Theodorus Antonius Gerardus Snelders (born 7 December 1963) 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
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 ...
.
Club career
Snelders was born in
Westervoort
Westervoort () is a municipality and a town in the eastern Netherlands. The town has two rivers inside its borders, the Rhine and the IJssel. It is a commuter town closely linked to Arnhem, the capital of Gelderland, which is situated on the west b ...
,
Gelderland
Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...
. He started his career with
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 Enschedese Bo ...
but is mostly remembered in Scotland, especially for his spell at
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
following his move for £300,000 in summer 1988. A successful replacement for
Jim Leighton
James Leighton (born 24 July 1958) is a Scottish former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Leighton started his career with Aberdeen F.C., Aberdeen, where he won seven d ...
, he had a very good first season at
Pittodrie
Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for Association football, football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen ...
, winning the
Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year
The PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year (often called the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Scottish Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in Scottish footbal ...
in 1989. He saved Anton Rogan's penalty in Aberdeen's penalty shootout win over
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
* Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Fo ...
in the
1990 Scottish Cup Final
The 1990 Scottish Cup Final was the 105th final of the Scottish Cup, Scottish football's most prestigious knock-out association football competition. The match took place at Hampden Park on 12 May 1990 and was contested by Scottish Premier Divi ...
.
After fracturing a cheekbone in a collision with
Ally McCoist
Alistair Murdoch McCoist, (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former footballer who has since worked as a manager and TV pundit.
McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Johnstone before moving to English side Sunderland i ...
of Rangers in 1991, he was unavailable for the club's vital winner-takes-all match against the ''Gers'' in May of that year, with inexperienced understudy Michael Watt unable to prevent a 2–0 defeat. Snelders had also played in the Aberdeen side that beat Rangers to win the
1989 Scottish League Cup Final
The 1989 Scottish League Cup Final was played on 22 October 1989 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and was the final of the 44th Scottish League Cup competition (Skol Cup). The final was contested by Aberdeen and Rangers for the third season in succes ...
, but tasted defeat against the same opponents in that tournament's
1988
File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...
and
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
editions and in the
1993 Scottish Cup Final
The 1993 Scottish Cup Final was played between Rangers and Aberdeen at Celtic Park on 29 May 1993. Owing to ground reconstruction at Hampden Park, the fixture was played at another stadium for the first time since 1924.
Rangers won the match ...
, and was the regular goalkeeper as the ''Dons'' finished runners-up to Rangers in five of his seven full league campaigns.
Midway through the one of the campaigns in which the team was not challenging for honours ( 1991–92), Snelders was sent off for an incident of violent conduct on the pitch; his reaction to a penalty being awarded to Keith Wright of Hibernian was to strike the forward to the head, followed by kicking the ball over the stand and out of the stadium. His makeshift replacement, defender Brian Irvine, saved the spot-kick, only for Aberdeen to miss a penalty of their own and concede the winning goal in the last minute. The other unsuccessful year ( 1994–95) concluded with a play-off to prevent the club being relegated for the first time in their history, which was averted. He made 290 appearances for the club in all competitions.
Having fallen behind Watt in the Aberdeen order, Snelders moved on to
rivals
A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...
Andy Goram
Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, he started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for Ra ...
followed by
Lionel Charbonnier
Lionel André Michel Charbonnier (born 25 October 1966) is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. After retiring, he became a football manager and managed Aceh United of the Liga Primer Indonesia in ...
then
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 ...
, he made just 18 appearances for the
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
club (two in the
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 ...
against Dutch side
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 ...
) before he was released in 1999. He didn't make any appearances for Rangers after December 1997. He played two seasons at
MVV
Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eers ...
before he retired from playing and became a goalkeeping coach in his native
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 ...
with FC Twente.
International career
Snelders was a member of the Dutch squad at the
1983 FIFA World Youth Championship
The 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship was the fourth edition FIFA World Youth Championship tournament, hosted from 2 June to 19 June 1983 in seven venues in Mexico — Guadalajara, Irapuato, León, Mexico City, Monterrey, Puebla and Toluca — wh ...
. He made his only full international appearance on 22 March 1989, against the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
. He kept a clean sheet as the Dutch won 2–0, with the goals coming from a
Marco van Basten
Marcel "Marco" van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and retired professional player, who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pl ...
diving header and a
Ronald Koeman
Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He is the younger brother of his former international teammate Erwin Koeman and the son of former Dutch international Martin Koeman. Koeman was cap ...
penalty. Snelders was an unused substitute with the Dutch team at the
1994 World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...
.
Honours
Aberdeen
*
Scottish Premier Division
The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1989–90; runners-up 1992–93
*
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...