Giovanni van Bronckhorst
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| Giovanni Van Bronckhorst | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Giovanni Christiaan Van Bronckhorst | |
| Date of birth | February 5, 1975 | |
| Place of birth | Rotterdam, Netherlands | |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | |
| Playing position | Left back, Defensive midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Feyenoord | |
| Number | 8 | |
| Senior career1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1993–1994 1994–1998 1998–2001 2001–2003 2003–2007 2007– |
RKC Waalwijk Feyenoord Rangers Arsenal Barcelona Feyenoord |
12 (2) 103 (22) 71 (13) 41 (2) 105 (5) 59 (8) |
| National team2 | ||
| 1996– | Netherlands | 91 (5) |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Giovanni Christiaan Van Bronckhorst (born 5 February 1975 in Rotterdam), known as Gio for short, is a Dutch footballer of South Moluccan ancestry who plays for Dutch Eredivisie club Feyenoord and the Dutch national team.
Van Bronckhorst signed a three-year contract with Feyenoord in June 2007, leaving FC Barcelona as a free agent. Prior to joining Barcelona, Bronckhorst played for RKC Waalwijk (1993-94), Feyenoord (1994-98), Rangers (1998-2001), and Arsenal (2001-03).
He has earned over 80 caps for the Dutch national team, and played for his country in two World Cups (1998 and 2006), as well as three European Championships (2000, 2004, and 2008).
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[edit] Club career
[edit] Rangers
Van Bronckhorst was already a regular international when he signed for Rangers in 1998, joining up with compatriot Dick Advocaat, the Scottish club's new manager. In his first competitive game for Rangers, a remarkable UEFA Cup tie away to League of Ireland side Shelbourne (although played at Tranmere Rovers' Prenton Park), Van Bronckhorst marked his debut with a finely-struck goal as Rangers came back from 3-0 down to win the match 5-3. Giovanni went on to score 22 goals for Rangers (13 in the league, three in the Scottish Cup, one in the Scottish League Cup, three in the Champions League and two in the UEFA Cup), mostly as a play-making midfielder of notable skill and subtlety, before an £8.5 m transfer to Arsenal in the summer of 2001.
[edit] Arsenal
Arsène Wenger signed Van Bronckhorst to replace the midfield void left by the departure of Emmanuel Petit from Arsenal and he was expected to partner Patrick Vieira in the centre.[1] However, his period at Arsenal was marked by a cruciate knee ligament injury which saw him sidelined after only a few months at the club. When he returned, his role was increasingly minimal and he found himself behind Vieira, Edu and shortly before his departure to Barcelona, Gilberto Silva in the pecking order. He did not leave Arsenal without any silverware, however, as he collected two FA Cup winners' medals (despite not playing in either final) and a Premier League winners medal in 2002. He scored two league goals in his time at Arsenal, one against Leicester City in January 2002 and one against Chelsea in January 2003.
[edit] Barcelona
As the 2003-04 season approached, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst had the opportunity to move to FC Barcelona and work with new boss Frank Rijkaard as part-exchange for the transfer of Cesc Fàbregas to Arsenal. After adapting to his new role as a left back, he helped Barça to a revival in the second half of the season. He won the La Liga title with Barça in the 2004-05 season after some of his finest displays together with 4 goals to his credit. In 2005-06, he helped his club repeat as Liga champions while winning the 2006 Champions League as well (He was the only player who participated in all Champions League matches that season). In Spain, he styled his shirt name to 'Gio' as opposed to his time at Arsenal where his name was 'Bronckhorst'. He said on Dutch soccer program Studio Voetbal, that he could return to Feyenoord due to a contract clause that allows him to sign immediately with the club he supported as a boy.
[edit] Feyenoord
On 21 August 2007, Van Bronckhorst's contract with Barça ended and he subsequently joined up with Feyenoord for the second time in his career. Since joining, Van Bronckhorst has become a pivotal member of the Eredivisie team's squad, most recently proving to be something of a rock in an injury-hit side.
[edit] International career
Van Bronckhorst made his national team debut in August 1996 and has since gone on to earn over 80 caps, including two World Cup and three Euro campaigns. He did not appear in the 1998 World Cup and only saw only limited action in Euro 2000 as cover for leftback Arthur Numan.
[edit] Euro 2004
However later national team coaches appreciated Van Bronkhorst's leftback capabilities, most notably Dick Advocaat who played him for the Netherlands in the Euro 2004 competition in Portugal. The Dutch team reached the semi-finals of the tournament where Portugal disposed of them.
[edit] 2006 World Cup
He was a regular in the national team for the 2006 World Cup qualification campaign. However, in the Round of 16 match against Portugal (see Battle of Nuremberg), he received a red card in a match that saw four red cards given, a World Cup record.
[edit] Euro 2008
Van Bronckhorst scored the winning goal in a Euro 2008 qualifying match against Slovenia on 28 March 2007. The Netherlands won the match 1-0.[2]
On 9 June 2008, while playing in a 3-0 victory over Italy in UEFA Euro 2008, he assisted in the second goal scored by the Netherlands and also scored the third goal, after running all the way from the back. For the second goal, he first cleared the ball off his own line and ran deep into the Italian half, then received the ball and crossed it to Dirk Kuyt who headed it down to Wesley Sneijder to slot between the post and the advancing Gianluigi Buffon. He later even scored another one himself to condemn the world champions to an embarrassing defeat.
[edit] International goals
| Num | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | June 04, 1997 | Johannesburg, South Africa |  South Africa |
0–1 | 0–2 | Friendly match |
| 2. | September 2, 2000 | Amsterdam, Netherlands |  Republic of Ireland |
2–2 | 2–2 | World Cup 2002 qualifier |
| 3. | February 12, 2003 | Amsterdam, Netherlands |  Argentina |
1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly match |
| 4. | March 28, 2007 | Celje, Slovenia |  Slovenia |
0–1 | 0–1 | Euro 2008 qualifier |
| 5. | June 9, 2008 | Bern, Switzerland |  Italy |
3–0 | 3–0 | UEFA Euro 2008 |
[edit] Honours
- Scottish Premier League: 1998–99, 1999–00
- Scottish Cup: 1999, 2000
- Premier League: 2001–02
- FA Cup: 2002, 2003
- La Liga: 2004-05, 2005–06
- Supercopa de España: 2005, 2006
- UEFA Champions League: 2006
[edit] References
- ^ "Gio could be key to Arsenal glory". BBC Sport (British Broadcasting Corporation). 13 August 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/1484947.stm. Retrieved on 9 March 2009.
- ^ (Dutch) "Gespeelde wedstrijden". KNVB. http://knvb.nl/oranje/selectie/spelers/detail/gesp-wedstr?player_id=20030901143325607. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Giovanni van Bronckhorst |
- Van Bronckhorst at FC Barcelona English Speaking Supporters Fansite
- Voetbal International profile
- Giovanni van Bronckhorst FIFA competition record
- Giovanni van Bronckhorst profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)
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