Orlando Engelaar

Club career

Previously a striker, he is now usually found in midfield or the defense where he has impressed with his aerial and passing abilities. His greatest quality is largely considered to be his through pass because, in spite of his size, he is very much an attack minded player. Engelaar started his career at Feyenoord in the youth system, where he spent fifteen years before joining NAC Breda, which is the start of his professional career. Engelaar is originally from Suriname, where his father played as a centre-back for the National side.

Engelaar made his debut for NAC Breda on the left side of midfield, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 1-0 loss to RKC Waalwijk. After making his debut, Engelaar made a difficult start to his first two season at NAC Breda, not registering a goal for the club until two thunderous drives into the back-of-the-net against Heerenveen on 14 September 2002. He would score another brace, three weeks later on 5 October 2002. The 2002-03 season proved to be a breakthrough for Engelaar, as he scored twelve goals in thirty-three appearances and also helped the club qualify for the UEFA Cup, as they finished fourth in the league.

At the start of the 2003-04 season, Engelaar signed a three-year contract with NAC Breda, which will keep him until 2007. Engelaar played both legs in the first round of UEFA Cup against Premier League side Newcastle United, but they proved to be too strong and failed to win either legs losing 6-1 and 1-0 respectively.

KRC Genk

At the start of the 2004-05 season, Engelaar joined Belgian club Racing Genk on a four-year contract. Shortly moving to Genk, Engelaar made his farewell appearance in a match against Utrecht, which he scored. The move resulted NAC Breda suing Genk in court.

Engelaar immediately made an impact in the starting eleven and helping the club finish third place and fourth place in 2004-05 season and 2005-06 season respectively. While at Genk, Engelaar even considered taking up a Belgium citizenship, as he believed that nothing can stop him taking up Belgian citizenship. In total of his Genk career, Engelaar made fifty-nine and scoring twelve goals. During his time at Genk, Engelaar remained linked with a move back to Netherlands, with his former club Feyernood. However, in the 2005-06 season, Engelaar sustained a knee injury that kept him out for weeks after going under a knife operation. Under the management of Hugo Broos, he find himself out of the first team and fell out.

Twente

After two season in Belgium, Engelaar joined Twente on 31 August 2006.

He made his debut for the club, where he came on as a substitute for Wout Brama at the start of the second half, in a 2-2 draw against Roda JC. He scored his first goal for the club, in a 4-3 win over RKC Waalwijk on 30 September 2006. In his first season, Engelaar would make thirty appearance and scored three more times against Excelsior on 21 October 2006, Ajax on 19 November 2006 and RKC Waalwijk on 30 January 2007. At the end of the season, Voetbal International announced it's nominees Team of the Year.

In 2007-08 season, Engelaar attracted interests from Eredivisie rivals Ajax, Feyernood and PSV Eindhoven. Despite this, Engelaar was appointed as a new captain of Twente. He scored his first goal of the season, in a 2-2 draw against Utrecht on 26 August 2007. He would later added three more goal against Heracles on 4 November 2007, the second against Sparta Rotterdam on 25 November 2007 and the third against N.E.C. on 11 January 2008. He would make twenty-six appearances and scor four goals in his second season. He missed eight matches, due to a knee problem.

In April 2008, Engelaar announced he is intends to leave the club in the summer despite signing a contract in February.

Schalke 04

Ahead of the UEFA 2008, Engelaar announced he is intends to join Bundesliga side Schalke 04, where he will join under the management of Fred Rutten. Despite interests from Premier League clubs and Steve McClaren desperate desire to keep him, the move was agreed on 3 July 2008 and officially joined Schalke 04 on 15 July 2008.

In a 1-0 win over Rangers in the friendly match, Engelaar performance was left with disappointment by Rutten. After being absent for the first four matches at the start of the season, due to Stretched Ligament He made his debut for the club on 20 September 2008, in a 1-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt. He scored his first goal for the club, in Matchday Two Group Stage on 6 November 2008, in a 1-1 draw against Racing Santander. He would suffered indifferent form and had discipline issue twice: a straight red card, in a 2-0 win over Energie Cottbus on 1 November 2008, which Engelaar dismissal is described as "unnecessary." and another a second bookable offense, in a 1-1 draw against 1899 Hoffenheim on 14 December 2008.

In a 2-0 win over Karlsruher SC on 12 April 2009, Engelaar was jeered by the supporters, who was described as "lame duck of Twente", as he came on as a substitute in the 71st minutes.

At the end of the 2008-09 season, Engelaar was linked with a move to Panathinaikos and Ajax. Since leaving Germany, Engelaar is among named as biggests flops as part of the 50-year history of the Bundesliga.

PSV Eindhoven

After a season at Schalke, Engelaar returned to Netherlands by joining PSV for undisclosed fee on a four-year deal. He cited returning to Netherlands to keep his international status alive, so his desire to play in the World Cup the following year.

He made his debut for the club, in the opening game of the season, in a 3-3 draw against VVV-Venlo. In his first season, Engelaar season was marred with injuries, resulting an operation in the winter break. He scored two goals in twenty-appearance against Utrecht on 3 February 2010 and another against NAC Breda on 6 March 2010.

In 2010-11 season, Engelaar made a great start to his second season when he scored in the opening goal, in a 3-1 win over Heerenveen. A weeks later, on 26 August 2010, he scores against in the return leg of Europa League, as PSV beat Sibir Novosibirsk 5-0. He scored his second European goal, as they beat Debreceni 2-1 on 21 October 2010. On 30 October 2010, Engelaar scored the seventh goal, in a match, as PSV beat his former club Feyernood 10-0, giving Feyenoord the heaviest defeat ever. In the January transfer window, Engelaar was linked with a move to Turkish side Trabzonspor, but no avail. Following the departure of Ibrahim Afellay, Engelaar became Afellay's successor of being the captain for the reminder of the season. In the quarter final of KNVB Cup against Twente, Engelaar was the villain of the game for PSV when he gave a penalty after handball and it was successfully converted to make it 1-1 and missed the penalty in the shootout. At the end of the 2010-11 season, Engelaar made forty-six appearance in all competitions and scoring five times.

At the start of the 2011-12 season, Engelaar was linked with a move to an unnamed foreign club, which turns out to be Middlesbrough. However, the club ended their interests signing him. Following this, Engelaar vowed to stay at the club. Another reason for Engelaar was his high salary, citing the club's financial difficulties. However, Engelaar missed most of the season, due to ankle problem while playing against Hapoel Tel Aviv and having his first team opportunities limited and his captaincy was replaced by Kevin Strootman. It would also revealed Engelaar rejected a vice-captain role. After making his return in training in January, Engelaar was praised by the club director for his commitment to the locker room and described it as "with sporty reluctantly." On 18 March 2012, Engelaar scored his first goal of the season, in a 5-1 win over Heerenveen. In conclusion to the 2011-12 season, Engelaar made twenty appearance in all competitions.

In 2012-13 season, Engelaar made twelve appearance in all competitions and scoring once against ADO Den Haag on 17 November 2012, which is a 6-1 win for PSV. His lack of playing time was explained, as he no longer feel that he is serious risk of playing time. It couldn't get worse for him, as he was involved in the car accident, though he escape unhurt.

After four years at PSV Eindhoven, it announced that Engelaar will not have his contract renewed when it will expired at the end of the 2012-13 season.

Melbourne Heart

On 9 August 2013, Engelaar joined A-League club Melbourne Heart from Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. On his preseason debut for the Heart, Engelaar suffered a fractured leg, which ruled him out for the first 14 rounds of the 2013-14 season. After coming back from injury, Engelaar made a strong impact, helping the Heart win its first game of the season and going on a 5-game unbeaten run.

On 23 March 2014, he scored a goal from inside his own half against the Central Coast Mariners. He was later named as A-League Team of the Week on 24 March 2014. He was also awarded as 2013-14 Goal of the Year and 2013-14 Team of the Year.

At the end of the 2013-14 season, Engelaar was among four players to leave for next season. After leaving the club, Engelaar was considering retirement from football.

Return to Twente

On 2 October 2014, Engelaar signed a one-year contract with Twente in his second spell, having spend weeks on trial.

Engelaar made his Twente debut, coming on as a substitute for Kamohelo Mokotjo in the 88th minutes, in a 1-1 draw against Ajax on 18 October 2014. However, Engelaar's perfect start at Twente did not came as planned because of his calf injury. Following his return, Engelaar scored his first Twente goal on 18 January 2015, in a 3-1 loss against Feyenoord. Engelaar then suffered a calf-injury while warming up ahead of the match against PEC Zwolle and was out for two months. Engelaar made his return to the first team, in the last game of the season against Heerenveen, which he scored, as Twente won 3-1.

In the wake of the club's financial trouble, Engelaar was among seven players to be released. Following his release, Engelaar said he's going to discuss his future in the summer.

Retirement

On 13 September 2015, during a radio interview on NPO 1 Engelaar announced that he had retired from professional football. Engelaar decided to start a new career as an entrepreneur in the company SeiSei in which he is one of the two partners. The company is specialised in talent management and its mission is to help talent (within the sports and entertainment) realise their dreams. SeiSei has a roster with several signings. Orlando will not disappear from football at all, since one of the company's subsidiary companies SeiSei Football Mgmt will focus on football management.

Euro 2008

Orlando Engelaar made his international debut for the Netherlands in a friendly against South Korea on 2 June 2007, and was picked by coach Marco van Basten for the Dutch UEFA Euro 2008 squad. He played the full match in the Netherlands' 3–0 victory over Italy in their Group C match. Engelaar also featured in the Netherlands' second group match of the tournament, playing the first half in a 4–1 win over France. He played the full 90 minutes in the third group stage match against Romania, which resulted in a 2–0 victory for the Dutch side. In the lost quarter-final match against Russia (1–3), Engelaar was part of the starting XI. He was substituted for Ibrahim Afellay in the 61st minute.

2010 World Cup

Engelaar was included in the preliminary squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. However, on 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk announced that he would not be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the competition.

Club