Gerald Vanenburg

Born in Utrecht of Surinamese descent,[1] Vanenburg finished his football formation with AFC Ajax, and made his Eredivisie debuts exactly one month after his 17th birthday, against ADO Den Haag. He finished his first season with 11 games and three goals, being soon dubbed Vaantje and Geraldinho for his above-average skills.

Vanenburg became an undisputed starter for the Amsterdam side shortly after, providing countless assists for strikers Marco van Basten and Wim Kieft and adding 30 himself in two seasons combined as the club won back-to-back national championships; before leaving in June 1986, he scored in double digits in two more seasons. Himself, van Basten, Kieft were amongst a steady stream of talented youngsters that also included Frank Rijkaard that helped to the conquest of three league titles between 1982 and 1985.[2]

Vanenburg signed for PSV Eindhoven for 1986–87, netting nine goals in 34 matches in his first season, which ended in league conquest. He was part of the team that won the treble the following campaign, with the player appearing in the final of the European Cup and converting his penalty shootout attempt against S.L. Benfica.[3] The backbone of this treble winning team was formed by many of his former teammates at Ajax, including Frank Arnesen, Kieft, Ronald Koeman and Søren Lerby.[2]

Having rejected a lucrative move to A.S. Roma, Vanenburg played and scored regularly for PSV in the following five seasons, winning a further three leagues and two Dutch Cups. He appeared in nearly 500 official games between the two clubs, scoring almost 150 goals. He was also one of five European players to ever achieve the feat of winning four competitions – three with their club and one with the national team – in the same year, the others being teammates Berry van Aerle, Hans van Breukelen, Kieft and Koeman.

Aged 29, Vanenburg had his first abroad experience, helping Júbilo Iwata promote to the J1 League in his first year then playing a further two seasons with them. He finished the 1996–97 campaign back in his country, still being relatively played as hometown's FC Utrecht ranked in 12th position.

Until his retirement in 2000 at the age of 36, Vanenburg played three more years of top flight football, with AS Cannes (France) and TSV 1860 Munich (Germany), where he began appearing regularly as a sweeper.

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1984–85[10]
• KNVB Cup: 1982–83, 1985–86[11]

PSV

• European Cup: 1987–88[12]
• Eredivisie: 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1991–92[10]
• KNVB Cup: 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90[11]
• Johan Cruijff Shield: 1992[10]

• UEFA European Championship: 1988

• Dutch Golden Boot: 1988, 1989[11]