Stefano Maarten Seedorf (born 28 April 1982) is a Dutch former professional

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

midfielder 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 ...

. After retiring, he worked as a fitness coach.

Career

Early career

Stefano Seedorf was born in Zaanstad. He started his playing career with amateur side Hellas Sport, but like his cousins he would soon be discovered by Ajax.

Ajax

After rising through the ranks with players such as

Serginho Greene Serginho Greene (; born 24 June 1982) is a Dutch professional footballer who last played for FC Lienden. Besides the Netherlands, he has played in Cyprus, India, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Early life Greene's life was all about football since he wa ...

(

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 ...

) and

Youssouf Hersi Youssouf Hersi (born 20 August 1982) is a retired professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Born in Ethiopia, Hersi represented the Netherlands at youth international level. Club career Hersi has played in the Netherlands ...

(

Vitesse Arnhem Vitesse may refer to: * Vitesse Models, a diecast model car company * Vitesse (band), Dutch rock band * Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse, a car * Rover 216 Vitesse, a car * Rover 3500 Vitesse, a car * Rover 800 Vitesse, a car * Triumph Vites ...

) he made his debut in the first team line-up on 30 April 2002, two days after his 20th birthday. After two years and five league matches Stefano was sent away on a loan spell with

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

After Ajax

Stefano made an immediate impact. He proliferated himself as a fast paced technical midfielder and scored 7 goals in 29 matches. Despite his successful performance with NAC, his contract with Ajax was not extended. In the summer of 2004 Seedorf was therefore transferred to

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

. In 2009–10, Stefano and his cousin Chedric left for the Italian team

Monza Monza (, ; lmo, label=Lombard language, Lombard, Monça, locally ; lat, Modoetia) is a city and ''comune'' on the River Lambro, a tributary of the Po River, Po in the Lombardy region of Italy, about north-northeast of Milan. It is the capit ...

. In February 2013, Stefano joined Brazilian club

Alecrim Alecrim () is a municipality in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, 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 ...

Personal life

Stefano is the cousin of

Clarence Clarence may refer to: Places Australia * Clarence County, New South Wales, a Cadastral division * Clarence, New South Wales, a place near Lithgow * Clarence River (New South Wales) * Clarence Strait (Northern Territory) * City of Clarence, a loca ...

Jürgen Jürgen or Jurgen is a popular masculine given name in Germany, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands. It is cognate with George (given name), George. Notable people named Jürgen include: A *Jürgen Ahrend (born 1930), German organ builder *J� ...

, Chedric, Rahmlee Seedorf and his uncle Johan Seedorf is his player agent.

References

External links

Ajax Squads 1993–99

Profile
– Monza {{DEFAULTSORT:Seedorf, Stefano 1982 births Living people Footballers from Zaanstad Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers AFC Ajax players NAC Breda players FC Groningen players Apollon Limassol FC players Veria F.C. players AC Monza players Alecrim Futebol Clube players AFC Ajax (amateurs) players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Cypriot First Division players Super League Greece players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Italy

Stefano Stefano is the Italian form of the masculine given name Στέφανος (Stefanos, Stephen). The name is of Greek origin, Στέφανος, meaning a person who made a significant achievement and has been crowned. In Orthodox Christianity the ach ...