Van der Sar farewell in a Grand Style

Edwin van der Sar was born on the 29th of October 1970 and he is a former Dutch international who played as a goalkeeper for AFC Ajax, Juventus, Fulham and Manchester United. He is the most capped player in the Netherlands national football team's history. He currently works as an analysist and has stated an interest in coaching in the near future.

He started his senior career at Ajax and is considered to be a member of a golden generation of players at the club. He remained there for nine years before moving to Italian club Juventus and then to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United. He is one of the few footballers to have won the UEFA Champions League with two different teams – with Ajax in 1995 and Manchester United in 2008; in the latter, he was also named UEFA Man of the Match. Van der Sar also won the UEFA Cup with Ajax in 1992.

It was finally time to say bye as bid farewell to his adoring public on Wednesday 3rd of August 2011, in the company of several star internationals in front of 53,000 Ajax fans. "I want to thank everyone in the stadium. Thanks for your support through the years," Van der Sar told the crowd at the Ajax Arena where he started his career in 1990. The towering keeper selected a "Dream Team" notably made up of Wayne Rooney, John Heitinga, Louis Saha, Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Nemanja Vidić, André Ooijer, Dirk Kuijt, Gary Neville, Michael Carrick, Edgar Davids, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Boudewijn Zenden and Dennis Bergkamp with Sir Alex Ferguson as manager,who played for an hour against Dutch giants Ajax led by Frank de Boer.

Alessandro Del Piero who could not be there unavoidably made a remark to his former team-mate van der Sar: “Edwin, I wish you all the best for your new career!”.

Prior to this match two shorter matches took place. One featuring a match between the AFC Ajax and Manchester United youth team and another one featuring Ajax's 1995 squad vs. the Netherlands National Football Team 1998 squad. The Ajax squad featured among othersFinidi George, Nwankwo Kanu, Frank de Boer, Winston Bogarde, Nordin Wooter, Ronald de Boer, Danny Blind, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars and Frank Rijkaard with it being managed by Louis van Gaal. The Netherlands squad featured among others Wim Jonk, Dennis Bergkamp, Roy Makaay, Ruud Hesp, Aron Winter, Richard Witschge and Pierre van Hooijdonk with it being managed by Guus Hiddink.

Want a memorable moment it was as the European champions of 1995 startled about 2 million home viewers who gathered to watch from their TV sets across Europe.

This is wishing Van "Tall goal keeper" der Sar happiness in his new found career.

Oluwaseun

J&mei reporter