Wilfred Bouma

Early career

Born in Helmond, North Brabant, Bouma started his career at amateur club SV Rood-Wit '62 before joining PSV on a youth contract in 1994. The PSV head coach at the time, Aad de Mos handed him his professional debut against Willem II on 26 October 1994 which his team lost 2–1. After not featuring for a long time, he was loaned out to MVV in 1996 and played in the Eerste Divisie where he scored seven goals in 18 games. The following season, he scored sixteen goals in 33 games after helping his team back into the Eredivisie. After impressing at Fortuna Sittard in 1998–99, he was drafted back into the PSV squad the following season.

PSV

At PSV, he played as a left winger and as forward because of his quick pace and direct passing, teaming up with Arnold Bruggink and at times, with Ruud van Nistelrooy. When Arthur Numan departed to Rangers at the end of the 1999–00 season, Bouma was moved to left-back where he had to compete with Danish international Jan Heintze. With the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifiers entering its crucial stages, Bouma was handed his international debut for the Netherlands national team against the Republic of Ireland on 2 September 2000. In the Euro 2004 tournament in Portugal, he was chosen by Dick Advocaat to play as a central defender and he has also retained that spot while playing for PSV under Guus Hiddink in the 2004–05 season.

Aston Villa

Just before the close of the international transfer window, Bouma signed…

Bouma was a member of the Dutch squad at the 1995 FIFA World Youth Championship. Wilfred Bouma played for the Netherlands 37 times, scoring twice. Bouma made his debut on 2 September 2000, in the 2–2 draw with the Republic of Ireland. Several steady appearances followed in the coming years, including four appearances at UEFA Euro 2004, whilst playing as a centre-back. Bouma was also included in the Dutch squad for UEFA Euro 2008, and he made two appearances, coming on as a 78th-minute substitute against France and playing the full 90 minutes against Romania. After a four year absence, Bouma was recalled to the national team shortly before UEFA Euro 2012 and would make the final squad although did not play in the tournament. His final appearance was against Slovakia in a friendly prior to the tournament. Bouma's only two goals at international level came within four months of each other, as the defender netted in the 3–2 defeat to Czech Republic in the group stage of Euro 2004. He then went on to net the opener against Macedonia in October of the same year, in a match which ended 2–2.

Bouma did an internship in 2015 as a youth coach at PSV. Since 2019, he has been an assistant coach at Jong PSV, under head coach Peter Uneken.

Bouma was born in the Netherlands and is of Surinamese and Indonesian descent. He lives in Eindhoven.