Edwin van der Sar Goalkeeping Era

Lore & Background

Van der Sar played 130 times for the Netherlands national team, and was the nation's most-capped player until 2017, when he was overtaken by Wesley Sneijder. He is considered by critics and fellow players as one of the best goalkeepers of all time. He is also one of the most successful footballers ever, having won 26 major trophies in his career, mainly at Ajax and Manchester United. During the 2008–09 season, he set a world record by not conceding a league goal for 1,311 minutes. He is also the oldest player to win the Premier League, having done so in 2011 at the age of 40 years and 205 days.

Reader's Guide

Van der Sar began his senior playing career with Ajax in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a member of the club's golden generation and was part of the team that won the UEFA Champions League in 1995. In 1999, he left Ajax for Juventus where he spent two years before moving to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United in 2005. There he won a second Champions League title in 2008, making him one of just eight players at the time to have won the competition with more than one club. He retired as a professional in 2011, but briefly came out of retirement in 2016 to play a match for Dutch amateur team Noordwijk, for whom he had previously played as a youth.

Did You Know?

• Van der Sar scored a penalty for Ajax to complete an 8–1 victory over De Graafschap in the 1997–98 season.
• He saved two penalties from Juan Pablo Ángel in a 1–1 draw for Fulham against Aston Villa.
• He saved the final penalty of the shoot-out from Nicolas Anelka to win the 2008 Champions League for Manchester United.