About

Early life

Wesley Sneijder was born on June 9, 1984 in Utrecht into a football family: his father was a player, his older brother Jeffrey plays for Stormvogels Telstar and his younger brother Rodney plays for the youth academy of Ajax.

Background

Club Football

Career

Ajax

Although Sneijder was not born in Amsterdam, he started his career in the Ajax's famous youth academy. He made his debut for Ajax in a 2-0 win at Excelsior on December 22, 2002 when manager Ronald Koeman, troubled by an injury-filled squad called him up, advised by Danny Blind, the then-coach of the Ajax youth-squad. He rapidly established himself in the role of midfield general and occasional left winger. Despite his short height, he is pacy and quick and strong on the ball and his passing range is enhanced by his two-footedness (ambidextrous).

Real Madrid

On August 12, 2007, Ajax agreed to sell Sneijder to Real Madrid for €27 million, according to the club's web-site, making him the second most expensive Dutch football player. He was the second of three Dutchmen to sign for Real Madrid for the 2007 season joining Royston Drenthe and later Arjen Robben. He also was given the number 23 which was worn by David Beckham for four full seasons at Real Madrid.

In his first La Liga match for Real Madrid he scored the winner in the Madrid derby against Atlético Madrid. On the second matchday, he scored two goals against Villarreal, one of them on a direct free-kick.

Sneijder capped a fine first season in Spain by hitting a stunning free kick in the last game of the season against Levante at the Bernabeu and taking his goal tally to 9 in La Liga in a season which also saw Real retain their title.

On 03 August 2008 Sneijder was stretchered off in the pre-season friendly at Arsenal with a suspected cruciate ligament injury. The injury was caused by Arsenal midfielder Abou Diaby. Sneijder had an MRI which confirmed the extent of the injury to be not as bad as first feared. It is expected that he will be out for at least 3 months.[1]

On 2 September 2008 AS reported that after Robinho's departure to Manchester City for €42m Wesley Sneijder is Real Madrid's new number 10.[2]. One day later Real Madrid confirmed on their web site Sneijder's new number. His previous number 23 was taken over by his fellow Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart.[3]

International Football

International career

Sneijder (right) with Arjen Robben training for the Netherlands.Sneijder debuted with the Netherlands Under-21 side against Czech Republic on March 28, 2003. His first game with the Dutch national team was against Portugal on April 30 that same year, when he became the eighth youngest man to play for the Netherlands in the team’s history.

Euro 2004

Sneijder reached the Euro 2004 semifinals with the Netherlands. He began the competition mainly on the bench, and was subbed into two group stage matches. He had also contributed two goals in the qualifying tournament.

World Cup 2006

Sneijder started all four games for the Netherlands at the World Cup in Germany. He received one of the record sixteen yellow cards doled out during the infamous Round of 16 clash with Portugal ("Battle of Nuremberg"); Portugal went on to win 1-0.

Euro 2008

In the build-up to Euro 2008, Sneijder scored a free kick in a friendly against Wales on May 31, making it his second strike from a direct free kick in a row. The game ended 2-0 with goals from Real Madrid pair, Arjen Robben and Sneijder.

Sneijder marked his 24th birthday in style by scoring one of the goals of the tournament; the second goal in the 31st minute of the Euro 2008 match against Italy. Following Giovanni van Bronckhorst's goal-line clearance and subsequent run into the Italian half, Sneijder received a headed ball from Dirk Kuyt and volleyed it with an acrobatic strike between the post and Gianluigi Buffon. This brought the score to 2-0 after Ruud van Nistelrooy's opener five minutes previous. The match finished with a 3-0 victory to the Dutch after a third goal was scored by Giovanni van Bronkhorst after another run by him following a crucial save from Edwin van der Sar. Sneijder's second goal contributed to the Netherlands first victory over Italy in thirty years which was the biggest defeat Italy had suffered since Sweden beat them by the same margin in 1983. On June 13, he scored another goal for Holland in the Euro 2008 group stage match against France in the 92nd minute from outside the box finishing the ball in the corner of the net bouncing off the crossbar on its way in. The match finished 4-1 for Holland. He was named among the official best players in Euro 2008.

International Goals

Wesley Sneijder: International goals[4] # Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 2003-10-11 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands Moldova 2-0 5-0 Euro 2004 qualifying

2 2003-11-19 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands Scotland 1-0 6-0 Euro 2004 qualifying playoffs

3 2004-08-18 Råsunda Stadium, Stockholm, Sweden Sweden 1-1 2-2 Friendly match

4 2005-06-08 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands Finland 1-1 3-1 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification

5 2005-08-17 Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona, Spain Andorra 0-3 0-3 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification

6 2007-03-24 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands Russia 2-0 4-1 Friendly match

7 2007-09-08 Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam, Netherlands Bulgaria 1-0 2-0 Euro 2008 Qualification

8 2007-10-17 Philips Stadion, Eindhoven, Netherlands Slovenia 1-0 2-0 Euro 2008 Qualification

9 2008-05-01 Feijenoord Stadion, Rotterdam, Netherlands Wales 2-0 2-0 Friendly match

10 2008-06-09 Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne, Switzerland Italy 2-0 3-0 UEFA Euro 2008 group stage

11 2008-06-13 Stade de Suisse, Wankdorf, Berne, Switzerland France 4-1 4-1 UEFA Euro 2008 group stage

Awards and Honours

AFC Ajax Domestic Eredivisie Winner (1): 2003-04 Runner-up (3): 2002-03, 2004-05, 2006-07

KNVB Cup Winner (2): 2005-06, 2006-07

Johan Cruijff-schaal Winner (4): 2002, 2005, 2006 Runner-up (1): 2004 .............................

Real Madrid Domestic Spanish League Winner (1): 2007-08

Spanish Super Cup Winner (1): 2008 Runner-up (1): 2007

Personal Awards

Johan Cruijff Prijs: 2004

AFC Ajax Talent of the Year: 2004

AFC Ajax Player of the Year: 2007

UEFA EURO 2008™ Team of the Tournament[5] Man of the match in UEFA EURO 2008 (2): v. Italy, vs France

Best Goal in UEFA EURO 2008: vs France[6]

Career Statistics

M = Matches, G = Goals, A = Assists

Personal Info

Personal life

Sneijder married Ramona Streekstra on June 18, 2005. They have one son, Jessey, born September 4, 2006.

On 8 May 2008, it was reported that Sneijder had prevented his younger brother Rodney from a summer transfer to his current club, Real Madrid. Sneijder said, "Real Madrid wanted him and Rodney was very happy about that. But when I heard, I stopped the discussions. I am not in favour of juniors increasingly going to top clubs. I've told him that he first must make a break through at Ajax."[7]

Wife / Girlfriend

Sponsors

Important Links

References

^ "Sneijder avoids going under the knife". Realmadrid.com (2008-08-04). Retrieved on 2008-08-05. ^ "El vestuario no le aceptaba y el dorsal 10 lo llevará Sneijder". as.com (2008-09-01). Retrieved on 2008-09-02. ^ "Sneijder switches to‘10’ and Van der Vaart takes over ‘23’". realmadrid.com (2008-09-03). Retrieved on 2008-09-03. ^ "Gespeelde wedstrijden". KNVB. Retrieved on 2007-05-16. ^ "Spain dominate Team of the Tournament". UEFA.com (2008-06-30). Retrieved on 2008-06-30. ^ "Carslberg Goal of the Day". UEFA.com. Retrieved on 2008-07-03. ^ "Sneijder blocked Real Madrid move for kid brother". Retrieved on 20 May, 2008.