Royston Ricky Drenthe (born 8 April 1987) is a Dutch

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays for Spanish club

Real Murcia Real Murcia Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., commonly known as Real Murcia (, "Royal Murcia"), is a Spanish football club based in Murcia, in the Región de Murcia. Founded in 1919, it currently plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 2, playing ho ...

. Although primarily a

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, he has also played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. Drenthe started his professional career with

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

in 2005, having graduated from the club's youth academy. He made 37 appearances for the side before switching to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

in 2007. During his five years in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, he made 65 appearances for the club, spending time on loan at Hércules and

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 ...

side Everton, making 19 and 27 appearances for those clubs respectively. He then joined

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; russian: Российская премьер-лига; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is the top division professional association football league in Russia. It was established at the end of 2001 ...

side

Alania Vladikavkaz FC Alania Vladikavkaz (russian: "Алания" (Владикавказ), os, Футболон клуб "Алани" (Дзæуджыхъæу)) is a Russian football team from Vladikavkaz. Founded in 1921, the club played in the Soviet Top League ...

in February 2013 on a free transfer, making six appearances in a brief spell at the club, before he joined

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

in June 2013. In January 2015, he joined Kayseri Erciyessor, before moving to

UAE Pro League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al O ...

side

Baniyas Club Baniyas Sports and Cultural Club is an Emirati Sports Club, based in Al Shamkha, in the Baniyas area of Abu Dhabi. The club competes in the UAE Pro-League. Presidency * SourcePresidency Honours President's Cup *Winners: 1991–92 Division O ...

in September 2015. After being released by Baniyas in July 2016, Drenthe announced his retirement from playing. He has since begun recording music under the name Roya2Faces. After two years, Drenthe came out of retirement to play for

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

in 2018. Drenthe made 17 appearances for the Netherlands under-21s between 2006 and 2008, and was a member of the team that won the 2007 European Championship. Since then, he has made one appearance for the Netherlands B team, and one appearance for the full national team.

Club career

Youth

Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Drenthe of Surinamese descent joined local side

's youth system at the age of 13, playing mainly as a winger during his junior years. After disciplinary issues during a trip to Switzerland with the B-side, coach

Marcel Bout Marcel Bout (; born 18 November 1962) is a Dutch football coach and scout. Bout has worked with Feyenoord, FC Volendam, AZ Alkmaar, SC Telstar, FC Bayern Munich, Manchester United and the Netherlands national football team in various coaching ...

wanted him to leave the club, but the issues were resolved after the intervention of

Rob Baan Robert Baan (born 1 April 1943) is a Dutch football coach, appointed to the role of Technical Director for the Indian national team by the AIFF. He was the Technical Director of All India Football Federation. Biography Baan was born in Rotterda ...

, the club's

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

. Bout hardly used Drenthe in his subsequent lineups, and at the end of the season, the 16-year-old was named as one of eleven players whose future at the club was questionable. He eventually moved to Feyenoord

feeder club In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

. Drenthe improved during the two years he played at Excelsior, with manager Marco van Lochem successfully playing him as

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. After impressing his former side's coaching staff, he was asked to rejoin the club, which he accepted.

Feyenoord

In the 2005–06 season, Drenthe was promoted to Feyenoord's first team, managed by his former youth coach

Henk Fräser Hendrikus "Henk" Fraser (born 7 July 1966) is a Dutch association football, football coach and former player who most recently managed Eredivisie side FC Utrecht. He played as a Defender (association football), defender for various Dutch teams. ...

, and had to compete for first-choice status with Mohammed Hammouti. After scoring three goals against

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

in the

Otten Cup The Otten Cup is an annual friendly international youth tournament which is organized by the Dutch football club PSV Eindhoven for under-19 youth teams, and is held at De Herdgang. History Founded in 1947, the tournament was named after Frans ...

– a youth tournament organized by PSV – as a winger, he began training with the main squad, while still appearing for the reserves. In the same week where he helped his club to a 5–1 win at Ajax with the second team, Drenthe was offered a professional contract at Feyenoord. Manager

Erwin Koeman Erwin Koeman (born 20 September 1961) is a Dutch retired professional football player and retired football manager. Personal life He is the son of Dutch international footballer Martin Koeman, and, alongside his younger brother Ronald, has also ...

handed him his

debut against Vitesse at the

Gelredome The GelreDome () is a football stadium in the city of Arnhem, Netherlands. It is one of the largest and most modern stadiums in the country, built from 1996 to 1998 at a cost equivalent to €75 million, that opened on 25 March 1998. The stadium ...

, and the player finished the season with three matches. In 2006–07, Feyenoord signed veteran

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

Philippe Léonard Philippe Léonard (born 14 February 1974) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a left back. After playing most notably for Standard Liège and Monaco, he rarely appeared for his following four teams (including Standard aga ...

, while Pascal Bosschaart was also still part of the squad. After the former suffered an injury and the latter was transferred to

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

, Drenthe became first-choice as Feyenoord finished seventh in the league. After winning the

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. Summary For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Nethe ...

with 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 ...

, Feyenoord accepted a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

14 million bid by

after Drenthe threatened to take his club to court if they did not want to let him go.

Real Madrid

Drenthe was presented as a Real Madrid player on 13 August 2007, alongside compatriot

Wesley Sneijder Wesley Sneijder (; born 9 June 1984) is a Dutch retired professional footballer. Due to his elite playmaking ability, Sneijder was considered one of the best midfielders in the world during his prime. A product of the Ajax Youth Academy, he sta ...

. He made his official debut as a midfielder in the second leg of the season's

Spanish Supercup Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

against

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

, and scored the 1–1 equaliser from 40 yards out, with the ball hitting the crossbar and crossing the line. The ''Merengues'', however, lost 3–5 at home and 3–6 on aggregate. Drenthe played regularly for Real Madrid in his debut season, in both left-wing positions, but began appearing less after the development of

Marcelo Marcelo is a given name, the Spanish and Portuguese form of Marcellus. The Italian version of the name is Marcello, differing in having an additional "l". Marcelo may refer to: * Marcelo Costa de Andrade (born 1967), Brazilian serial killer, rapi ...

, being dropped from the list of 18 by manager

Bernd Schuster Bernd Schuster (born 22 December 1959) is a German former professional footballer of the late 1970s through early 1990s, who won club titles playing for the Spanish sides FC Barcelona (1980–1987) and Real Madrid (1988–1990). He played as a m ...

in several games. At one time, after being left out for the match against

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

, Drenthe stormed out of the training ground. He finished the campaign with 18 league appearances (plus four in the season's

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

), scoring his first league goal against

Real Valladolid Real Valladolid Club de Fútbol, S.A.D., or simply Real Valladolid () or Valladolid, is a professional football club based in Valladolid, Castile and León, Spain that competes in La Liga, the top tier of the Spanish league system. The club colo ...

in a 7–0 home routing on 10 February 2008. Despite rumours of him leaving the club on loan, Drenthe featured in 15 of Real Madrid's first 18 games of the 2008–09 season. However, he also suffered from anxiety issues after being booed by the club's supporters during a 1–0 home win against

Deportivo de La Coruña Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña (), commonly known as Deportivo La Coruña (), Deportivo or simply Dépor, is a professional association football, football club based in the city of A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, Spain. They currently p ...

and did not feature for the club for a period, although manager

Juande Ramos Juan de la Cruz "Juande" Ramos Cano (born 25 September 1954) is a Spanish former footballer and manager. After playing and managing at an amateur level, Ramos led Rayo Vallecano to promotion to La Liga, followed by reaching the quarter-finals o ...

offered the player his support and insisted he would help him. The manager later revealed that the player asked not to be picked for the three games after the Deportivo fixture. On 31 August 2010, after having appeared rarely in his third season, Drenthe was loaned to Hércules in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

-long move. He made his debut on 11 September in a 2–0 away win against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, and scored his first goal for the club on 14 November, netting from a free kick against

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 Septem ...

in a 2–1 home victory. His performances with the

Alicante Alicante ( ca-valencia, Alacant) is a city and municipality in the Valencian Community, Spain. It is the capital of the province of Alicante and a historic Mediterranean port. The population of the city was 337,482 , the second-largest in t ...

team were subsequently praised by the Spanish press. However, the player would soon fall out of favour with the club's board of directors and coaching staff after arriving one week after the winter break ended, citing a "loss of confidence in Hércules management", rather than what was previously perceived as "a protest over unpaid wages". On 3 April 2011, in his second game after his suspension, Drenthe scored twice to help Hércules to its first away win since September, a 3–1 against Real Sociedad. He ended the season with 15 starts in 1,299 minutes of action, with his team being finally relegated.

Everton

On 31 August 2011, Drenthe joined

club Everton on a

-long loan deal. He made his Premier League debut as a second-half substitute in the 2–2 home draw against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

, on 10 September. Again from the bench, against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

, he scored in the 97th minute to round off a 3–1 home victory. Drenthe made his first start for Everton on 21 September 2011 in a

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 ...

match against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

, assisting the winning goal for

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teamma ...

in the 13th minute of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

( 2–1 home win). On his full league debut, at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

on 23 October, he found the net just three minutes into the game in an eventual 3–1 win. On 21 December 2011, after three weeks out of the game due to an

ankle The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular join ...

injury, Drenthe assisted

Leon Osman Leon Osman (born 17 May 1981) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He spent almost all of his career at Everton, making 433 appearances and scoring 57 goals. Earlier in his career he spent time on loan at Fo ...

for the game's only goal at home against Swansea City. On 18 February 2012, in a match against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

for the season's

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 competi ...

, he scored after just 49 seconds in a 2–0 home success. Drenthe started in the next game for Everton, scoring a powerful low drive from 20 yards out for the first goal of the 1–1 away draw against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. In March 2012, Drenthe was given a leave of absence on compassionate grounds and, upon returning, he reported late for training. This resulted in manager

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

omitting the player from Everton's FA Cup semi-final squad; he was also told to stay away from the club. In a magazine interview published in April, he accused Barcelona's

Lionel Messi Lionel Andrés Messi (; born 24 June 1987), also known as Leo Messi, is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Paris Saint-Germain and captains the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the ...

of racially abusing him on more than one occasion, repeatedly addressing him as "negro".

Alania Vladikavkaz

Drenthe left Real Madrid after his contract expired on 30 June 2012. In December, he signed a deal with Russian club

, which came into effect on 2 February of the following year. Drenthe made his league debut for his new team on 9 March 2013, against

Rostov Rostov ( rus, Росто́в, p=rɐˈstof) is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population: While t ...

. After the game, coach

Valery Gazzaev Valery Georgiyevich Gazzaev (russian: Вале́рий Гео́ргиевич Газза́ев; os, Гæззаты Георгийы фырт Валери, translit=Gæzzaty Georgijy fyrt Valeri; born 7 August 1954) is a Russian politician, foot ...

called him a "great professional and an example for the youth". On 15 April, in only his fifth game for the club, he scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 3–1 home win over relegation competitors

Mordovia Saransk FC Mordovia Saransk (russian: ФК Мордовия Саранск) is a Russian association football club from Saransk, Republic of Mordovia. In its current state it was formed in 2005, through the merge of Biokhimik-Mordovia and Lisma-Mordov ...

Reading

officially confirmed the signing of free agent Drenthe on a two-year contract with the option of a third, on 21 June 2013. On 8 March 2014, Drenthe scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw away at

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

after he cut in from the right and fired a left-footed shot into the bottom corner. Drenthe then scored his second goal for the club on 11 March in a 4–2 away win against

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

with a free-kick just after half-time. In July 2014, Drenthe was told he could leave Reading after only one season with the club, whilst being stripped of his squad number when the official squad numbers were announced on 14 July 2014.

Sheffield Wednesday

Drenthe joined

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 of ...

on a six-month loan on 1 September 2014, halfway through transfer deadline day. He made his Owls debut as a second-half substitute for

Chris Maguire Christopher Patrick Joseph Maguire (born 16 January 1989) is a Scottish professional footballer. He has previously played for Aberdeen, Derby County, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United, Oxford United, Bury, Sunderland and Lincoln City, and ...

in the 0–0 away draw 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 Pike's ...

on 13 September. His only Owls goal came in the 1–1 away draw at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on 1 November.

Kayseri Erciyesspor

On 23 January 2015, Drenthe joined Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side

Kayseri Erciyesspor Kayseri Erciyesspor was a Turkish sports club based in Kayseri. History In 1965, Orhan Şefik Apak, then president of the Turkish Football Federation, asked cities in Turkey to combine their amateur football clubs into one singular club that wo ...

Baniyas

Drenthe joined

side

in September 2015. He was released in July 2016.

Hiatus

Unable to find a club, Drenthe announced a hiatus from professional football, saying that he was 'no longer a footballer'.

Sparta

After training with the side for a few weeks, on 6 July 2018

announced they had signed Drenthe to a one-year deal. After

promoted to the Eredivisie during the Keukenkampioen 2018–2019 season, the club decided not to extend his contract.

Kozakken Boys

Drenthe then signed for Kozakken Boys.

Return to Spain

On January 6, 2021, Drenthe returned to Spain and signed with

Racing Murcia Racing Murcia City 1913 Fútbol Club is a Association football, football club based in Murcia a district in center of Murcia Center, Region of Murcia, Murcia, Spain. Founded on 1 September 2013, it plays in Tercera División RFEF, Tercera Divisi� ...

. On January 30, 2022, Drenthe was loaned to

, playing in the same city but a tier above Racing.

International career

After his first full season at Feyenoord, Drenthe was called by Dutch under-21 coach

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch association football, football coach. He is known for his long association with Friesland, Frisian club SC Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national football team during 2011 ...

to be part of his squad for the 2007 UEFA European Championship, which was held in the Netherlands. He was one of the most important players in the second consecutive title of the competition for the ''Jong Oranje'', being chosen by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

as Player of the Tournament. The following year, he represented the nation at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

. On 14 November 2010, Drenthe was selected for the first time for the Dutch senior team, as coach

Bert van Marwijk Lambertus van Marwijk (; born 19 May 1952) is a Dutch football manager who was recently the head coach of the United Arab Emirates national team. As a player, he played for the Go Ahead Eagles, AZ, MVV and Fortuna Sittard amongst other club ...

picked him as a late replacement for the injured

Urby Emanuelson Urby Vitorrio Diego Emanuelson (born 16 June 1986) is a Dutch former professional footballer. He is the currently assistant trainer of Utrecht. As a product of the Ajax Youth Academy, Emanuelson spent most of his career at Ajax playing as a l ...

. Three days later, he made his debut, coming on as a second-half substitute in the 1–0 friendly win over

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 ...

Personal life

Drenthe's younger brother,

Giovanni Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

, is also a footballer. The striker opted to represent

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

internationally. Drenthe dated Spanish ''

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

'' model

Malena Gracia Almudena Gracia Manzano (born 14 September 1969), known artistically as Malena Gracia, is a Spanish actress, singer, dancer, vedette, and pin-up model. She is best known for having obtained a triple platinum certification for her song "Loca", w ...

. Drenthe recorded a

rap Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

song with his friend

U-Niq Anthony Pengel (born July 10, 1976), known professionally as U-Niq, is a Dutch rapper from Rotterdam. He was part of the rap group The Most Official. Originally interested in football (he was a youth player for Feyenoord), U-Niq began rapping ...

called "Tak Takie". In 2014, Drenthe opened a clothing store in Rotterdam with Michel Poldervaart. In December 2020, Drenthe declared bankruptcy after losing £3.2 million.

As TV commentator

Early Drenthe was contracted by the Spanish sports program El Chiringuito de Jugones as commentator, on March 1, 2021.

Career statistics

''As of 6 May 2022''

Honours

Real Madrid *

: 2007–08 *

Supercopa de España The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

; runner-up:

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Netherlands U21 *

UEFA European Under-21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the compe ...

Individual * UEFA European Under-21 Championship Golden Player:

References

External links

Stats at Voetbal International
* *
Netherlands profile
at OnsOranje * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drenthe, Royston 1987 births Living people Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Footballers from Rotterdam Association football wingers Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Netherlands international footballers Olympic footballers of the Netherlands Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Feyenoord players Real Madrid CF players Hércules CF players Everton F.C. players FC Spartak Vladikavkaz players Reading F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Kayseri Erciyesspor footballers Baniyas Club players Sparta Rotterdam players Kozakken Boys players Racing Murcia FC players Real Murcia players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Tweede Divisie players La Liga players Premier League players Russian Premier League players English Football League players Süper Lig players UAE Pro League players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Russia Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in the United Arab Emirates Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Russia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates