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Arjen Robben
Personal information
Full name	Arjen Robben
Date of birth	January 23, 1984 (1984-01-23) (age 24)
Place of birth	Bedum, Netherlands
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current club	Real Madrid
Number	11
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000-2002 2002-2004 2004-2007 2007-	FC Groningen PSV Chelsea Real Madrid	46 00(8) 56 0(17) 67 0(15) 21 00(4)
National team2
2003-	Netherlands	34 0(10)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:17, 2008-05-18 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 2008-06-13. * Appearances (Goals)

Arjen Robben (born January 23, 1984 in Bedum) is a Dutch footballer who currently plays as a winger for Real Madrid.^[1] He is also a part of the Netherlands national football team and has appeared in the UEFA Euro 2004, the 2006 FIFA World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2008.

Robben was named F.C. Groningen's team player of the year during the Eredivisie 2000-01 season and the Netherlands' Young Player of the Year during his time at PSV Eindhoven.^[2] He was also the FA Premier League Player of the Month during the month of November 2005 at Chelsea F.C.^[3][4]

Early football life

Born in the town of Bedum in the province of Groningen, the Netherlands, Robben took to football from an early age. He began playing with local club VV Bedum. Robben became an adherent of the Coerver Method, created and popularised by Dutch football coach Wiel Coerver.^[5] Robben's skill in ball control and technical footwork made him a valuable player, and he was quickly signed by local club F.C. Groningen.^[6]

Club career

F.C. Groningen

F.C. Groningen placed Robben in their C-class youth team for the 1999/2000 season. He scored 50 goals in their competitions. Manager Jan Van Dijk added the winger to the first team before Groningen's November 2000 away game against F.C. Twente, but he did not play until December 3, 2000 against RKC Waalwijk, as a substitute for the injured Leonardo dos Santos in the 79th minute. Over the winter, Robben managed to play himself into the starting lineup. In 18 starts for Groningen over the 2000-01 season, he scored 2 goals.^[7] Robben was named player of the year for his first season with the club, and with teammate Jordi Hoogstrate, he demonstrated the strength of the Groningen youth academy. Robben stayed with Groningen and improved steadily during the 2001-02 season, playing in 28 matches and scoring 6 goals.^[7] Robben transferred to PSV Eindhoven for €3.9 million before the 2002-03 season.^[2]

PSV Eindhoven

During his first season for PSV Eindhoven, the 2002-03 season, Robben played 33 matches and scored 12 goals.^[7] He was named "PSV co-player of the year" along with striker Mateja Kežman, with whom he formed an attacking partnership still fondly referred to by PSV fans as "Batman And Robben", as Kezman was nicknamed 'Batman'. He helped lead PSV to their 17th Dutch title, and won the Talented Player of the Year award.^[8]

After this good start, PSV could not keep up with rival Ajax Amsterdam and were forced into a fight for second place in the Eredivisie. Robben travelled to London and met with Manchester United coach Alex Ferguson. Ferguson's offer came in much too low for PSV's and/or Robben's liking; Eindhoven chairman Harry van Raaij told Manchester United the most that their €7 million offer would buy them was a shirt with Robben's autograph. Almost immediately, Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich offered € 18 million (£ 12.1 million), and PSV accepted.^[9] The rest of his season with PSV was disappointing. He injured his hamstring twice and missed several games.^[10][11] By the end of the season, Robben scored five times in 23 Eredivisie matches.^[7]

Chelsea

Robben celebrates winning the 2004-05 Premiership.

Robben did not make his competitive debut for Chelsea F.C. until November 2004, as he was injured in a pre-season friendly match against A.S. Roma, breaking a metatarsal bone in his right foot in a challenge from Olivier Dacourt.^[3] Robben missed many games due to injury in 2004-05, managing to play in only 18 games, the fewest of his professional career since his debut in 2000-01 with F.C. Groningen.

On his return from injury, he received the "Barclays Man of the Match" award for his outstanding display at home to Everton and scored goals in consecutive games against CSKA Moscow, Everton, Newcastle and Fulham. The 2004-05 season had some highlights for Robben; in November 2004, he was awarded the "Player of the Month" award for the English Premier League.^[3][4] Robben ended the 2004-05 season with seven goals, his second highest professional total. He was shortlisted for the PFA Young Player of the Year, but was beaten by Wayne Rooney of Manchester United.^[12][13] His early Chelsea career was punctuated by dazzling displays as one of few "out and out" wingers in the English game. His instant development of a quick and fluid front three with Ivorian centre-forward Didier Drogba and Irish winger Damien Duff was perhaps the most prevalent consequence of Robben's arrival. However, Robben was badly injured in a league game away to Blackburn Rovers and forced to sit out Chelsea's title run-in and progress to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.^[14]

Back to fitness for 2005-06, Robben was an integral part of the Chelsea left wing. In 28 matches, Robben contributed 6 goals as Chelsea won a second consecutive FA Premier League championship, the first back-to-back titles for the west London club.^[7]

The 2005-06 season also saw Robben receive the first two red cards of his career in the two matches against Sunderland and West Brom. He was also involved in an unsavoury incident with Liverpool goalkeeper Jose Reina. Towards the end of a league game between Chelsea and Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, which Chelsea won 2-0, Reina raised his hand to Robben's face after some provocative words from Robben, directly following an earlier incident in which Reina committed a foul on Eidur Gudjohnsen. Robben fell theatrically to the turf, and Reina received a red card for "violent behaviour". As a result of the incident, Robben was branded a play-actor by various sections of the media, and Reina commented that Robben "did well enough to win an Oscar" for his theatrics. Reina's red card was not rescinded, however.^[15]

After the Fifa World Cup 2006, Robben returned to a new look Chelsea squad. With the arrivals of Andriy Shevchenko, Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole, Chelsea manager José Mourinho had largely shelved the 4-3-3 formation with two wingers that he had used over the past two seasons and instead began using a 4-1-3-2 formation, with midfielders Frank Lampard and Michael Essien on the flanks instead of specialist wingers like Robben. This saw the winger struggle to get a position in Chelsea starting lineup at the beginning of the season.

In November 2006, Mourinho started to give Robben more playing opportunities, either as a withdrawn forward, playing off a lone target man, or as a winger, when reverting to the tried and tested 4-3-3. After the absence of Joe Cole due to knee injury,^[16] Robben was then recognised as an important player for Chelsea with his ability to bring the ball down the flanks at speed essential in a team not especially endowed with great dribblers. He was named man of the Match on December 23, 2006 against Wigan, a match where he got two assists and the winning goal in.^[17] He was then sidelined for a few weeks due to a slight thigh strain.

Robben on the road with Chelsea for the Champions League

In January 2007, Robben returned yet again against Wigan and with an assist and a goal to his credit Robben was again named Man of the Match. Robben was inflicted with yet another injury in a match against Liverpool F.C. dated January 20, 2007.^[18] Robben made his return in a 3-0 victory against Middlesbrough F.C. in February driving in a shot that took a deflection past Mark Schwarzer for an own goal by Abel Xavier. Robben also came on as a substitute against FC Porto making his presence felt immediately after sending in a cross that led to an equaliser scored by Andriy Shevchenko. Robben came on in the 2nd half of the Carling Cup final and provided the cross for Didier Drogba to head in the winner and he also scored a crucial goal in the 2nd leg of the 2006-07 UEFA Champions League against Porto, which led to Chelsea winning the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

At the end of March 2007, Robben underwent a knee operation after sustaining a knee injury upon returning from international duty that was expected to rule him out for at least four weeks.^[19] Robben made his return in a 2006-07 UEFA Champions League semi final encounter against Liverpool. Robben played a brief role in the FA Cup final against Manchester United on May 19, which Chelsea won. After the final, Robben cleared up speculation on his future at the club in an interview: "I've always said I want to stay. I will be here next season, that's for sure". Then, on August 4, Spanish media reported that Real Madrid was close to signing Robben and/or his Chelsea teammate Michael Ballack. Madrid coach Bernd Schuster told Spanish radio, "Hopefully, we'll be able to announce the signing of one or two big players soon." Schuster is said to have demanded Ballack, while Madrid's president, Ramon Calderon, is known to favor Robben.^[20] Robben has said to reporters of Spanish newspaper AS: "I do not know when a deal will be reached. I would like to send a message to the Madrid fans, but I can't until my future is sorted."^[21][22]

Real Madrid eventually secured Robben's services after dishing out a huge transfer fee. Despite rumors that he really wanted to leave Chelsea, he broke his silence and acknowledged it was hard to leave Chelsea.

He told Chelsea's official club website: "It was difficult to leave because I had a great time in my three years at Chelsea and I made a lot of friends. There was no time to say goodbye because the deal was closed on the Wednesday at 10 o'clock in the evening and the following morning I had to fly. If I have one day off I would want to come back and say goodbye because to the fans I owe a big thank you because they were always good to me. In my three years I won all the prizes there are to win in England."^[23]

Real Madrid

Robben completed his move to Real Madrid on a five-year deal on 22 August 2007,^[24] with the transfer fee reported as €36,55 million, £24 million,.^[25] He became the fifth most expensive signing in Real Madrid's history, after Zinedine Zidane, Luís Figo, David Beckham and Ronaldo.^[26] He made his debut on September 18th, in the first Champions League game of the season against Werder Bremen.

On October 17th, while playing with the Dutch national team, Robben pulled a muscle in his thigh and was out for around six weeks. He made his El Clasico debut on 23 December, 2007, where he came on a substitute for Robinho in the 85th minute. He had an impressive run, overcoming both Gianluca Zambrotta and Rafael Marquez down the left wing.^[27] He scored his first competitive goal for Real Madrid on January 2, 2008, playing against Alicante CF. He opened the scoring, and later won the match 2-1 with Real Madrid. He scored his first La Liga goal on 10 February, 2008 against Valladolid. He was positioned on both the right and left wing, Real Madrid went on to win the game 7-0. Since then he has cemented his place in the Real Madrid starting team. Against CA Osasuna Madrid were losing 1-0 but then a Higuain free-kick was headed brilliantly by Robben into the net in the 84th minute. Real Madrid eventually won the game 2-1 to win their 31st Spanish League title in the club's history. This is the fourth league title Arjen Robben has won at the age of 24 and he has won the league every time for the first season of each club he has played for except his first major club Gronigen. He then also went on to score another header against Barcelona on the 21st minute, taking the score up to 2-0, after a first goal from Raul.

International career

Robben (left) with Wesley Sneijder training for the Netherlands.

Robben has played in 34 games for the Netherlands, scoring 10 goals. The first international experience of Robben's career came in Euro 2004, as the Netherlands failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. During Euro 2004 Dutch coach Dick Advocaat substituted Robben in the 66th minute to defend a 2-1 lead over the Czech Republic. However, the Czech team then scored two goals and won 3-2, which led to criticism about Advocaat's decision.^[28] In the same tournament, it was Robben who scored the deciding penalty in the shootout between the Netherlands and Sweden, which ensured that at the fifth attempt, the Dutch finally won a penalty shootout.^[29]

Robben played in his first World Cup Qualifiers in 2006. In six games for the Netherlands, Robben scored two goals.^[30] The Netherlands qualified for the World Cup in 2006 and in the Netherlands opening match against Serbia and Montenegro, Robben scored the winning goal in the 18th minute, and was named the Man of the Match. In the match against Côte d'Ivoire, Robben received this award the second time, thus becoming one of the eight players in the tournament to have won the Man of the Match Award more than once.^[31]

In the Euro 2008 group match against France, which the Netherlands won 4-1, Robben was brought on at half-time. He dragged the ball out of reach of a defender near the half-way line and paced his way ahead of three defenders, then crossed straight to van Persie who powered a shot into the goal past Grégory Coupet, who did well enough to get a hand onto it. At 2-0, Thierry Henry scored a goal, making it 2-1, and almost directly after the restart, Robben was played through by Sneijder and he ran at the France goal and was forced into an acute angle, but despite the angle, he shot the ball into the net past Coupet.

Personal life

Arjen Robben married Bernadien Eillert on 9 June 2007 in Groningen,^[32] whom he met at high school in Groningen at the Kamerlingh Onnes.^[33] His father, Hans, acts as his agent. He and his wife have a son called Luka.

Awards and honours

Robben and teammate Petr Čech celebrate their second Premiership title.

Trophies

PSV Eindhoven

• Eredivisie: 1
  

2002–03

• Johan Cruijff-schaal: 1
  

2003–04

Chelsea

• English Premier League: 2
  

2004–05, 2005–06

• Football League Cup: 2
  

2005, 2007

• FA Community Shield: 1
  

2005

• FA Cup: 1
  

2007

Real Madrid

• La Liga: 1
  

2007–08

Personal honours

• U-21 European Footballer of the Year (2005)
• Netherlands' Young Player of the Year(2003)

Career statistics

(Correct as of 2008-06-13)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Arjen Robben

• Arjen Robben FIFA competition record
• Real Madrid profile
• Arjen Robben career stats at Soccerbase
• Goal.com profile
• ABCGoal.com - Arjen Robben
• (Dutch) Wereld van oranje.nl Profile

v • d • e Netherlands squad - UEFA Euro 2004 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 F. de Boer • 16 Overmars • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 Heitinga • 19 Robben • 20 Seedorf • 21 Bosvelt • 22 Zenden • 23 Waterreus • Coach: Advocaat

v • d • e Netherlands squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 van der Sar • 2 Jaliens • 3 Boulahrouz • 4 Mathijsen • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Landzaat • 7 Kuyt • 8 Cocu • 9 van Nistelrooy • 10 van der Vaart • 11 Robben • 12 Kromkamp • 13 Ooijer • 14 Heitinga • 15 de Cler • 16 Maduro • 17 van Persie • 18 van Bommel • 19 Vennegoor of Hesselink • 20 Sneijder • 21 Babel • 22 Timmer • 23 Stekelenburg • Coach: van Basten

v • d • e Netherlands squad - UEFA Euro 2008 1 van der Sar • 2 Ooijer • 3 Heitinga • 4 Mathijsen • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 De Zeeuw • 7 van Persie • 8 Engelaar • 9 van Nistelrooy • 10 Sneijder • 11 Robben • 12 Melchiot • 13 Timmer • 14 Bouma • 15 De Cler • 16 Stekelenburg • 17 De Jong • 18 Kuyt • 19 Huntelaar • 20 Afellay • 21 Boulahrouz • 22 Vennegoor of Hesselink • 23 van der Vaart • Coach: van Basten

Awards
Preceded by Robin van Persie	Dutch Football Talent of the Year 2002 – 2003	Succeeded by John Heitinga
Preceded by John Heitinga	Dutch Football Talent of the Year 2003	Succeeded by Wesley Sneijder