Edwin van der Sar
Goalkeeper · Manchester United · Netherlands
About Edwin van der Sar
Edwin van der Sar was a tall, composed Dutch goalkeeper whose career ran through Ajax, Juventus, Fulham and Manchester United, and who later returned to Ajax as chief executive. He kept playing at the top level until he was 40.
Edwin van der Sar's story
Voorhout to Ajax
Born in Voorhout on 29 October 1970, he started at his hometown club Foreholte, then spent five years at Noordwijk. Ajax signed him in 1990 after Louis van Gaal noticed him, and a goalkeeper who would play more than 800 senior games began as a teenage prospect on the fringes of Amsterdam's great side.
Van Gaal's First Choice
In 1992-93, Van Gaal dropped Stanley Menzo for him after Menzo's costly error against Auxerre, and he never really gave the shirt back. Four Eredivisie titles followed, plus the 1995 Champions League and the Intercontinental Cup that year. He was Dutch Goalkeeper of the Year four years running from 1994, and made his Netherlands debut in 1995.
Turin, then Craven Cottage
He left Ajax for Juventus in 1999 and made 88 appearances in two years in Italy. Fulham paid around £2m for him in 2001, and he became a cornerstone of their Premier League years, making 154 appearances and winning the club's Player of the Year award in 2004.
Old Trafford at 34
Manchester United signed him in 2005, aged 34, and he won four Premier League titles, two League Cups and the 2008 Club World Cup. In Moscow in May 2008 he saved Nicolas Anelka's penalty in the shoot-out against Chelsea to give United the Champions League. United lost the 2009 and 2011 finals to Barcelona.
The Boardroom Years
After retiring in 2011 he returned to Ajax as marketing director on 19 November 2012, and became chief executive in 2016. He stepped down in May 2023 after a difficult season. On 2 September 2024 the Eredivisie gave him its Oeuvre Award for services to Dutch football, with video tributes from Sir Alex Ferguson and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
A Family's Resilience
In December 2009 his wife Annemarie suffered a brain haemorrhage while he was still playing for Manchester United; he took compassionate leave and she recovered. Fourteen years later, on 7 July 2023, Edwin himself suffered a brain haemorrhage while on holiday in Croatia. He spent a week in intensive care before being transferred to a hospital in the Netherlands. By February 2024 he told De Telegraaf: "My health is doing well. I didn't get much damage from it, I think." He has since returned to public life as a keynote speaker on leadership and resilience.
Did you know?
- 🥇 He was named in the Euro 2008 Team of the Tournament, and had won the Dutch Golden Shoe a decade earlier, in 1998.
- 🧤 He went 1,311 minutes without conceding a league goal in 2008-09, a Premier League record at the time.
- 👨👩👧👦 He married Annemarie van Kesteren at the Beurs van Berlage in Amsterdam on 20 May 2006. They have two children, including a son, Joe.
- 🎂 He was 40 when United won the 2010-11 Premier League, making him the oldest player to win the title.
- 🇳🇱 He won 130 caps for the Netherlands between 1995 and 2008, a national record until Wesley Sneijder passed him in 2017.
- 🧒 Five years after retiring, he turned out for his former youth club VV Noordwijk on 12 March 2016, and saved a penalty in his one appearance.
- 🎖️ He was made an Officer of the Order of Orange-Nassau, a Dutch royal honour, in 2010.
- 💚 Before joining its board in 2022, he was an ambassador for the Johan Cruyff Foundation, which uses sport to help disadvantaged children.
- 🏃 He trained for the New York Marathon for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation and finished in about 4 hours 19 minutes.
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