Gerald Vanenburg

Gerald Vanenburg
Gerald Vanenburg in 1981
Personal information
Full name	Gerald Mervin Vanenburg
Date of birth	(1964-03-05) 5 March 1964 (age 50)
Place of birth	Utrecht, Netherlands
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current team	Retired
Youth career
	Sterrewijk
	Elinkwijk
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1986	Ajax	173	(64)
1986–1993	PSV	199	(48)
1993–1996	Júbilo Iwata	64	(14)
1997	Utrecht	9	(2)
1997–1998	Cannes	26	(6)
1998–2000	1860 München	42	(2)
Total		513	(136)
National team
1982–1992	Netherlands	42	(1)
Teams managed
2000–2005	PSV (youth)
2004	1860 München
2006–2007	Helmond Sport
2008	FC Eindhoven
2008	Willem (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Gerald Mervin Vanenburg (born 5 March 1964) is a Dutch retired footballer who played as a right winger.

He amassed Eredivisie totals of 372 games and 112 goals for Ajax and PSV combined, winning fifteen major titles between the two clubs, including the 1988 European Cup with the latter. Subsequently he played in Japan, France and Germany, in a 20-year professional career.

Vanenburg earned more than 40 caps for the Netherlands, appearing at the 1990 World Cup and Euro 1988 and winning the latter tournament.

Club career

Ajax

Born in Utrecht, Vanenburg finished his football formation with AFC Ajax, and made his Eredivisie debuts exactly one month after his 17th birthday, against ADO Den Haag. He finished his first season with 11 games and three goals, being soon dubbed Vaantje and Geraldinho for his above-average skills.

Vanenburg became an undisputed starter for the Amsterdam outfit shortly after, providing countless assists for strikers Marco van Basten and Wim Kieft and adding 30 himself in two seasons combined, as the club won back-to-back national championships; before leaving the club in June 1986, he scored in double digits in two more seasons.

PSV

Vanenburg signed for PSV Eindhoven for the 1986–87 season, netting nine goals in 34 matches in his first season, which ended in league conquest. He was part of the team that won the treble the following campaign, with the player appearing in the final of the season's European Cup and converting his penalty shootout attempt against S.L. Benfica.

Having rejected a lucrative move to A.S. Roma, Vanenburg played and scored regularly for PSV in the following five seasons, winning a further three leagues and two Dutch Cups. He appeared in nearly 500 official games between the two clubs, scoring almost 150 goals.

Abroad / Coaching

Aged 29, Vanenburg had his first abroad experience, helping Júbilo Iwata promote to the J. League in his first year, then playing a further two seasons with the club. He finished the 1996–97 season back in his country, still being relatively played as hometown's FC Utrecht ranked in 12th position.

Until his retirement in 2000 at the age of 36, Vanenburg played three more years of top flight football, with AS Cannes (France) and TSV 1860 München (Germany), where he began appearing regularly as a sweeper. He immediately returned to PSV where he was appointed the youth team's manager but, during that timeframe, also managed former club TSV during three months, starting in April 2004, with the team eventually being relegated from the Bundesliga.

In 2006–07, Vanenburg coached Helmond Sport in the Eerste Divisie, being fired on 17 February 2007. On 1 January of the following year, he was appointed at another club in the category, FC Eindhoven.

International career

Vanenburg made his debut for the Netherlands on 14 April 1982 at only 18, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 friendly win with Greece, in Eindhoven. He was selected for the UEFA Euro 1988 tournament in West Germany, appearing in all the games (the last three complete) as the Oranje won the competition.

Vanenburg was also picked by manager Leo Beenhakker for his 1990 FIFA World Cup squad, but his contribution consisted of 45 minutes against Egypt (1–1 group stage draw),^[1] in an eventual round-of-16 exit in Italy.

His last international appearance came as a substitute in a 2–2 draw against Poland on 14 October 1992 in Rotterdam in a 1994 World Cup qualification match.

International goals

Honours

Club

Ajax

• Dutch League: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85
• Dutch Cup: 1982–83, 1985–86; Runner-up 1980–81

PSV

• European Cup: 1987–88
• Dutch League: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92
• Dutch Cup: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90
• Dutch Supercup: 1992

Country

• UEFA European Football Championship: 1988

Statistics

Club

^[2]

International

References

External links

• Beijen profile (Dutch)
• Gerald Vanenburg profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)
• Gerald Vanenburg at National-Football-Teams.com
• Gerald Vanenburg – FIFA competition record