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Michael John Reiziger (born May 3, 1973 in Amstelveen, North Holland) is a former Dutch footballer, who played mainly as a right defender.

He is actually retired as a footballer and lives in Barcelona, Spain.

Club career

Reiziger started his career with hometown's AFC Ajax, having two consecutive loan spells with FC Volendam and FC Groningen shortly after: with the latter, in 1993–94, he scored a career-best six goals, while operating also as a midfielder.

Upon his return to Ajax, Reiziger established himself as a renowned defensive element, helping the club to, among other conquests, the 1994–95 UEFA Champions League. In 1996 he signed for A.C. Milan, but after an injury-hit season he departed for FC Barcelona, where he spent the following seven years, arriving at the same time as countrymen and former Ajax boss Louis van Gaal: almost never an undisputed starter, he did manage to feature heavily for the Catalonians, amassing more than 200 overall appearances and helping the club to back-to-back league titles.

In 2004, Reiziger moved to Middlesbrough F.C. on a Bosman transfer. He scored once in the league for Boro, against Aston Villa in December 2004.^[1] However, after another campaign dealing with several injuries, he left and returned to Holland, playing his final two years at PSV Eindhoven (in his second, he won the league, and was also reunited with Ajax, Barça and national team mate Patrick Kluivert, although the two rarely ever played).^[2]

International career

Reiziger made his debut for the Dutch national team on October 12, 1994 against Norway. He played for his country at the UEFA Euro 1996, 1998 FIFA World Cup, Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, retiring from international play after the latter.^[3]

Shortly after he signed for PSV, Reiziger said he would consider playing for the Netherlands again if the opportunity arose, but he was never recalled again, totalling 72 internationals in ten years.

Club statistics

Honours

Ajax

• UEFA Champions League: 1994–95
• UEFA Super Cup: 1995
• UEFA Cup: 1991–92
• Intercontinental Cup: 1995
• Dutch League: 1994–95, 1995–96
• Dutch Cup: 1992–93
• Dutch Supercup: 1994, 1995

Barcelona

• UEFA Super Cup: 1997
• Spanish League: 1997–98, 1998–99
• Spanish Cup: 1997–98

PSV Eindhoven

• Dutch League: 2005–06, 2006–07

Netherlands

• FIFA World Cup: 4th place 1998

References

External links

• Beijen profile (Dutch)
• Michael Reiziger profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)
• BDFutbol profile
• FootballDatabase profile and stats
• PlayerHistory profile

Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Blind • 4 Seedorf • 5 Stam • 6 R. de Boer • 7 Taument • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Hoekstra • 12 Winter • 13 Numan • 14 Richard Witschge • 15 Bogarde • 16 De Goey • 17 Cruyff • 18 De Kock • 19 Mulder • 20 Cocu • 21 Hesp • 22 Veldman • Coach: Hiddink

Netherlands squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Numan • 6 Jonk • 7 R. de Boer • 8 Bergkamp • 9 Kluivert • 10 Seedorf • 11 Cocu • 12 Zenden • 13 Ooijer • 14 Overmars • 15 Bogarde • 16 Davids • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 de Goey • 19 van Bronckhorst • 20 Winter • 21 Hasselbaink • 22 Hesp • Coach: Hiddink

Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2000 semi-finalists 1 Van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Zenden • 6 Seedorf • 7 Cocu • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Overmars • 12 van Bronckhorst • 13 Konterman • 14 van Vossen • 15 Bosvelt • 16 R. de Boer • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 de Goey • 19 Numan • 20 Winter • 21 Makaay • 22 Westerveld • Coach: Rijkaard

Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 Bouma • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Cocu • 7 van der Meyde • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 van Nistelrooy • 11 van der Vaart • 12 Makaay • 13 Westerveld • 14 Sneijder • 15 F. de Boer • 16 Overmars • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 Heitinga • 19 Robben • 20 Seedorf • 21 Bosvelt • 22 Zenden • 23 Waterreus • Coach: Advocaat