Marco van Basten

Marcel ("Marco") van Basten (October 31, 1964 in Oog in Al, Utrecht) is a Dutch football manager, currently in charge of the Dutch national team. Previously, he was a football player who played for Ajax Amsterdam and A.C. Milan in the 1980s and early 1990s. He is regarded as one of the finest strikers of all time and scored 276 goals in a career cut short by injury. Known for his strength on the ball, his tactical awareness and spectacular strikes and volleys, Van Basten was named European Footballer of the Year three times (1988, '89 and '92) and FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992. He was elected the tenth-best footballer of the 20th century in a poll by the IFFHS. Van Basten was voted eighth in a poll organised by the French weekly magazine France Football consulting their former Ballon D'Or winners to elect the Football Player of the Century

Playing career
Marco van Basten was born on 31 October 1964 in Utrecht, where he started his football career at the age of seven. Van Basten's first club was a local team, EDO. After one year, he went to UVV Utrecht. After spending there ten years, he moved to another club from Utrecht, Elinkwijk, where he played very briefly, just before Ajax signed him. He played his first game for Ajax in April 1982, scoring at his debut in the 5-0 victory over NEC Nijmegen. In that game, he entered the game as a substitute for the only man he could not rival in terms of fame in Dutch football: Johan Cruijff.

Van Basten became a prolific goalscorer while at Ajax and displayed a brilliant technique. During the 1982-83 season he had European top scorer, Wim Kieft, as his main rival for Ajax's striker position, which caused him to play only 20 games, scoring 9 goals. However, Kieft was sold to Serie A club Pisa the next season, and Ajax continued the mid-eighties with the teenage forward.

He became top scorer in the following four seasons (1984, 1985, 1986 and 1987), scoring 117 goals in 112 matches. A highlight of this run was the season 1985-86, when he made 37 goals in 26 matches (including six against Sparta and five against Heracles) in the Eredivisie, making him the winner of the European Golden Boot that year. In the 1986-87 season, Van Basten scored the winning goal in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final against FC Lokomotive Leipzig.

In 1987, Silvio Berlusconi brought Van Basten to Milan, with fellow countrymen Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard joining him in 1988. In his first season Milan won their first scudetto (league championship) in eight years, but Van Basten played only eleven games and was constantly troubled by an ankle injury. Despite this, Van Basten scored five goals in Euro 88: a hat-trick against England, the winning goal in the semi-final against West Germany, and a spectacular volley in the final against the Soviet Union, as the Dutch national team won the European Championship.

Helped by his form in international competition, Van Basten had an excellent season in 1988-89, winning European Footballer of the Year and scoring nineteen goals in Serie A as well as helping Milan demolish Steaua Bucharest by scoring twice to win the European Cup. In 1989-90 he was Capocannoniere (Serie A's leading goal scorer) and Milan defended their European Cup successfully against Benfica. The Dutch national side had a poor World Cup in 1990, finally going out to West Germany in the second round.

Domestically Milan's 1990-91 season was disappointing as Sampdoria won the scudetto. Van Basten fell out with Milan's manager Arrigo Sacchi and Berlusconi sacked Sacchi to placate him. Managed by Fabio Capello the following season, Milan did not lose a single game in the league and won the championship, van Basten scoring 25 goals and becoming Capocannoniere again. Internationally, Holland reached the semi-final of Euro 92 where they lost to Denmark in a penalty shootout, van Basten having his penalty saved by Peter Schmeichel.

Milan stretched their unbeaten run into the 1992-93 season, going 58 matches in total before they lost a game. Van Basten played exceptionally well in the early part of the season and was voted European Player of the Year for a third time before his troublesome ankle injury recurred in a game against Ancona. Van Basten underwent another series of operations and returned to Milan for the final few domestic games before they lost the Champions League final to Marseille. The final was Van Basten's final game for Milan; despite enormous effort, he was unable to recover from his injuries.

He did come back for Demetrio Albertini's testimonial match at San Siro however (December 2005), and scored a goal (from a header) before being substituted early in the first half.

On the July 22, 2006 he again returned for testimonial football to celebrate the 11-year Arsenal playing career of Dennis Bergkamp, in the first game at Arsenal's new Emirates Stadium. He played a fair part of the second half for the AFC Ajax legends team, appearing as part of a double substitution that also introduced Johan Cruyff.

During March 2007, Sky Sports named Marco Van Basten the number 1 on their list of the great players who had their career cut short

Honors

Club

* Ajax Amsterdam:
o UEFA Cup Winners Cup: 1987.
o Dutch Championship: 1982, 1983, 1985.
o Dutch Cup: 1983, 1986, 1987.
* AC Milan:
o European Cup: 1989, 1990 (now called: UEFA Champions League).
o Intercontinental Cup: 1989, 1990.
o European Supercup: 1989, 1990.
o Italian Championship: 1988, 1992, 1993.
o Italian Super Cup: 1988, 1992, 1993.

International

* European Championship: 1988.

Individual

* FIFA World Player of the Year: 1992.
* World Soccer Player of the Year: 1988, 1992.
* European Footballer of the Year: 1988, 1989, 1992.
* European Golden Boot: 1986.
* European Championship 1988 Top Scorer and Best Player.
* Italian League Top Scorer: 1990, 1992.
* Dutch League Top Scorer: 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987.

Managing career

Van Basten officially left Milan in 1995 and retired from football, stating he would never try management. However, he changed his mind and took a course with the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB). His first stint as a manager was as an assistant to his former teammate John van 't Schip with the second team of Ajax in 2003-04. On 29 July 2004, Van Basten was named as the new manager of the Dutch national team, with van 't Schip as his assistant.

As a coach, he soon established himself as a man of strong principles. Van Basten famously dropped regulars like Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids and Roy Makaay and benched Mark van Bommel, because he believed that they were either past their prime or constantly underachieving.

There were also calls for Van Basten to call up Dennis Bergkamp who had retired from the national team 6 years earlier for a final hurrah as he was retiring that season. Van Basten then revealed to the media that he never intended to do so despite Bergkamp's own willingness.

For probably the first time in decades, none of the "Big Three" Clubs (Ajax Amsterdam, PSV Eindhoven, and Feyenoord Rotterdam) provided the backbone for the national team. Instead newcomer AZ Alkmaar led the way with players like Denny Landzaat, Barry Opdam, Barry van Galen, Ron Vlaar, Jan Kromkamp and Joris Mathijsen. Other unheralded choices were Khalid Boulahrouz, Hedwiges Maduro, Ryan Babel and Romeo Castelen. Van Basten had also wanted to include Ivorian forward Salomon Kalou, but was thwarted when Kalou was denied Dutch citizenship by the immigration authorities headed by Rita Verdonk. Kalou eventually accepted a call-up to play for the Ivory Coast.

Under his guidance, the team were unbeaten in their World Cup qualification group and made it through the group stages at the FIFA World Cup 2006, but were eliminated in a frenzied 1-0 loss to Portugal in the Round of 16. Van Basten was heavily criticised [attribution needed] for dropping Ruud van Nistelrooy (who had scored twenty-eight goals for Holland) before this game, in favour of Dirk Kuyt, who did not score throughout the entire tournament.

Van Basten has a contract with the KNVB for managing the Dutch national side until 2008. The KNVB has expressed its wishes to extend his contract to include the World Cup qualification route to 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

In November 2006, Van Basten recalled exiled Milan midfielder Clarence Seedorf for a friendly against England at the Amsterdam ArenA. In May 2007, Van Basten announced the end of his long-running dispute with Real Madrid striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, who had previously declared never to play for a Dutch national squad with Van Basten as its manager.[3] Other players, such as Roy Makaay, Mark van Bommel, Boudewijn Zenden, Patrick Kluivert, and Edgar Davids, however, remain out of favour.