Edwin van der Sar biography. “Edwin, you’re the tallest among us, so you’ll be at the gate.”

Edwin van der Sar is one of the most popular football players, a legend of European football and the Dutch national team. Born on October 29, 1970, this player is truly one of the most outstanding goalkeepers in the world. In 2011, at the age of 41, he ended his club career. This football player has a very rich and exciting biography, and it is definitely worth telling about it.

Carier start

Van der Sar began playing in clubs in his hometown. In these teams he was noticed by Louis van Gaal, as a result of which he was invited to Ajax. Naturally, the young goalkeeper at that time agreed to this lucrative offer. So he became one of the most valuable players in the second team. With the Dutch team he won three national cups and four championships, as well as the UEFA Cup in 1992. And also the most important club tournament. That is, the Champions League (in 1995). Then he was recognized as the best goalkeeper in all of Europe. Van der Sar also broke the Champions League clean sheet record. The footballer played 226 matches for the Dutch Ajax and even scored one goal from the penalty spot. In general, these nine years turned out to be quite fruitful. But this, as it turned out, was just the beginning.

Career at Juventus and Fulham

In 1999, van der Sar accepted another lucrative offer - this time from Juventus in Turin. As part of this club, he entered the field 66 times. But then, as you might guess, his place was taken by the great Gianluigi Buffon, who to this day defends the honor of the “old lady”. Interestingly, goalkeeper van der Sar became the first goalkeeper of non-Italian origin in the history of the Turin team.

Then he was invited to Fulham. The Dutchman did not agree with the role of a reserve goalkeeper for Juventus, so he decided to move to England. They paid for it an amount of approximately 7,100,000 euros. For my new team The Dutchman played 154 matches. Four years in total. After which another important career stage began in his life.

"Manchester United"

The Red Devils bought the goalkeeper for an undisclosed amount. But the British were pleased with the acquisition. Sar, whose biography is truly impressive, was named the team's best goalkeeper. Sir Alex Ferguson himself said so: Main coach. And Edwin lived up to expectations. For example, one of the most striking and memorable matches was the game against Manchester City. Then Edwin managed to keep the goal absolutely dry. That game ended in United's favor, only with a minimum score of 1:0. At the end of that season, van der Sar was included in the PFA Team of the Year. And a couple of months later he was recognized as the hero of the match. It was a game taking place as part of the English Super Cup, and Manchester United won it - not without the help of the goalkeeper. Edwin saved three direct shots from the London players, all from the penalty spot.

There is one factor that helped a goalkeeper like van der Sar make excellent shots. Growth is what it's all about we're talking about. It is only 3 centimeters short of two meters. Tall, agile, instantly responsive, attentive - these qualities helped Edwin become a truly outstanding goalkeeper.

National team career

This goalkeeper was included in the Dutch national team at the 1994 World Cup as a reserve (Ed de Goey was the main one at that time), but for the first time in this composition he entered the field only a year later. And from that moment on, Edwin was the team’s number one at all subsequent championships, both European and world.

At the European Championships, held in 2000, he did not miss a single goal. Only when he was replaced by Sander Westerfeld did the team receive a goal from their opponents. In general, the total “dry” episode, designed by the great Dutchman, is 594 minutes. And this is a record for all European Championships. In 2006, he broke another figure. At that World Cup, he left behind Frank de Boer's record for the number of games for the national team.

True, in 2008 he said that after the European Championship he would immediately hang up his gloves. And so it happened. However, when the main goalkeeper of the national team was injured in the 2010 World Cup qualifying, he was called up to the team. Edwin could not refuse and entered the field twice without missing a single goal.

It is worth noting that Edwin played in a modern manner. He often went beyond the goal (I immediately remember the best goalkeeper of our time - Manuel Neuer) and loved to play as the last defender. It's hard not to admit that he played great with his feet.

Van der Sar has a wife, Annemarie van Kesteren, whom he married in 2006, and two children, daughter Lynne and son Joey.

He also has an incredibly huge number of achievements that are impossible to list all of them. 14 trophies with Ajax, Intertoto Cup with Juventus and a second with Fulham, 11 titles with Manchester United, fourth place at the 1998 World Cup and bronze at the 2000 and 2004 European Championships. And that's just team achievements. “Golden Glove”, a special PFA award for services to football, seven-time winner of the best goalkeeper status and, finally, the oldest player in the Champions League final in history. Van der Sar is a truly great footballer. And this has been proven.

It doesn't often happen that the subject of an interview FFT becomes CEO football club. But it’s even rarer that the CEO is also an eight-time winner of gold medals in the championships of two countries and has two Champions League cups in his treasury.

“The way I try to make my club more successful in terms of generating income and winning titles is similar to my captaincy when I played,” says Edwin van der Sar, Ajax CEO, trying to find similarities between dominance in the penalty area and in the boardroom. The Dutchman believes that, despite the lack of extensive business experience and an impressive amount of knowledge in this area, almost 20 years spent in football give him the necessary vision of how to run a club. Especially the club where, between 1990 and 1999, he demonstrated great game, became the champion of the Netherlands four times, won three Dutch Cups, a UEFA Cup and a Champions League Cup, defeating Milan in 1995.

All of the above should serve as a significant help to Edwin when he answers your questions about his magnificent career.

– Have you always dreamed of becoming a goalkeeper? Remember the day you first stepped through the gate?

Chris Ambler, Portsmouth

– For the first year and a half I was a field player. But one day our goalkeeper didn’t come to the game, and the coach told me: “Edwin, you’re the tallest one, so you’ll be at the goal.” And things went so well that I ended up staying there.

For many years I played for a small amateur team, Noordwijk, and never expected that my dream would become professional football player will ever come true. When I was about 19 years old, I received an offer from Sparta (Rotterdam) to be their third goalkeeper. However, they were only willing to pay for my relocation. That's why I decided to stay at Noordwijk. And then a few days later they called me from Ajax and asked me to come and sign a contract with them, which I did.

– What do you think about the growing popularity of this type of goalkeeper, the last defender goalkeeper? You've always played well with your feet, weren't you the one who contributed to such popularity?

Nav Singh, Facebook

– Back in the 90s at Ajax we developed a system in which I was involved in building a positional attack, and this can be useful if you want to stick to a certain style of play. But sometimes I think people make too much of it. The goalkeeper is on the field primarily to prevent the ball from entering the goal.

– When Louis van Gaal worked in England, from time to time he seemed a little eccentric. Was he the same at Ajax?

Laura Matthews, Facebook

“He hasn’t really changed much in terms of how he talks to the press and how he behaves in everyday life (say, at a dinner party). I once attended one of Manchester United's training sessions when he was coaching the team and again I saw the same driven man who constantly focuses on the progress of his players. The way he interacted with the players, the key elements of training and his general rules– all this was very familiar to me, although many years had passed.

– Do you think any other Dutch team will be able to lift the Champions League Cup? Unfortunately, this is unlikely now.

Andy Green, Merseyside

– [puffs out cheeks] This will be very, very difficult to do. Even in my time, about 20 years ago, this was truly a huge achievement, but then there was only one team per country in the tournament, and there were only about 16 teams in the final stages of the competition.

With the adoption of the new model, one might say that, to some extent, all the romance has gone away. And although some new rules are being adopted, it seems to me that big clubs will always dominate the tournament, since with their huge budget they will still bypass other clubs.

- That Ajax squad was full of players that any European club wanted to get. Who did Juventus have to compete with for what in order to finally get your signature on the contract?

Paul Kelly, Facebook

– When I left Ajax in 1999, I went to Liverpool and spoke with Gerard Houllier there. I was shown around Anfield and met the chairman of the club and some of the players. I thought about this for a long time, but when Juventus representatives approached me, I decided that playing in Italy would be a much bigger challenge for me. But just as I was about to move to Juventus, an offer came from Manchester United! At that time I spoke to Alex Ferguson's brother, although I had almost signed a contract with Juve. I liked the idea of going to a country with a completely different culture and style of play, but moving to a Serie A club was a leap into the unknown for me.

I later found out that Ferguson was indeed interested in signing me, but the chairman wanted to sign Mark Bosnich as a free agent instead. Therefore, I was always expected to play the role of Peter Schmeichel’s successor, but in the end, six months passed more than planned, and during that period other goalkeepers were auditioned for this role. While I was at Fulham, I also heard about interest from Arsenal, which never materialized into anything concrete, which I regretted at the time. And so I was especially happy when United and I beat Arsenal several times in my career [laughs].

– When you played at Juventus with Zinedine Zidane, what was the most striking thing about his game? And what was the Frenchman like as a person?

Will Clay, Yorkshire

“He was a completely normal guy.” In Italy there are all these pretentious guys with beautiful cars and expensive clothes, but Zidane has always been very laid-back. He could often be seen wearing jeans and a white T-shirt. He didn't have his head in the clouds and at the same time showed an incredibly high-quality game. When you made a pass to him and the ball was going a little clumsily, he took control of it so clearly that the ball gave in immediately. He knew exactly what was going on around him and could make a pass to any area. Sometimes it seemed that he moved much faster with the ball than without it.

– What did you say to Ariel Ortega right before the Argentine “butted” you and received a red card at the 1998 World Cup?

Darren Walsh, Facebook

– Ortega wanted to earn a penalty for his team, allegedly tripping over Jaap Stam’s leg. And as he rose from the lawn, I bent over him and “expressed doubt as to his origin.” He got angry and stood up too abruptly!

– Did you have nightmares when you remembered Francesco Totti’s “panenka” at Euro 2000? Do you think you could save this penalty? And how hard was it to lose in the semi-finals like that?

Gustav Henriksen, Maastricht

“The panenka penalty was not the hardest part of everything we faced. A goal is a goal, and it doesn’t matter whether it’s scored with a “panenka” or something else. No, if I had nightmares about that match, they would most likely be related to all those penalties that we missed. We missed two penalties in regular time, and then three more in the penalty shootout. Francesco Toldo saved three shots - two of them from Frank de Boer - but Patrick Kluivert still hit the Italian goal once. And that ball from Jaap Stam is probably still somewhere on the top tier behind the goal! We managed to miss five shots out of six, which is clearly too much if you want to get to the final...

– How did you feel when Gigi Buffon took your place at Juve? Looking back at that time, did they make the right choice? Or do you think that they should have left you?

Jimmy Wainwright, Cardiff

– All this happened under not the most pleasant circumstances, although, I must admit, at Juventus I did not reach the level that I showed in Holland. That summer I even asked for a meeting to hear their ideas for the upcoming season. I was told that they were going to buy a couple of new players, but they assured me that I didn't need to worry at all. Then, I think a week later they signed Buffon for about £30 million. Of course, that deal had already been in the negotiation stage for some time, but they decided not to tell me anything about it when I came to that meeting. So yes, this all took me by surprise and I had to go back to looking at all of my career options.

– Why did you decide to move from Juventus to Fulham? We weren't actually the biggest club at the time!

Raf M, Twitter

– At that time, there was a big hype around goalkeepers in Italy: Buffon came to Juve, Francesco Toldo moved to Inter Milan, and Sebastian Frey to Parma. In the top clubs then, one might say, there was a “hustle and bustle” between the keepers. But then, let’s say, I stayed on the sidelines. Then I talked with representatives of Ajax, Liverpool and Dortmund. The latter two clubs wanted to wait until the end of the summer transfer window. But I didn’t want to be in limbo for so long. Fulham had big ambitions: they became champions of the first division and entered the Premier League, and began to buy a lot of new players. And I wanted to get gaming practice. I consulted Louis van Gaal, who was coaching the Dutch national team at the time, and he immediately approved of my choice. You could say I viewed this transition as small step back in order to try to take a few steps forward in the future.

– What was Mohammed al-Fayed [Fulham owner until 2013] like as a person during your time at the club? Has he done any particularly strange things?

Matt Bagnall, Twitter

- Of course, he did a lot of unusual things, he was an eccentric! Before the match, he would appear on the sideline, then go straight out onto the field and wave his scarf. It usually happened that he would come up to me to say hello while I was warming up. He often communicated with the players. On match days, he came into our locker room and sometimes even flew to training in his helicopter. And several times, when we had a series of successful matches, there were times when he gave each player a huge bag of food from his Harrods supermarkets.

– Were you surprised by the dismissal of Jean Tigan from the post of head coach of Fulham in 2003? It seemed too harsh a decision given that he had led the team to the Premier League in 2001 and kept them in the top flight the following year.

Trevor Bailey, Facebook

“It was very sad, especially for me, since he was the coach who brought me to the club. Jean was well versed in football, you could immediately tell that he played at a very high level. Sometimes he trained with us, and then his skill was immediately visible.

– Have you ever regretted that then, in 2001, you did not move from Juventus straight to Manchester United? That you had to spend four more seasons at Fulham before moving to Manchester?

Darren Chin, Brunei

“I really liked it in London, but I didn’t plan on playing for Fulham for four seasons. I thought I would spend a year or two there and then move on. Towards the end of my career at Fulham, I even extended my contract for a short period so that the club would receive money for me if I transferred. They told me they wouldn't let me play unless I agreed to renew my contract!

I found out United wanted to sign me when I found a voicemail on my phone from Alex Ferguson. It was a special day. At that moment I thought: “This is why I came to London - to finally take the next step forward.” Ferguson told me he wanted a player who could lead the defense and direct the players. He said he knew that if the team was under pressure, I wouldn't let my anxiety get the better of me.

– What did you pay attention to? Special attention, when you studied how opposing players take penalties? And what was going on in your head when Nicolas Anelka approached the penalty spot in the 2008 Champions League final?

PenaltyKickStat, Twitter

– I remember how before that match I studied a huge number of penalty kicks by Chelsea players on DVD. For example, I analyzed about 40 penalties that Frank Lampard took earlier in his career. I made a lot of notes and noted for myself that Nicolas Anelka almost always kicked his penalty into the right corner of the goalkeeper. I later heard that Chelsea also studied my game and found that I usually rush to the right. Therefore, I think the players were warned that they needed to hit the corner to my left, which many of them did. I assumed that Anelka would still choose the other side to strike, and, fortunately, that’s exactly what happened.

When I saved his penalty, it seemed to me that for a few seconds I was simply somewhere in another world. I don't think there will ever be a more emotional moment in my life than when I realized we had just won the Champions League final and saw my whole team running towards me. It was the most highlight throughout my career.

– Do you often remember how John Terry slipped (and laugh a little about it)?

Peter Johnston, Facebook

– No, I don’t laugh at this, because I understand that I was miraculously lucky. At that moment, fortune really smiled on us. I have to admit, the field was terrible - I slipped a few times myself.

– You are given credit for putting an end to the long feud between Ruud van Nistelrooy and Marco van Basten so that van Nistelrooy could qualify for Euro 2008. What did you tell them to smooth out the conflict?

Theis van Damme, Facebook

“I wouldn’t say that I was the one who was able to reconcile them.” I simply expressed my opinion, as the captain of the team, about what will benefit our squad. I pointed out how valuable Van Nistelrooy could be for us and said that he could be an important player for us in this tournament. It seems to me that they are both very stubborn, seriously. I can interact with you at all different people, so I simply expressed my thoughts to everyone. But it wasn't that I called a meeting or something and demanded that they forget all their differences.

Did you ever get bored during that period in the 2008/09 season when you kept 14 clean sheets in a row, with Gary Neville, Nemanja Vidic, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra providing an impenetrable barrier in front of you?

Griffin Pyle, Twitter

- No, of course not! [laughs] But at the time I said that this series would mean absolutely nothing if we weren't champions at the end of the season. Everything was done to achieve this goal. The media and people around me were a little more interested in this series of “dry” matches than I was.

– How upset were you that your long series The clean sheet was interrupted by an error in the match against Newcastle, when Peter Lovenkrands scored from a rebound? I have no doubt that you would have preferred the streak to be broken by some magnificent blow.

Lewis Migor, Facebook

- Yes, I would prefer that this series be interrupted by some kind of “gun” right at the “nine”. Of course, I could have held this record longer. But on the other hand, another moment comes to mind when a West Brom player hit the crossbar 10 minutes before I was about to break the record. Therefore everything is fair.

“It is often said that when Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo were younger, they played at about the same level, but later they reached different heights because Ronaldo devoted himself more to improving as a footballer. Do you think such conversations are fair?

Sam Hirst, Leicester

“They both worked very hard on the field, but Cristiano was a level higher. Outside football field Ronaldo paid attention to many other things, such as how to properly rest and strengthen his body.

He often stayed after training to practice free throws, and then came up to me and said: “Edwin, could you stand in goal?” I used to say that I was already old and that it would be better for him to practice with one of the young goalkeepers, but he insisted that I should be in goal because he wanted to score against me. I often teased him and said something like: “You can’t score on me, Ronnie, and you know it. Better ask for a backup keeper, it will be better for your self-confidence.” He began to worry and answered: “No, no. You should be at the gate!” But Cristiano really is a very nice guy, and the overall impression of him is not really a reflection of his personality.

– Is the United you played for, whose players won three Premier League titles in a row and also reached three Champions League finals in four years, an underrated team? United is not talked about as one of the best teams in history, but only a few clubs have managed to win so many trophies...

Brian Woodford, Facebook

- Well, if we really wanted to be the best team, then we should have won two of the three Champions League finals we played in at that time. For example, if we had won in 2009, we would have become the best team in Europe for the last two seasons and the first team to ever win two Champions League titles in a row. Therefore, if we had defeated Barcelona in the final in Rome, we would have been considered a great team. But, of course, if you look at the players we had on our roster at that time, we were definitely a very good team.

– What did you think about the pressure that David de Gea was subjected to at the beginning of his United career? Is the English media too harsh on foreign goalkeepers?

Aaron Cassidy, Coventry

– No, at that time I did not consider the criticism too harsh. He didn't play very well and made mistakes, which is probably to be expected when you come to such a big club, like United, at such a young age. This is a new country for you, where people speak a different language and where the style of play is completely different. But since then he has done a lot of work and is able to completely change his attitude towards himself. Now he has become a really good goalkeeper.

– What happened to the Dutch team, Edwin? Last year's Euro without Orange fans wasn't the same...

Ryan Byrne, Liverpool

– I think from time to time teams have failures in qualifying. Remember the same year 2002, when we did not make it to the World Cup. Today I believe that we lack top players aged 25-26-27 who can lead the team. When you lose to Iceland twice, you don't deserve to go to the Euros.

- During your time at United, you had to leave the field twice, and in such cases a field player remained in goal. In the match against Portsmouth this player was Rio Ferdinand, and in the game against Tottenham it was John O'Shea. What did you advise them then?

Hannah Stewart, Twitter

– In those situations, I actually had no time for advice at all. I picked up a groin injury against Portsmouth and Tomasz Kuszczak, who replaced me, later received a red card, so by the time Ferdinand got in the goal I was already sitting high up in the stands. And in the match against Spurs, I broke my nose after a collision with Robbie Keane and went into the stands to get help. A few minutes later I heard a deafening roar: it turned out that John O’Shea had made a very good save!

– How well can you hear the fans behind the goal during the match?Can you remember the strangest cry from a fan?

Michael Baker, London

– West Ham fans are not the nicest guys. Let's just say that their vocabulary was quite... limited. But what words were thrown at you in the opponent's stadium usually depended on whether you won or lost the match. Once your team gets ahead, you don't have to rush to take a goal kick, and that made the fans really angry. And when your team loses and you need to quickly get the ball that has flown out of the goal, only ridicule comes from the stands. But overall the atmosphere created by the English fans was great and when I lived in England I felt at home.

– I heard that in 2012 you took part in the New York Marathon. Why did you decide to do this and how long did you run?

Nathaniel Bullock, Leeds

– A few years ago, my friend told me that he was going to take part in this marathon. I really liked this idea, and I told him: “Maybe you can wait a little longer? I will retire and we will run together.” But then the wait took a little longer because I renewed my contract with United several times [laughs]. As a result, training for the marathon took me about two and a half months. This turned out to be a big strain on my body, and it took me a lot of time to recover. But in the end I ran 4 hours 19 minutes.

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Edwin van der Sar

"Edwin van der Sar"

He played in the clubs Noordwijk and Ajax (Holland), Juventus (Italy). In 2001 he moved to the Fulham club (England). Since 1995, goalkeeper of the Dutch national team.

For more than ten years now, the main goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has taken his usual place in the goal of the Dutch national team. Outwardly, he is, perhaps, the complete opposite of Oliver Kahn - his figure is not powerful, but long and thin, his face surprisingly retains boyish, simple-minded features, and besides, Edwin van der Sar’s ears are somehow quite childish. protruded. The German and the Dutchman also differ in their goalkeeping style - van der Sar does not play harshly, but rather elegantly, but at the same time very rationally. Van der Sar also has one more “zest” that distinguishes him from other goalkeepers: he has the most accurate pass over any distance, and often the sharp attack of the Dutch begins right from his goal.

But, of course, his main responsibility is to protect his own goal, which he does with dignity. Both Dutch football players and numerous fans of the “orange team” are confident in the reliability of their goalkeeper.

And his first “pancake” in the national team came out, I must say, “lumpy” - exactly like many other wonderful goalkeepers.

"Edwin van der Sar"

In June 1995, Guus Hiddink, then coach of the Dutch national team, entrusted the 25-year-old goalkeeper with a place in goal for the first time. qualifying match European Championship against the Belarusian team - far from the strongest opponent. The game took place in Minsk. The Dutch did not succeed in attack that day, and van de Sar made a grave mistake, and Sergei Gerasimets scored the only goal.

Nevertheless, Hiddink believed in the young goalkeeper, considering his mistake an annoying misunderstanding or a manifestation of excessive excitement. The coach could not help but be impressed by van der Sar's performance at his club Ajax. Just in 1995, Ajax reached all possible heights: became the winner of the European Champions League, beating Milan in the final - 1:0, then won the European Super Cup, defeating Real Zaragoza, and finally became the owner Intercontinental Cup, winning against the Brazilian club Gremio.

In addition, in the mid-1990s, Ajax became the Dutch champion three times. To a large extent, the club owed all this success to the play of its goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. However, the entire team was then magnificent and almost entirely consisting of students of the famous football school Ajax, among whom were, for example, Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids.

But van der Sar himself, born in the city of Voorhout, got to Ajax by a different route.

"Edwin van der Sar"

He started playing in the amateur team Noordwijk, whose coach Ruud Bring was a friend of Ajax coach Louis van Gaal. Bring and recommended the young goalkeeper to his friend. So in 1989, Edwin van der Sar ended up in a professional club, but sat on the bench for four long years. Only in 1993, when Amsterdam's main goalkeeper Stanley Menzo failed in the quarter-final match with the French Auxerre, van Gaal decided to entrust his place in goal to van der Sar. Since then, he has never left this place, reaching the greatest heights with the team.

However, it so happened that the following year from Ajax various reasons many leading players left. True, the club again managed to reach the Champions League final, but lost to Juventus. Regular time ended in a 1:1 draw. The Italians won on penalties - 4:2. Nevertheless, there was nothing to blame the goalkeeper for; he played brilliantly.

"Edwin van der Sar"

Nevertheless, the “orange” reached the quarterfinals, where they met with the French team. Regular time ended in a draw. But the French won the penalty shootout - 5:4.

Despite the failure of the Dutch national team, van der Sar already began to be called one of the best goalkeepers in the world, noting his elegant and unique game. True, some considered his weak point to be his inability to repel penalty kicks. Of the five penalties, the French, in fact, scored all five of them. But, on the other hand, complaints should also be made against the Dutch field players, who scored fewer goals than the French...

The Dutch were amazingly unlucky in penalty shootouts and at all other big tournaments. Sometimes they didn’t score penalties even during playing time. And this despite the fact that the Dutch national team invariably had an excellent selection of players, and much more could be expected from it.

At the 1998 World Cup in France, in three matches of the group tournament, van der Sar again conceded only two goals. In the one-eighth final match, the Dutch defeated the Yugoslav national team - 2:1, and in the quarterfinals, the Argentine national team - 2:1. In the semi-final match, the Dutch played on equal terms with the Brazilian team. Regular time ended 1:1.

"Edwin van der Sar"

The Brazilians won on penalties - 4:2.

This fatal misfortune with penalty kicks reached its apogee at the 2000 European Championships, held in Holland and Belgium. The stadium in Rotterdam was chosen as the venue for the final match, and, of course, all of Holland expected the home “orange” team to win. The Dutch team emerged victorious in the group, having won three victories, including over the then world champion French team - 3:2. In the quarterfinal match, the Yugoslav team was defeated - 6:1. But then came the day of the semi-final with the Italian national team, which was then led by the legendary goalkeeper of another generation, who became a coach, Dino Zoff...

Zoff chose the usual one for himself protective option. Pretty soon one of the Italians was sent off. It seemed that the powerful Dutch attack was about to break the Italian defense. But the score remained zero until the end, although the Dutch took penalty kicks twice. One shot was saved by Italian goalkeeper Toldo, the other hit the post. The Dutch failed to score in extra time either. And again, the Dutch team lost in the penalty shootout - 1:3.

Another failure of the national team did not shake the reputation of Edwin van der Sar - he remained and remains to this day one of the strongest goalkeepers in the world.

As for him club career, then shortly after the 1998 World Cup he moved from Ajax to the Italian Juventus. In his first season for the Turin club, van der Sar conceded only 20 goals in 34 matches - significantly less than any other Serie A goalkeeper. However, the goalkeeper himself noted that the task of goalkeepers in Holland and Italy is noticeably different. “In Holland, entertainment is as important as the result, and therefore creative functions are assigned to everyone, including goalkeepers. In Italy, the result is the only criterion, and for goalkeepers the most important thing is reliability.” And in 2001, Edwin van der Sar signed a four-year contract with English club Fulham.

Now the famous Dutchman has reached the best time of football maturity and wisdom for a goalkeeper, and he plans to play for a long time. He considers the experience of Dino Zoff, who became a world champion at the age of forty, to be an example for himself.

18+, 2015, website, “Seventh Ocean Team”. Team coordinator:

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(Born 1970)

He played in the clubs Noordwijk and Ajax (Holland), Juventus (Italy). In 2001 he moved to the Fulham club (England). Since 1995, goalkeeper of the Dutch national team.

For more than ten years now, the main goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar has taken his usual place in the goal of the Dutch national team. Outwardly, he is, perhaps, the complete opposite of Oliver Kahn - his figure is not powerful, but long and thin, his face surprisingly retains boyish, simple-minded features, and besides, Edwin van der Sar’s ears are somehow quite childish protruded. The German and the Dutchman also differ in their goalkeeping style - van der Sar does not play harshly, but rather elegantly, but at the same time very rationally. Van der Sar also has one more “zest” that distinguishes him from other goalkeepers: he has the most accurate pass over any distance, and often the sharp attack of the Dutch begins right from his goal.

And his first “pancake” in the national team came out, I must say, “lumpy” - exactly like many other great goalkeepers. In June 1995, Guus Hiddink, then coach of the Dutch national team, first entrusted the 25-year-old goalkeeper with a place in goal in a qualifying match for the European Championship against the Belarusian team - far from the strongest opponent. The game took place in Minsk. The Dutch did not succeed in attack that day, and van de Sar made a grave mistake, and Sergei Gerasimets scored the only goal.

In addition, in the mid-1990s, Ajax became the champion of Holland three times. To a large extent, the club owed all this success to the play of its goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar. However, the entire team was then magnificent and almost entirely consisting of graduates of the famous Ajax football school, among whom were, for example, Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids.

But van der Sar himself, born in the city of Voorhout, got to Ajax by a different route. He started playing in the amateur team Noordwijk, whose coach Ruud Bring was a friend of Ajax coach Louis van Gaal. Bring and recommended the young goalkeeper to his friend. So in 1989, Edwin van der Sar ended up in a professional club, but sat on the bench for four long years. Only in 1993, when the main goalkeeper of Amsterdam, Stanley Menzo, “failed” in the quarter-final match with the French Auxerre, van Gaal decided to entrust his place in goal to van der Sar. Since then, he has never left this place, reaching the greatest heights with the team.

However, it so happened that the following year many leading players left Ajax for various reasons. True, the club again managed to reach the Champions League final, but lost to Juventus. Regular time ended in a 1:1 draw. The Italians won on penalties – 4:2. Nevertheless, there was nothing to blame the goalkeeper for; he played brilliantly.

In the same 1996, van der Sar, together with the Dutch national team, came to England for the European Championship as the main goalkeeper. In the first two matches of the group tournament, he left his goal untouched - the Dutch drew with Scotland - 0:0, and defeated Switzerland - 2:0. However, the last match with the tournament hosts England became a football Waterloo for the Dutch – 1:4. Nevertheless, the “orange” reached the quarterfinals, where they met with the French team. Regular time ended in a draw. But the French won the penalty shootout – 5:4.

Zoff chose his usual purely defensive option. Pretty soon one of the Italians was sent off. It seemed that a powerful Dutch attack was about to break the Italian defense. But the score remained zero until the end, although the Dutch took penalty kicks twice. One shot was saved by Italian goalkeeper Toldo, the other hit the post. The Dutch failed to score in extra time either. And again in the penalty shootout the Dutch team lost 1:3.

Another failure of the national team did not shake the reputation of Edwin van der Sar - he remained and remains to this day one of the strongest goalkeepers in the world. As for his club career, shortly after the 1998 World Cup he moved from Ajax to the Italian Juventus. In his first season for the Turin club, van der Sar conceded only 20 goals in 34 matches - significantly less than any other Serie A goalkeeper. However, the goalkeeper himself noted that the task of goalkeepers in Holland and Italy is noticeably different. “In Holland, entertainment is as important as the result, and therefore creative functions are assigned to everyone, including goalkeepers. In Italy, the result is the only criterion, and for goalkeepers the most important thing is reliability.” And in 2001, Edwin van der Sar signed a four-year contract with the English club Fulham.

Although his debut in the national team was, to put it mildly, not very successful. After a series of excellent performances for Ajax in the Champions League, then-Orange coach Guus Hiddink included Van der Sar in the squad for a European Championship qualifier against Belarus in June 1995. However, there was a huge embarrassment. The Dutch lost in Minsk, and Sergei Gerasimets scored the only goal after a mistake by Van der Sar. Five years later, all this - the Dutch loss to the Belarusians and Van der Sar's mistake - seems even more unreal.

Unlike most Ajax players of the mid-90s, Van der Cap is not a product of the club's famous football school. He started playing in the amateur team Noordwijk, and came to Amsterdam in 1989 thanks to the friendship of Noordwijk coach Ruud Bring with Louis van Gaal. Four years later, after several blunders by Stanley Menzo in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals against Auxerre, Van der Sar was given the chance to win a place in the first team, which he used brilliantly. Largely thanks to Van der Sar, Ajax won the Champions League, Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup in the mid-90s, and also had no equal in the Dutch championship for three years in a row. However, after the decisions of the European court in the Bosman case, the great team fell apart. Van der Cap, by the way, stayed in Amsterdam the longest. It was only a year ago that he finally decided to change his surroundings.

The Dutch goalkeeper was claimed by many leading European clubs, including Manchester United, who were looking for a replacement for Peter Schmeichel. Van der Cap chose Juventus. "I decided to go to Italy because I really like to study other cultures, and there is not much difference between Holland and England. But this does not mean that I do not like the Premier League. Maybe I will still have time to play in England... More importantly "All I wanted was to be at a great club... Juventus is without a doubt one of the greatest clubs in Europe."

In Turin, Van der Cap settled in very quickly. Juventus have conceded just 20 goals in 34 matches in the league, far fewer than any other team, and it is not the goalkeeper's fault that the Turin side missed out on the Scudetto. However, Van der Cap admits that his first season in Italy was not as easy as it might seem at first glance. "The tasks of goalkeepers in Italy and Holland are significantly different. In Holland, entertainment is as important as the result, and therefore creative functions are assigned to everyone, including goalkeepers. In Italy, the result is the only criterion, and for goalkeepers the most important thing is reliability".

Naturally, Van der Sar had to rebuild. However, the Dutchman so impressed Juventus coach Carlo Ancelotti with his ability to make accurate passes to teammates with his feet that the goalkeeper was allowed “liberties” when putting the ball into play, and one could even say that over the past season, Juventus’ style of action when moving from defense to the attack has undergone significant changes. “At first they asked me to immediately kick the ball away from the goal in a critical situation. But now they know that I can launch a sharp attack, and they use this quality of mine.”

The problem for Van der Sar so far is that he doesn't know the habits of Serie A strikers very well. "In Holland I knew everything - the favorite maneuvers of the forwards, their style of hitting the goal. In Italy I have to learn it all over again."

According to Gazzetta dello Sport, in order to achieve perfection, Van der Sar still needs to improve his game at the exits, especially with high serves. The Dutchman is also not a penalty saver. At Ajax in the 1996 Champions League final against his current club, and with the national team in the 1996 European Championship quarter-finals against France, and in the 1998 World Cup semi-finals against Brazil, he failed to save a single shot in the post-match series. However, Van der Cap believes that there is no pattern here.

“As the European Championship approaches, the pressure increases,” says Edwin. “But I take it calmly. I only have problems sleeping when I miss a ball that, in my opinion, could have been saved.”

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“In general, I think the grandiose expectations of our fans cannot affect the team’s performance for the worse. After all, we have long been accustomed to this, and then almost all of us play for big clubs. The main thing is to approach the European Championship in optimal physical condition.”

By the way, the fact that the Dutch goal is defended by a Juventus player is a good sign. In the post-war years, the Italians won two major tournaments, the 1968 European Championship and the 1982 World Cup, and both times the team's goalkeeper was a representative of the Old Lady. namely Dino Zoff.