Gerald Vanenburg

Ajax

Born in Utrecht of Surinamese descent, 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.

PSV

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. 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. Having rejected a lucrative move to AS Roma, Vanenburg played and scored regularly for PSV in the following five seasons, winning a further three leagues…

Vanenburg made his debut for the Netherlands on 14 April 1982 at only 18, playing the full 90 minutes of a 1–0 friendly win with Greece, in Eindhoven. Vanenburg was a member of the Dutch squad at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship. He was selected for the UEFA Euro 1988 tournament in West Germany, appearing in all the games as the Oranje won the competition. Vanenburg was also picked by manager Leo Beenhakker for his 1990 FIFA World Cup squad, but his contribution consisted of 45 minutes against Egypt (1–1 group stage draw), in an eventual round-of-16 exit in Italy. His last international appearance came as a substitute in a 2–2 draw to Poland on 14 October 1992, in Rotterdam in a 1994 World Cup qualification match.

Club

International

Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vanenburg goal.

Vanenburg is the nephew of former Surinamese international player and manager Roy Vanenburg. The latter was considered one of the greatest footballers in the country's history, having won the SVB Hoofdklasse title six times and the CONCACAF Champions Cup twice with S.V. Transvaal.