André Ooijer

Football player infobox
playername = André Ooijer


fullname = André Antonius Maria Ooijer
height = height|ft=6|in=1
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1974|7|11
cityofbirth = Amsterdam
countryofbirth = Netherlands
currentclub = Blackburn Rovers
clubnumber = 2
position = Central Defender
youthyears = 1979–19??
19??–1986
1986–1994
youthclubs = SDW
SDZ
Ajax Amsterdam
years = 1994–1995
1995–1997
1997–2006
2006–
clubs = FC Volendam
Roda JC
PSV
Blackburn Rovers
caps(goals) = 032 0(4)
075 0(9)
192 (19)
052 0(1)
nationalyears = 1998–
nationalteam = Netherlands
nationalcaps(goals) = 041 0(2)
pcupdate = 09:58, 5 October 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 16:51, 22 August 2008 (UTC)

André Antonius Maria Ooijer (pronounced [IPA| ['oːi.jər] in Dutch) (born July 11, 1974 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch international football player who currently plays for Blackburn Rovers.

Club career

Early career

Ooijer was talented even as a child, joining his first amateur football team when he was just five years old and started playing for other amateur clubs SDW and SDZ when he was just 12 years. He signed on at hometown club Ajax Amsterdam during the 1986-87 season and featured for the reserve team.

Sensing that he had little future in a club with so much competition for a first team place such as Ajax, he agreed a loan deal to FC Volendam in the 1994-95 season before signing on for Roda JC in the beginning of the 1995-96 season in a permanent transfer. Throughout his career at this point, he excelled at rightback position although he could also operate at centreback as well as the defensive midfield spot. After impressing at Roda JC, Ooijer joined PSV Eindhoven at the midway of the 1997-98 season.

PSV Eindhoven

It was at PSV that Ooijer was chosen to represent the 'Oranje' for the World Cup 1998 in France although he did not start a single match and was supposed to be a cover for Michael Reiziger who played at the right side of defence.

Ooijer won the Eredivisie title with PSV five times and the Dutch Cup once. He was also a regular participant in the Champions League with the club.

On July 15 2005, Ooijer appeared to have ended his eight years association with PSV, and had signed for Genoa 1893, who were keen to defend their Italian Serie A top-flight status after apparently securing promotion in the 2004-05 season, for a fee of €1.5 million. However, following the Italian Football Federation's investigation into a match-fixing allegation levelled against Genoa and the Federation's subsequent guilty verdict (which meant that Genoa would be relegated to Serie C1 as punishment), Ooijer's proposed transfer hit the rocks, and he returned to PSV.

Blackburn Rovers

On August 23 2006 Blackburn Rovers signed Ooijer from PSV for a fee reputed to be in the region of £2 million. The defender signed an initial two year contract, which includes an option for a further one year extension. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/5276102.stm BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Blackburn Rovers | Blackburn snap up defender Ooijer ] ]

On October 4 2006, Ooijer claimed that his move away from PSV was caused by the club having reneged on their proposed 3-year extension for him and that if the club has not done so, he would have continued to play in the Eredivisie. [ [http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=420144&CPID=8&clid=5&lid=25&title=Ooijer+makes+PSV+claim Sky Sports | Football | Premier League | Blackburn Rovers ] ]

Ooijer's debut for Blackburn Rovers was against Chelsea FC on 27 August 2006 at Ewood Park. The player gave away a penalty after fouling John Terry of which the subsequent spot-kick was scored by Frank Lampard. Ooijer was partially to blame for a second goal when he was outpaced by Didier Drogba in the match, which finished 0-2 to Chelsea. After this troubled start, which was soon followed by an own-goal in a game against Manchester City, he has slowly adapted to Premiership football to become a mainstay in the Blackburn defence.

On January 20 2007, in only his 20th league appearance for the club, Ooijer suffered a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments after an unfortunate fall involving Bernardo Corradi during Blackburn's victory over Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium. The injury kept him out of the game for the remainder of his debut season in the Premier League. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/blackburn_rovers/6283409.stm BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Blackburn Rovers | Rovers defender Ooijer breaks leg ] ]

On August 16 2008, on the opening day of the 2008-2009 FA Premier League season, Ooijer scored his second goal for the club in the 94th minute beating Everton 3-2.

The club exercised their right to extend original two-year contract for a further twelve months for 2008-09 season.Fact|date=August 2008

International career

Ooijer was selected as part of the Dutch squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France by Guus Hiddink as cover for Michael Reiziger. He endured a frustrating tournament in that World Cup as he warmed the bench on all occasions and did not feature in any of the Netherlands' games, delaying his international debut.

Frank Rijkaard, who replaced Hiddink as the head coach of the Dutch team in 1999, took notice of Ooijer's progress at club level and during a tour of Brazil of the same year, Rijkaard handed him his first appearance on 5 June, 1999, in a difficult match against Brazil as a substitute for Reiziger who was injured during the game. The match ended in a 2–2 draw and Ooijer made a confident start to the national team. Despite his convincing performances, he was not included in the final squad for the UEFA Euro 2000 tournament on home soil after being dropped at the last minute.

After being overlooked several times for an international team spot by Louis van Gaal who took over from Rijkaard in 2001, he was able to feature for Dick Advocaat in 2003 with a solid performance in the qualification games including a goal against Scotland in the qualification second-leg playoff for UEFA Euro 2004 at the Amsterdam ArenA.

Such was his luck not to be able to feature in a major tournament up to then as he was also dropped by Advocaat in the final squad traveling to Portugal for the Euro 2004 Finals in favour of Reiziger and Johnny Heitinga who can also play in the same position.

Ooijer was finally able to make a start in a major tournament when he was chosen as part of Marco van Basten's Dutch World Cup 2006 squad where he played in all 4 matches for his country and played full 90 minutes per game.

He was called up to the the Netherlands's UEFA Euro 2008 squad in Austria and Switzerland, where he played the first two games before being rested for the last group game (as the Netherlands had already qualified). He then played in the quarter final game against Russia in which Russia won 3–1, ending the Netherlands' campaign.

References

External links

*FIFA player|155673
*soccerbase|id=15709|name=André Ooijer
*