Ronald Katarina Martinus Waterreus (; born 25 August 1970) is a Dutch former

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 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 o ...

. He notably played for

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

and Rangers, before ending his career at

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

in the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Club career

Born in

Lemiers Lemiers (, Ripuarian: ) is a village in the Dutch province of Limburg. It lies directly north-west of Vaals.''ANWB Topografische Atlas Nederland'', Topografische Dienst and ANWB, 2005. The village sits on the Dutch-German border and part of th ...

Limburg Limburg or Limbourg may refer to: Regions * Limburg (Belgium), a province since 1839 in the Flanders region of Belgium * Limburg (Netherlands), a province since 1839 in the south of the Netherlands * Diocese of Limburg, Roman Catholic Diocese in ...

, Waterreus started his career in 1992, playing for

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisi ...

. After joining

in 1994 he quickly established himself as one of the best goalkeepers in the

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 ...

, eventually being selected for the Dutch national squad. After ten seasons as PSV's number one goalkeeper, Waterreus was transferred to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

for one season. He joined

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

side Rangers in 2005 as cover for the injured

Stefan Klos Stefan may refer to: * Stefan (given name) * Stefan (surname) * Ștefan, a Romanian given name and a surname * Štefan, a Slavic given name and surname * Stefan (footballer) (born 1988), Brazilian footballer * Stefan Heym, pseudonym of German writ ...

, however he quickly established himself as Rangers' first choice goalkeeper. He was also involved in Rangers' historic 2005–06 Champions League run where they reached the knock-out stage for the first time. Waterreus, however, eventually came under fire from Rangers fans following his criticism of the club in a Dutch newspaper, which was misinterpreted by the fans as a result of poor journalism. Waterreus left Rangers on 7 June 2006 having failed to agree a new contract. He signed a short-term contract with

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

on 4 December 2006, replacing the injured

Joey Didulica Joseph Anthony Didulica (; born 14 October 1977) is a Croatian Australian former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. On 11 October 2011 he ended his career after ongoing neck and head complaints. Club career Didulica was born in Geelong, Vic ...

and

Khalid Sinouh Khalid Sinouh ( ar, خالد سينوح; born 2 May 1975) is a former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in the Netherlands, he represented Morocco at international level. Career Sinouh debuted playing for HFC Haarlem in t ...

in the month of December. In January 2007, he left the club again and agreed to move to

, where he immediately established himself with three clean sheets and another scoreless half to set the record for longest clean sheet streak to begin an MLS career.

International career

Waterreus was on the Dutch national squad at

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 football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

but he did not get any playing time. He altogether made seven appearances for his country.

Honours

Eredivisie 1996-1997, 1999-2000, 2000-2001 & 2002-2003 KNVB Cup 1995-1996 Johan Cruyff Shield (Super Cup) 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 & 2004 Scottish Premier League 2004–05 Scottish League Cup 2004–05

References

External links

*
Yahoo sport profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waterreus, Ronald 1970 births Living people People from Vaals Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Scotland Dutch association football commentators Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Association football goalkeepers PSV Eindhoven players Manchester City F.C. players Rangers F.C. players AZ Alkmaar players New York Red Bulls players UEFA Euro 2004 players Scottish Premier League players Eredivisie players Major League Soccer players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Major League Soccer All-Stars Footballers from Limburg (Netherlands) Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in the United States