Barry van Galen

Bart "Barry" van Galen (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈbɑrt ˈbɑri vɐn ˈɣaːlə(n)]; born 4 April 1970 in Haarlem) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He was a left-footed midfielder who could also play as a left sided winger. He was well known for his playmaking ability.

Barry van Galen
Van Galen playing for AZ
Personal information
Full name Bart van Galen
Date of birth (1970-04-04) 4 April 1970
Place of birth Haarlem, Netherlands
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
DSC '74
RCH
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1993 Haarlem 57 (26)
1993–1996 Roda JC 77 (17)
1996–1997 NAC 28 (3)
1997–2006 AZ 246 (54)
Total 408 (100)
National team
2004 Netherlands 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He made his debut in Dutch professional football on 17 August 1991 (Haarlem - Telstar 2–1), and made his international debut for the Netherlands national team on 17 November 2004 against Andorra. At age 34, he was the oldest debutant ever for "Oranje".

Van Galen is known in the Netherlands as "de geniale gek" which can be translated in English to "the brilliant madman". He was a stylish and effective attacker, but also notoriously erratic, sometimes behaving violently on the pitch. He had long held the Eredivisie record for yellow cards although this was recently broken. However, he was an invaluable player for AZ and undoubtedly an AZ legend. He ended his playing career in 2006, and was a scout for AZ until 2019.

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