Giovanni van Bronckhorst

Childhood and early career

Van Bronckhorst was born in Rotterdam to Victor van Bronckhorst, an Indonesian-Dutch, and Fransien Sapulette, an Indonesian mother. He began playing for a local amateur youth team in Rotterdam, Linker Maas Oever, from age six. He joined the youth academy at Feyenoord the following year. In 1990, aged 15, the club offered him a professional contract, which he accepted. He won the Dutch Youth League with Feyenoord in 1991, but struggled to break into the first team. He was loaned out to RKC Waalwijk, making his league debut in 1993. He returned to Feyenoord for the 1994–95 season, but was used as a fringe player, making only ten appearances for the club. 1995–96 was his breakthrough season, as he started almost every match for Feyenoord, playing alongside the likes of Regi Blinker and Henrik Larsson.

Van Bronckhorst also made his debut for the national Olympic team in 1996, although the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. He was given his first full international cap in August 1996, being given a starting place by Guus Hiddink in the Oranje's lineup to face Brazil in a friendly at the Amsterdam Arena. He was part of the Netherlands squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but did not play during the tournament.

Domestically, with Feyenoord failing to break the PSV–Ajax stranglehold on the Eredivisie for the fourth-straight year, and major players such as Henrik Larsson leaving the team, Van Bronckhorst began to search for a new club. He chose to join Dick Advocaat (his former manager at international U-16 and U-18 level) at Rangers, joining the club in 1998 for a reported transfer fee between £5–5.5 million.

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. Van Bronckhorst 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 UEFA Champions League and two in the UEFA Cup), mostly as a play-making midfielder of notable skill and subtlety, before joining Arsenal for a fee of £8.5 million, signing a five-year contract.

Arsenal

Arsène Wenger had 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. However, Van Bronckhorst's period at Arsenal was marked by a cruciate knee ligament injury which saw him sidelined after only a few months at the club. Van Bronckhorst, despite such still won with Arsenal, the Premier League in 2001–02 and the FA Cup in 2002–03. In all, he made 64 appearances for Arsenal, scoring two goals.

Barcelona

As the 2003–04 season approached, Van Bronckhorst had the opportunity to move to Barcelona and work with its new head coach Frank Rijkaard on a one-year loan, with a view to a permanent transfer.

After adapting to his new role as a left-back, he helped Barça to a revival in the second half of the season. In May 2004, Van Bronckhorst completed his move from Arsenal to Barcelona for a fee of €2 million, signing a three-year deal. He won the Liga title in the 2004–05 season after some of his finest displays together with four goals to his credit. In 2005–06, he helped his club repeat as Liga champions while winning the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League as well (he was the only player who participated in all Champions League matches that season). In Spain, he used "Gio" as the name on his shirt.

Return to Feyenoord

Van Bronckhorst had a year remaining on his Barcelona contract in 2007, but returned to Feyenoord on 27 June 2007 due to a clause in his contract stipulating he could join Feyenoord on a free transfer. Shortly after, head coach Bert van Marwijk made him captain of the club. He would go on to become a pivotal member of the squad, providing stability in an injury-hit side. At the end of his first season, he led De Stadionclub to win the 2007–08 KNVB Cup following a 2–0 victory in the final against Roda JC.

International career

Van Bronckhorst made his Netherlands national team debut in August 1996 at the FNB Stadium (now known as Soccer City) in a match against South Africa. He would go on to earn 106 caps, including appearances at three FIFA World Cups and three UEFA European Championships. He did not appear in the 1998 World Cup and only saw limited action in Euro 2000 as cover for left-back Arthur Numan. He began and finished his international career in the same stadium.

Euro 2004

Van Bronckhorst (who was regularly played as a midfielder at club level at the time) was deployed by manager Dick Advocaat as a left-back at Euro 2004. The Netherlands reached the semi-finals of the tournament, only to fall to hosts Portugal.

2006 World Cup

Van Bronckhorst was a regular in the national team for the 2006 World Cup qualification campaign. 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. There was an unusual scene in which Van Bronckhorst was sitting in the stands next to his Barcelona teammate at the time, Portugal's Deco, who had also been sent off.

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.

On 9 June 2008, while playing in a 3–0 victory over Italy in 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 of the pitch. 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 scored a goal of his own to condemn the world champions to an embarrassing defeat.

Prior to Euro 2008, captain Edwin van der Sar announced his intention to retire from international football after the tournament; he played his last match as captain in the 3–1 quarter-final loss to Russia. Van Bronckhorst was named Van der Sar's replacement as captain.

2010 World Cup

Van Bronckhorst was included in the Netherlands' preliminary squad for the tournament, and on 27 May 2010, Dutch manager Bert van Marwijk announced he would be part of the final squad of 23 and would serve as team captain. In the semi-final against Uruguay, he scored the opening goal of the match, which the Netherlands won 3–2. The powerful long-range strike – which rose into goalkeeper Fernando Muslera's top left-hand corner – was widely considered one of the best goals in World Cup history.

Van Bronckhorst's final match for the Netherlands and as a professional footballer came in the World Cup final against Spain. He was substituted in the 105th minute for Edson Braafheid with the score 0–0, only for Andrés Iniesta to condemn the Dutch to a defeat, scoring the only goal of the match in the 116th minute. After ending the tournament as runners-up, Van Bronckhorst stated he was proud of what the team had achieved.

Managerial career

Having retired at the end of the 2009–10 season prior to the 2010 World Cup, it was announced on 21 July 2011 that Van Bronckhorst would assist newly appointed Feyenoord manager Ronald Koeman, alongside fellow ex-Feyenoord player Jean-Paul van Gastel. Feyenoord finished the season second behind Ajax, thereby qualifying for the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League. On 23 March 2015, it was announced Van Bronckhorst would be the new manager of Feyenoord after Fred Rutten would leave at the end of that season.

In his first full season, Van Bronckhorst led Feyenoord to win the 2015–16 KNVB Cup after the club defeated Utrecht 2–1 in the final.

In his second season, Van Bronckhorst won the Eredivisie title, Feyenoord's first in 18 years.

Managerial statistics

Player

Feyenoord

Rangers

Arsenal

Barcelona

International

Managerial

Feyenoord

Personal