Clarence Seedorf

Clarence Seedorf

Seedorf with Milan in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Clarence Clyde Seedorf
Date of birth	(1976-04-01) 1 April 1976 (age 40)
Place of birth	Paramaribo, Suriname
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1995	Ajax	65	(11)
1995–1996	Sampdoria	32	(3)
1996–1999	Real Madrid	121	(15)
2000–2002	Inter Milan	64	(8)
2002–2012	Milan	300	(47)
2012–2014	Botafogo	58	(15)
Total		640	(99)
National team
1994–2008	Netherlands	87	(11)
Teams managed
2014	Milan
2016	Shenzhen
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Clarence Clyde Seedorf (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈklɛrəns ˈseːdɔrf]; born 1 April 1976) is a Dutch football manager and former footballer. Regarded by many as one of the best midfielders of his generation, in 2004, he was chosen by Pelé as part of the FIFA 100. Seedorf is one of the most decorated Dutch players ever, and has won domestic and continental titles while playing for clubs in the Netherlands, Spain, Italy and Brazil. He is considered one of the most successful players in UEFA Champions League history, as he is the first, and currently the only, player to have won the Champions League with three different clubs – once with Ajax, in 1995, once with Real Madrid, in 1998 and twice with Milan, in 2003 and 2007. At international level, he represented the Netherlands on 87 occasions, and took part at three UEFA European Football Championships (1996, 2000, 2004) and the 1998 FIFA World Cup, reaching the semi-finals of the latter three tournaments.

Born in Paramaribo, Suriname, Seedorf was raised in Almere, Flevoland, where he moved to when he was two years old. Growing up in a footballing family, with both his younger brothers Jürgen and Chedric Seedorf, and his father former player and talent agent Johann Seedorf, Clarence began his career at the age of six in the youth ranks of his local amateur sides VV AS '80 and Real Almere, before being discovered and recruited to the ranks of nearby Dutch giants Ajax by Urgent Scoutingteam, the talent agency set up by Johan Cruyff, and which was responsible for recruiting the likes of Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Robert Witschge and Patrick Kluivert to the club as well. Following in their brother's footsteps, under the guidance of their father and talent agent, Seedorf's siblings, as well as cousin Stefano, would later also join the ranks of Ajax. He is also a pundit on BBC.