Clarence Seedorf

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Clarence Seedorf
Personal information
Full name	Clarence Clyde Seedorf
Date of birth	April 1, 1976
Place of birth	Paramaribo, Suriname
Height	1.76 m (5' 9")
Position	Midfield
Club information
Current club	AC Milan
Number	10
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1992-1995 1995-1996 1996-2000 2000-2002 2002-	Ajax Amsterdam Sampdoria Real Madrid Inter Milan AC Milan	64 (11) 32 (5) 120 (15) 65 (8) 126 (16)
National team**
1994-	Netherlands	78 (11)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 9, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of Nov 16, 2006.

Clarence Seedorf (born April 1, 1976 in Paramaribo, Suriname) is a Dutch-Surinamese football midfielder, who currently plays for AC Milan in Serie A.

Seedorf is the first, and to date, the only person to have won the UEFA Champions League with three different teams: Ajax (1995), Real Madrid (1998) and AC Milan (2003). He also played for Sampdoria and Internazionale.

Seedorf was named by Pelé as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.

Contents 1 Club Career 2 International Career 3 In popular culture 4 Trivia 5 Awards and honours 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Club Career

Seedorf emerged on the scene as a talented right midfielder for Ajax Amsterdam during the early 1990s. In his early career he played a role in Ajax's Eredivisie winning years of 1993 and 1995. He was also a key member during Ajax's 1995 Champions League winning campaign. His performances during the season saw him move to Sampdoria in the summer of 1995.

After only a year at the Italian side Seedorf moved again, this time to Real Madrid. His attacking abilities in his first season in Madrid enabled the club to regain La Liga. In his second season, 1997-1998, he played a major role in the team's Champions League success as Real Madrid secured a 1-0 victory over Juventus in the final: The second Champions League title of his career. Seedorf's spell at Real Madrid ended when he was transferred back to Italy during the 1999-2000 season - this time to Inter Milan.

At the start of the millennium, Inter were eager for succes after being denied major domestic honours during the 1990s. Despite helping the team to the Coppa Italia final in 2000, a game that was eventually lost, Seedorf could not help bring any major silverware to the club.

After two years with Inter Milan, Seedorf moved to bitter city rivals AC Milan in 2002. Seedorf achieved almost instant success at his new club as the team won the Coppa Italia in 2003, the first time they had won with competition in twenty-six years. In the same season Seedorf gained his third Champions League medal after an all Italian final, with AC Milan beating Juventus on penalties after a 0-0 draw. The following season, 2003-2004, Seedorf played a role in the AC Milan side that won Serie A: The seventeenth time the club had won the title in their history. It was also Seedorf's fourth national league title win of his career, after his two Dutch title wins with Ajax and his one Spanish win with Real Madrid.

On 24 July 2006, AC Milan announced that jersey number of Seedorf is changed from 20 to 10, following departure of Rui Costa.^[1]

[edit] International Career

As of November 2006, Seedorf has been capped 78 times for the Dutch national team. Seedorf has played in Euro 96, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000, and Euro 2004.

A talented midfielder, many have suggested that his career could have been even more impressive if he had not let an argumentative and rebellious streak get the better of him on several occasions. In addition, he has a long history of underperforming during critical moments while playing for the national team.

This was one of the reasons why current national team coach Marco Van Basten decided to ignore Seedorf when he was appointed coach after Euro 2004. Thus, Seedorf did not play in the World Cup 2006 qualifying series, as well as missing out on the FIFA World Cup itself. Van Basten has also not called upon Seedorf thus far in the Euro 2008 qualifying series.

On 12 November 2006, however, Seedorf was called back into the national team for the first time since June 2004 as a replacement for the injured Wesley Sneijder. He started and played the full 90 minutes in a 1–1 tie against England.

[edit] In popular culture

In 1997, Dutch comedian and folk singer Freek de Jonge wrote a song "Leven na de dood" (Life after death), a cover version of the Bob Dylan song Death is not the End. In this comedy song, De Jonge humorously insinuates (among other things) that the possible consequences for Seedorf of missing a penalty do not matter^[2], because "there is life after death" regardless. This alludes to his fatal misses in the 1996 European Championship quarter finals, in which the Netherlands lost 3-5 after penalty kicks against France, and in the 1998 World Cup qualification match against Turkey.

[edit] Trivia

• He is known for his love of singing. Along with Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti, he performed several songs during the team's annual Christmas party in 2005.
• Seedorf also has a keen interest in motorcycling and currently owns a Grand Prix motorcycle racing team^{[citation needed]}, that races in the 125cc category on Honda machines.
• Clarence Seedorf has 3 brothers (Jürgen, Chedric, and Rahmlee) and 1 cousin (Stefano Seedorf) who have all been, or are still professional football players. All contract negotiations and football related issues are dealt with by their father/uncle, Johan Seedorf who is their official player agent.
• Seedorf helped one of his friends, Harvey Esajas to gain a contract at AC Milan, after he did not play football for 3 years.

[edit] Awards and honours

• Intercontinental Cup: 1
  • 1998, Real Madrid

• UEFA Super Cup:1
  • 2003, AC Milan

• UEFA Champions League: 3
  • 1994/95, Ajax
  • 1997/98, Real Madrid
  • 2002/03, AC Milan

• Dutch Super Cup: 2
  • 1993, Ajax
  • 1994, Ajax

• Spanish Super Cup: 1
  • 1997, Real Madrid

• Italian Super Cup: 1
  • 2004 AC Milan

• Dutch championship: 2
  • 1993/94, Ajax
  • 1994/95, Ajax

• Spanish Championship: 1
  • 1996/97, Real Madrid

• Italian Championship: 1
  • 2003/04, AC Milan

• Dutch Cup: 1
  • 1992/93, Ajax

• Italian Cup: 1
  • 2002/03, AC Milan

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• FootballDatabase provides Clarence Seedorf's profile and stats
• Seedorf Racing

	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

A.C. Milan - Current Squad
1 Dida | 2 Cafu | 3 Maldini | 4 Kaladze | 5 Costacurta | 7 Oliveira | 8 Gattuso | 9 Inzaghi | 10 Seedorf | 11 Gilardino | 13 Nesta | 15 Borriello | 16 Kalac | 17 Šimić | 18 Jankulovski | 19 Favalli | 20 Gourcuff | 21 Pirlo | 22 Kaká | 23 Ambrosini | 25 Bonera | 27 Serginho | 29 Fiori | 32 Brocchi | Coach: Ancelotti