Ronald de Boer

Ronaldus "Ronald" de Boer (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈroːnɑld də ˈbuːr];[1] born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as midfielder. He played for the Netherlands national team as well as a host of professional clubs in Europe. He is the twin brother of Frank de Boer. The majority of his success as a football player was with Ajax. He works as the Ajax A1 assistant manager.

For other uses, see De Boer.
In this Dutch name, the surname is De Boer.

Ronald de Boer
De Boer in 2012
Personal information
Full name Ronaldus de Boer
Date of birth (1970-05-15) 15 May 1970
Place of birth Hoorn, Netherlands
Height 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder, forward
Youth career
VV De Zouaven
1983–1988 Ajax
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1991 Ajax 52 (14)
1991–1993 Twente 49 (22)
1993–1999 Ajax 172 (36)
1999–2000 Barcelona 33 (1)
2000–2004 Rangers 91 (32)
2004–2005 Al-Rayyan 22 (3)
2005–2008 Al-Shamal 56 (8)
Total 475 (116)
National team
1993–2003 Netherlands 67 (13)
Teams managed
2010–2011 Qatar Olympic (assistant)
2010–2011 Qatar U–23 (assistant)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Club

De Boer's first youth club was De Zouaven in Lutjebroek where he played before being selected for the Ajax youth programme in 1983. On the professional club level, De Boer played for Ajax (1988–91 and 1993–99), Twente (1991–93), Barcelona (1999–2000), Rangers (2000–04), Al-Rayyan (2004–05) and Al-Shamal (2005–08). In both Qatari clubs, he was reunited again with his brother Frank, his teammate at Ajax, Barcelona and Rangers.

In his first spell at Ajax from 1988 to 1991, he won the Eredivisie title in 1989–90 under manager Leo Beenhakker. After two seasons at Twente from 1991 to 1993, he returned to Ajax under manager Louis van Gaal, and had his most successful spell as a player, winning three consecutive Eredivisie titles in 1993–94, 1994–95 and 1995–96. He also won the 1995 UEFA Champions League, the 1995 Intercontinental Cup, and the 1995 UEFA Super Cup. He was also a runner-up of the 1996 UEFA Champions League, where Ajax lost on penalties to Juventus. When Louis van Gaal left Ajax for Barcelona in July 1997, Morten Olsen became the new Ajax manager, and De Boer won a fifth Eredivisie title in 1997–98 and also won the 1997–98 KNVB Cup.

There was then controversy soon after De Boer and his twin brother Frank signed a six-year contract extension with Ajax at the start 1998–99 season, when Ronald and Frank took successful legal action to have the contract voided. Ajax had agreed verbally that if a lucrative offer for one brother came by, he would be released provided the other stayed. Ajax, however, apparently backed down on that agreement after floating the club on the stock market and pledging to shareholders that it would hold both of the De Boers and build around them a team to recapture the UEFA Champions League.[2]

The fallout over the contract situation led to an increasing conflict between the De Boer twins and the Ajax hierarchy, with match results for Ajax suffering and manager Morten Olsen soon getting sacked. In January 1999, Frank and Ronald signed for Barcelona for £22 million, joining their former Ajax manager Louis van Gaal at the Camp Nou.[3]

While De Boer was impressive at Ajax during the 1990s and for the Netherlands up to and including the 1998 FIFA World Cup, his high-profile transfer to Barcelona in January 1999 marked what would be an unlikely bad patch for a prolific goal-scoring midfielder, as he managed to feature in only 33 La Liga games for the club and scored just one goal in La Liga. In the 2000–01 season, he opted to join the Dutch legion at Rangers under the manager Dick Advocaat.[4] Among the Dutch internationals who at that time played for Rangers were Bert Konterman, Arthur Numan, Fernando Ricksen and Giovanni van Bronckhorst. De Boer made his debut in a Scottish League Cup tie against Aberdeen on 6 September 2000,[5] and scored his first goal for the club in a UEFA Champions League tie against Sturm Graz.[6] De Boer didn't win any silverware at the end of his first season at the club, but the following season (2001–02) Rangers won both the Scottish League Cup and the Scottish Cup,[7] though De Boer missed the former final through injury.[8] The following season, 2002–03, brought even more success as De Boer helped Rangers win a domestic treble of league, Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup.[9][10][11] In total he spent four seasons with the club before joining Al-Rayyan after the 2003–04 season.[12]

De Boer recovered from surgery on a neck injury and decided not to play in Al-Shamal's last two games of the 2006–07 season. On 19 March 2008, De Boer canceled his contract with Qatari outfit Al-Shamal and retired.

International career
Ronald de Boer in Netherlands colours

De Boer won 67 caps and scored 13 goals for the Netherlands national team. He played for the Netherlands in the 1994 and the 1998 World Cups, where he played in six matches and scored two goals. He missed a penalty in the penalty shootout against Brazil in the 1998 semi-finals. De Boer also played in Euro 1996 and Euro 2000.

In the Dutch national team, De Boer was used in various positions, including right-half, centre forward and attacking midfielder. In his early Ajax years, De Boer played either centre forward or attacking midfielder. In later years, he shifted to right midfield.

De Boer was never officially captain of the Dutch national team or Ajax, but he has worn the captain's armband on several occasions for both club teams and the national team when the first-choice captain was not playing. In most teams, this was his brother Frank, with whom he has played side by side for most of his career.

Managerial career

De Boer is Ajax A1 assistant manager.

Career statistics

Club
Source:[13]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Ajax 1987–88 Eredivisie 1100–11
1988–89 Eredivisie 17510–185
1989–90 Eredivisie 20730–20257
1990–91 Eredivisie 14130–171
Total 5214700020006114
Twente 1991–92 Eredivisie 331110–3411
1992–93 Eredivisie 161120–1811
Total 4922300000005222
Ajax 1992–93 Eredivisie 15530–185
1993–94 Eredivisie 28542–6210399
1994–95 Eredivisie 25534–102103911
1995–96 Eredivisie 31721–11110459
1996–97 Eredivisie 28510–10110406
1997–98 Eredivisie 3075080–437
1998–99 Eredivisie 15210–60222
Total 17236197005164024649
Barcelona 1998–99 La Liga 13041–171
1999–2000 La Liga 20150–11011372
Total 331910011011543
Rangers 2000–01 Scottish Premier League 176101071–247
2001–02 Scottish Premier League 258403072–3910
2002–03 Scottish Premier League 3316513122–4320
2003–04 Scottish Premier League 162211020–213
Total 9132122811850012940
Al-Rayyan 2004–05 Qatar Stars League 223000000–223
Al-Shamal 2005–06 Qatar Stars League 175000000–223
2006–07 Qatar Stars League 243000000–223
2007–08 Qatar Stars League 150000000–223
Total 56800000000568
Career total 475116501081821151620139

International
Source:[14]
Netherlands national team
YearAppsGoals
199343
1994113
199570
1996103
199740
1998133
199970
200071
200110
200220
200310
Total6713

Honours

Club

Ajax

Barcelona

Rangers

AL Rayyan

Individual

Media

De Boer featured in EA Sports' FIFA video game series; he was on the cover for the International edition of FIFA 96, alongside Jason McAteer.[17]

References
  1. Ronald in isolation: [ˈroːnɑlt].
  2. The De Boers tackle contract law New York Times, 29 July 1998.
  3. "Ultiem akkoord Ajax en Barcelona". Trouw (in Dutch). 16 January 1999. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  4. "Rangers swoop for De Boer and Hartson". BBC. 30 August 2000. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  5. "Rangers through after Dons scare". BBC. 6 September 2000. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  6. "Five-star show storms Graz". BBC. 16 September 2000. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  7. "Rangers win Old Firm final". BBC. 4 May 2002. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  8. "Rangers cannot afford to rest on their laurels". ESPN. 18 March 2002. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  9. "Rangers retain CIS Cup". BBC. 16 March 2003. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  10. "Rangers win to clinch title". BBC. 25 May 2003. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  11. "Rangers complete Treble". BBC. 31 May 2003. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  12. "De Boer to leave Rangers". BBC. 11 May 2004. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  13. "Ronald de Boer". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  14. "Ronald de Boer - International Appearances".
  15. José Luis, Pierrend (26 March 2005). "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 1996". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  16. José Luis, Pierrend (26 March 2005). "European Footballer of the Year ("Ballon d'Or") 1998". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 October 2016.
  17. "International FIFA 13 Covers". www.fifauteam.com. 24 August 2012. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
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