Sander Westerveld (born 23 October 1974) is a Dutch football coach and former professional

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He was the goalkeeping coach of South African

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club Ajax Cape Town. The highlight of his playing career, spent in five countries, was a treble of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

and

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with

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

in 2001. Westerveld was included in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

' squads for Euro 2000 and

Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial association football, football competition contested by the List of men's national associatio ...

, but, due to the consistency of Edwin van der Sar, earned six international caps over five years.

Club career

Early career and Liverpool

Westerveld's first professional match was for

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedes ...

in 1994. After two seasons there he moved to Vitesse for three. Following the 1998–99 season, during which he helped Vitesse to qualify for Europe, Westerveld was sold to

, where he succeeded

David James Dewi, Dai, Dafydd or David James may refer to: Performers *David James (actor, born 1839) (1839–1893), English stage comic and a founder of London's Vaudeville Theatre *David James (actor, born 1967) (born 1967), Australian presenter of ABC's ''P ...

. He became the most expensive goalkeeper in British football when he joined the Reds for a reported fee of £4 million during the summer of 1999. Westerveld made his Liverpool debut against

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

on 7 August 1999 in a 2–1 away win. Then on 28 August 1999 he saved a

Davor Šuker Davor Šuker (; born 1 January 1968) is a Croatian football administrator and former footballer who played as a striker. He served as president of the Croatian Football Federation from 2012 to 2021. He began his footballing career in his hometo ...

penalty as Liverpool beat

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

2–0. He was Gérard Houllier's first choice to succeed James as Anfield's number one, and Westerveld fully justified the manager's confidence by playing a leading role in Liverpool's return to Europe, conceding the fewest goals in the 1999–2000 Premier League season. He played a key role in the treble season of 2000–01 for Liverpool, emerging as the hero of the

final victory over

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, making the winning save from

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a D ...

in the penalty shoot-out. However, towards the end of his two-season spell at Liverpool, he was often subjected to criticism from the media. After a major mistake in a match against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

on 27 August 2001 he was put on the bench by Houllier, who promptly signed two new goalkeepers,

Jerzy Dudek Jerzy Henryk Dudek (; born 23 March 1973) is a Polish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. After beginning his career in his home country, he went on to have successful spells in the Netherlands and England, winning the Ch ...

and Chris Kirkland. He did not play again after the Bolton error, and was sold to

Real Sociedad Real Sociedad de Fútbol, S.A.D., more commonly referred to as Real Sociedad (; ''Royal Society''), La Real in Spanish, Erreala in Basque, is a Spanish professional sports club in the city of San Sebastián, Basque Country, founded on 7 Septemb ...

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on 16 December 2001, for £3.4 million.

Real Sociedad

Sociedad were runners-up in

in the 2002–03 season, and played in the following season's Champions League. However, that season saw him loaned to

RCD Mallorca Real Club Deportivo Mallorca, S.A.D. (, ca, Reial Club Deportiu Mallorca , ''Royal Sporting Club Mallorca''), commonly known as Real Mallorca or just Mallorca is a Spanish professional football club based in Palma on the island of Majorca in ...

, where

Miguel Ángel Moyá Miguel Ángel Moyá Rumbo (; born 2 April 1984) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. He played 274 La Liga games over 15 seasons, representing in the competition Mallorca, Valencia, Getafe, Atlético Madrid and Real ...

kept him out of the team. His contract then expired.

Portsmouth

In July 2005 he moved back to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

with

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

, being signed by Alain Perrin on a one-year contract. He was expected to be the first choice goalkeeper, ahead of

Jamie Ashdown Jamie Lawrence Ashdown (born 30 November 1980) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He spent a large part of his career at Portsmouth, for whom he made the majority of his professional appearances. He came ou ...

and Kostas Chalkias. However, after an inconsistent time at

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, in which he played only 6 league matches, he was allowed to move on a 28-day loan to Everton, rivals of his former club Liverpool, on 24 February 2006. Everton had a temporary goalkeeping crisis in which

Nigel Martyn Antony Nigel Martyn (born 11 August 1966) is an English football coach and former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He notably played in the Premier League for Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Everton, having initially ...

, Richard Wright and Iain Turner were all unavailable, and Westerveld played two matches for them. When he returned to Portsmouth, he remained a substitute and was released by

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former football manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United, Portsmouth, Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Queens Park Rangers and Birmingham City. In hi ...

on 11 May 2006.

Later career

On 28 July 2006, Westerveld signed with Segunda División club

UD Almería Unión Deportiva Almería, S.A.D. () is a Spanish professional football club based in Almería, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded on 26 July 1989 and known as ''Almería Club de Fútbol'' until 2001, when it was renamed ''Unión D ...

for one season, in which he helped them to achieve promotion to

before leaving the club at the end of his contract. On 7 September 2007, he joined Sparta Rotterdam on a short-term contract and in May 2008 he announced that he was to leave Sparta. During the summer of 2009 he signed for Italian

Lega Pro Prima Divisione Lega Pro Prima Divisione was the third highest football league in Italy. It consisted of 33 teams, divided geographically into two divisions of 16 and 17 teams for group A and B respectively. Until 2008 it was known as Serie C1. Before the 1978 ...

club

A.C. Monza Brianza 1912 Associazione Calcio Monza () is a professional football club that is based in Monza, Lombardy, Italy. The team plays in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football, following promotion in the 2021–22 Serie B season. The club was founded ...

, after a successful trial with the club. He later joined Ajax Cape Town in South Africa where he was the number 1 goalkeeper. At the end of the 2012–13 season, his contract was terminated and he then became a goalkeeping coach at the club.

International career

Westerveld made his debut for the

on 8 June 1999, in an away friendly 3–1 defeat to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

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. He was included in the Dutch squad for Euro 2000, and played the last group match against France, both teams being already qualified. The last of his six caps came on 28 February 2001, in a 0–0 friendly home draw with

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, although he did make the squad for

Personal life

Westerveld's father-in-law Hennie Ardesch, and son Sem Westerveld, are also professional football goalkeepers.

Career statistics

Honours

Liverpool *

: 2000–01 *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

: 2000–01 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a multi-national coalition in an invasion of Afghanistan ...

: 2000–01 *

UEFA Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions; the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

References

External links

LFCHistory.net profileEverton FC profile
*
Player profile
– Sparta Rotterdam

– Voetbal International {{DEFAULTSORT:Westerveld, Sander 1974 births Living people Footballers from Enschede Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Association football goalkeepers FC Twente players SBV Vitesse players Liverpool F.C. players Real Sociedad footballers RCD Mallorca players Portsmouth F.C. players Everton F.C. players UD Almería players Sparta Rotterdam players A.C. Monza players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Eredivisie players Premier League players La Liga players Segunda División players UEFA Euro 2000 players UEFA Euro 2004 players UEFA Cup winning players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Expatriate footballers in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Association football goalkeeping coaches Cape Town Spurs F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players