-year contract for an undisclosed amount.^[12] Van der Vaart debuted in a 2-1 preseason win four days later in a pre-season friendly against Independiente Santa Fé, where he scored the tying goal and provided an assist.^[13] He changed his squad number from 19 to 23 after teammate Wesley Sneijder took number 10 following Robinho's September 1 departure to Manchester City F.C.^[14]

He marked his league debut for Real Madrid with a strike against CD Numancia in a 4-3 victory.^[15] On September 24, he scored his first career hat-trick in a 7-1 thrashing of Sporting Gijón.^[16]

International career

Rafael Van der Vaart playing for the Dutch national team

Rafael van der Vaart gained the notice of the youth team coaches and was called up for the youth squads. He played in the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship with present senior teammates Huntelaar, Stekelenburg, Heitinga and Real Madrid teammate Arjen Robben.

The 18-year-old van der Vaart then made his senior international debut against Andorra on October 6 2001.^[17] He was a member of the squads that participated in Euro 2004, Euro 2008, and the 2006 World Cup. Despite figuring prominently in a number of qualifying stage matches, van der Vaart has had a lack of luck when it came to the final tournament. A sub-par performance by the Dutch during their opening game of Euro 2004 persuaded former manager Dick Advocaat to change the side's formation into one which he felt the talented Van der Vaart did not fit in to. With Advocaat's new system seemingly working, Van der Vaart would be reduced to play a bit-part role at Euro 2004, as the Oranje reached the semifinals. Despite that setback, van der Vaart produced some superlative performances in the Bundesliga the following season, and it seemed that van der Vaart's turn to shine on the big stage was to finally come -- at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. However, niggling injury problems resurfaced, and van der Vaart was not risked by Dutch coach Marco van Basten for the opening World Cup encounter against Serbia and Montenegro. With victory in that opening game, the national team coach would once again decide to continue fielding a van der Vaart-less lineup. And once again, Rafael van der Vaart was reduced to a bit-part role in the squad although since then he has become a more regular fixture in the starting eleven.

Van der Vaart was called up for Euro 2008 despite missing several qualification matches due to an ankle injury. As coach Marco van Basten had decided to change their formation to 4-2-3-1, van der Vaart was deployed in the midfield along with Wesley Sneijder and Dirk Kuyt or Robin van Persie behind lone striker Ruud van Nistelrooy. In the opening game of the competition, the Dutch team won 3-0 against the world champions Italy. Van Basten decided to field him again in the starting line-up in the next match against France, the Oranje later went on to win 4-1.

International goals

Rafael van der Vaart: International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	September 6, 2003	De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands	Austria	1–0	3–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
2	September 10, 2003	Toyota Arena, Prague, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	2–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
3	October 11, 2003	Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands	Moldova	4–0	5–0	UEFA Euro 2004 qualifying
4	June 1, 2004	Stade Olympique de la Pontaise, Lausanne, Switzerland	Faroe Islands	1–0	3–0	Friendly
5	September 7, 2005	Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands	Andorra	1–0	4–0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
6	October 8, 2005	Toyota Arena, Prague, Czech Republic	Czech Republic	0–1	0–2	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification
7	November 15, 2006	Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands	England	1–1	1–1	Friendly
8	February 7, 2007	Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Russia	4–0	4–0	Friendly
9	June 2, 2007	Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	Korea Republic	0–1	0–2	Friendly
10	June 2, 2007	Seoul World Cup Stadium, Seoul, South Korea	Korea Republic	0–2	0–2	Friendly
11	June 6, 2007	Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand	Thailand	0–1	1–3	Friendly
12	November 21, 2007	Dinamo Stadium, Minsk, Belarus	Belarus	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
13	September 10, 2008	Skopje City Stadium, Skopje, FYR Macedonia	FYR Macedonia	0–2	1–2	2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Club statistics

^[18]

Last updated 2008-18-09

Honors

Ajax

• 2001-2002: Eredivisie, Amstel Cup, Amsterdam Tournament
• 2002-2003: Amsterdam Tournament, Johan Cruijff Schaal
• 2003-2004: Eredivisie

Hamburg

• 2005 Intertoto Cup

Real Madrid

• Spanish Super Cup: 2008

Individual

• Ajax Talent of the Year: 1999, 2000, 2001
• Amsterdam Sportsman of the Year: 2001
• Amsterdam Tournament Most Valuable Player: 2001
• European Talent of the Year: 2002

References

External links

• Rafael van der Vaart FIFA competition record
• Official website
• Rafael van der Vaart profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)

Rafael van der Vaart - Navigation boxes and awards Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2004 semi-finalists 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 Bouma • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Cocu • 7 van der Meyde • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 van Nistelrooy • 11 van der Vaart • 12 Makaay • 13 Westerveld • 14 Sneijder • 15 F. de Boer • 16 Overmars • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 Heitinga • 19 Robben • 20 Seedorf • 21 Bosvelt • 22 Zenden • 23 Waterreus • Coach: Advocaat Netherlands squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 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 Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 van der Sar • 2 Ooijer • 3 Heitinga • 4 Mathijsen • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 De Zeeuw • 7 van Persie • 8 Engelaar • 9 van Nistelrooy • 10 Sneijder • 11 Robben • 12 Melchiot • 13 Timmer • 14 Bouma • 15 De Cler • 16 Stekelenburg • 17 De Jong • 18 Kuyt • 19 Huntelaar • 20 Afellay • 21 Boulahrouz • 22 Vennegoor of Hesselink • 23 van der Vaart • Coach: van Basten Awards Preceded by Arnold Bruggink Dutch Football Talent of the Year 2000 – 2001 Succeeded by Robin van Persie Preceded by Marten Eikelboom Amsterdam Sportsman of the Year 2001 Succeeded by Edwin de Nijs Preceded by N/A AFC Ajax Talent of the year 2000 Succeeded by John Heitinga