Marc Overmars

Marc Overmars (born 29 March 1973 in Emst, Gelderland) is a retired Dutch footballer. He is best known as a right-footed left winger, although he is able to use both his feet with equal precision and power. Known for his speed, Overmars' nicknames included "the Roadrunner" or its famous sound "meep-meep".

[edit] Club career

Overmars first joined a small Dutch club called SV Epe, before joining Go Ahead Eagles in 1990 at the age of 17. A year later, Willem II bought him from Go Ahead Eagles for £200,000, and a year later he signed for Ajax.

Overmars became famous with Ajax under Louis van Gaal. He was a member of the Ajax team that won the European Cup in 1995 against Milan. However, in early 1996, he suffered a serious injury, which kept him out of Euro 1996. Having returned to action in the 1996-97 season, Overmars was signed by Arsène Wenger's Arsenal in the summer of 1997 for £5.5 million.^[1]

He scored many vital goals for Arsenal, including one in the 1998 FA Cup Final and another in a 1–0 victory over Manchester United at Old Trafford, which helped Arsenal to secure the Double in his first season there. However, the next two seasons were trophyless, as Arsenal were pipped to the Premier League title by a single point and suffered an FA Cup semi-final replay defeat (both times by Manchester United) in the 1998-99 season, and were on the losing side to Galatasaray of Turkey in the UEFA Cup final a year later, also finishing runners-up to Manchester United in the league for the second season running - this time by an 18-point margin.

In the summer of 2000, he moved to Spain and joined Barcelona, for £25 million (€40.6 million), making Overmars the most expensive Dutch player of all time. It also made him the most expensive player to be sold by a British club and the most expensive to be signed by a Spanish club.

This transfer was the first in the history of football to be announced via the player's personal website. Despite a difficult first season at his new club, Overmars was still an impressive performer, registering eight goals in 31 appearances. He was a regular feature of Barcelona's 2001–02 Champions League campaign as they reached the semi-finals before bowing out to fierce rivals Real Madrid, but failed to inspire Barcelona to any trophy success.

After retiring as a player on doctor's advice through injury on 26 July 2004, Overmars went to his first club, Go Ahead Eagles, as the technical manager of the club.

On 10 August 2008, four years after hanging up his boots, Overmars made a shock announcement that he would come out of retirement to play again for the Go Ahead Eagles for the 2008–09 season.^[2] Not long before the announcement, Overmars played in the testimonial of Jaap Stam, where he played for a combination of former Dutch-internationals under the name 'Team Jaap Stam'. In the game, Overmars outplayed Ajax-defender George Ogararu. His performance led to several invitations from Eagles-coach Andries Ulderink to make a comeback in football. Marc already trained every week with the squad of Go Ahead Eagles, together with Paul Bosvelt.

Overmars eventually decided to come back on the football pitch, under conditions. His right knee that caused him to end his career, still gave Overmars some worries. Therefore, Overmars did not play as many minutes or attend as many training sessions as the rest of the squad. After the end of the 2008–09 season, Overmars announced his retirement again.

[edit] International career

On 24 February 1993, he made his debut in the Dutch national team against Turkey. By the time of the 1994 World Cup, Overmars was a regular in the Dutch national team.

In the 1998 World Cup, he was a regular fixture for Holland where he assisted his nation to a semi-final showdown with Brazil. Overmars was one of the best Dutch players in the tournament but suffered an injury in the 2nd round game against Yugoslavia (now Serbia). This ruled Overmars out of the next match, which was against Argentina. However, Overmars did enter late in the game as a substitute. He made an immediate impact by providing an inch perfect cross that almost led to a goal for the Netherlands. Overmars' injury became even worse after this game and he had to sit out the entire following match against Brazil. The Netherlands lost this match on penalties. Overmars was fit again to play in the Netherlands final match, which was the 3rd/4th play-off game against Croatia, but the Dutch lost 2–1.

In all, Overmars played 86 games for the Dutch national team, scoring 17 goals. Overmars was the youngest player to reach 50 caps with the Dutch national team. His final match was the Netherlands' loss to Portugal in the semifinals of the 2004 European Championships.

[edit] Post-playing career

After his retirement he started working as a director for his first team, Deventer side Go Ahead Eagles. He is friends with Dennis Bergkamp.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Personal life

Overmars is married to Chantal Van Woensel, with whom he has two sons: Frenkie and Nick. He lives in Epe, Netherlands.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Ajax

• Eredivisie: 1993-94, 1994–95, 1995–96
• KNVB Cup: 1992-93
• Johan Cruijff Shield: 1993, 1994
• UEFA Champions League: 1995
• European Super Cup: 1995
• Intercontinental Cup: 1995

[edit] Arsenal

• Premier League: 1997-98
• FA Cup: 1998
• FA Charity Shield: 1998

[edit] International

• FIFA World Cup 1998: Fourth Place
• UEFA Euro 2000: Semi-Finalists

[edit] Career statistics

^[3]

[edit] In popular culture

• Gavin and Stacey: In the final episode of Series One, a couple at the wedding attempts to revitalize their marriage by experimenting with role-playing. In their scenario, the husband pretends to be Marc Overmars.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Marc Overmars – FIFA competition record
• Marc Overmars profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)

Netherlands squads v · d · eNetherlands squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 de Goey • 2 F. de Boer • 3 Rijkaard • 4 Koeman • 5 Witschge • 6 Wouters • 7 Overmars • 8 Jonk • 9 R. de Boer • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Roy • 12 Bosman • 13 van der Sar • 14 van Gobbel • 15 Blind • 16 Numan • 17 Taument • 18 Valckx • 19 van Vossen • 20 Winter • 21 de Wolf • 22 Snelders • Coach: Advocaat v · d · eNetherlands squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Numan • 6 Jonk • 7 R. de Boer • 8 Bergkamp • 9 Kluivert • 10 Seedorf • 11 Cocu • 12 Zenden • 13 Ooijer • 14 Overmars • 15 Bogarde • 16 Davids • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 de Goey • 19 van Bronckhorst • 20 Winter • 21 Hasselbaink • 22 Hesp • Coach: Hiddink v · d · eNetherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2000 semi-finalists 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Zenden • 6 Seedorf • 7 Cocu • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Overmars • 12 van Bronckhorst • 13 Konterman • 14 van Vossen • 15 Bosvelt • 16 R. de Boer • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 de Goey • 19 Numan • 20 Winter • 21 Makaay • 22 Westerveld • Coach: Rijkaard v · d · eNetherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2004 semi-finalists 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 Bouma • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Cocu • 7 van der Meyde • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 van Nistelrooy • 11 van der Vaart • 12 Makaay • 13 Westerveld • 14 Sneijder • 15 de Boer (c) • 16 Overmars • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 Heitinga • 19 Robben • 20 Seedorf • 21 Bosvelt • 22 Zenden • 23 Waterreus • Coach: Advocaat