Patrick Kluivert was born on the first day of July 1976 in the capital of the Netherlands. From childhood, he dreamed of becoming a football player and getting into the Ajax football school, which was one of the most popular in the world. The competition for a place in the school was crazy. Each year, coaches selected only a couple of dozen people out of several thousand.
According to Patrick, he was very scared when he first came to school. Due to the large number of guys from all over the country whom the fathers brought there, Kluivert simply wanted to drop everything and leave. But he stayed and was accepted.
At first, the training was held a couple of times a week, but then the load on the training increased sharply. In addition, the club collaborated with teachers in regular schools. The goal was for teachers to help children if they had difficulty learning. This made it possible for children to get a normal secondary education without starting training at a football school.
Perfect season
In 1994, Kluivert made his Ajax debut in the Dutch Championship. “Ajax” has always been distinguished by the fact that it gave a chance to many talents, but even by the standards of the Amsterdam club Patrick’s progress was very noticeable. His career began to develop rapidly, despite the fact that most of the games at the start of the season, he started on the bench.
Although Kluivert rarely got into the list of major players, by winter he was one of the top scorers in the championship. The driving forward attracted the attention of the Dutch national team coach. The debut in the national team took place on November 16.
The Dutchman’s most important match took place in the spring of 1995. It was the Champions League final against AC Milan. The Amsterdam club tried to break into the protection of Italians, but all efforts were in vain. And when 5 minutes were left until the end of regular time, Kluivert, using the mistake of the Milan player, scored the only goal in the match.
After the finale, everyone found out who Patrick Kluivert was. Amsterdam residents wanted to take a photo with a football player at every turn. But Patrick himself understood that it was the goal he scored that made him so popular, and he needed to work a lot before the level of the game of Overmars and Raykaard. In that season, Ajax won all the competitions in which he took part. In addition to the two domestic trophies, the Dutch won the European Super Cup and Club World Cup.
Voyage to Italy
Ajax was a club that not only created stars, but also sold them. From 1995 to 1997, almost the entire squad that won the Champions League was sold out. In the 1996/97 season, Patrick was predicted to go to Inter, but in the end, he ended up in Milan.
At that time, “Milan” was in crisis times, and the owner of the club allocated money to buy twelve new players, and also appointed a new coach, who became Fabio Capello. But such selection work did not bring results. Milan during the season took 13th place.
Patrick Kluivert did not show in Serie A the kind of game he showed in the Dutch championship. In addition, Kluivert had many problems that were not related to football. He became a member of an accident, as a result of which one person died. For this, the Dutchman was sentenced to 240 hours of community service.
After this, the football player began to boo their own fans. The club management stated its intention to part with the Dutch striker, but it was clear that playing Patrick for Milan did not last long.
Van Gaal ... Van Gaal ... and again Van Gaal
In spring, Kluivert got in good shape and was included in the Dutch national team for the World Cup, which took place in France. Patrick was one of the best in the national team, but on his return to Milan he faced new problems. A new coach has come to the club. It became clear that it would be difficult for a Dutchman to become a major player. Alberto Zaccheroni signed the German Oliver Bierhoff. The arrival of the German striker meant that the club must leave another striker - Patrick Kluivert. Statistics of the Dutch striker in the Italian club was not impressive - 27 matches and only 6 goals.
In 1997, Louis Van Gaal left the Ajax with Kluivert. After Amsterdam, he went to Spain, where he became the head coach of Barcelona. In a new post, he immediately began to look for pupils of the Dutch football club. In the last hours of the transfer window, Milan and Barcelona agreed to transfer Kluivert. In the new team, Patrick began to play his characteristic football.
In 1999, the affairs of the Catalan club were bad. The team lost points in games with explicit underdogs. This led to the dismissal of Van Gaal. But after a short period, the Dutch specialist returned to the post of head coach of Barcelona. In 2003, he finally left the Spanish club.
Experience and young age
By his 26 years, Kluivert had vast experience. He has participated in various prestigious tournaments. Often, those players who are already at the end of their career possess such a track record. Patrick played in three championships, took part in the championships of Europe and the world, won all club trophies with Ajax. All these merits are possessed by one person - Kluivert Patrick. Goals of the striker were very important for the national team. He helped the team go through the 1996 European Championship group stage.
At the 2000 European Championships , Kluivert hoped to win. By and large, Patrick single-handedly dealt with all the rivals, but in the semifinal match the Dutch were unable to beat the Italian team. After this, the team suffered another major setback - the Dutch were not able to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. The absence of this team made the entire championship, held in Japan and South Korea, uninteresting.
Patrick Kluivert and Team
The match against the Czech national team was the first for Kluivert. And he scored his debut goal in a game with the national team of Ireland. In the same match, he made his first double, and Holland won 2-0.
The “golden generation” of Dutch football held the group stage of the 2000 European Championship at the highest level. Kluivert scored goals in the gates of Denmark and France, as well as a hat-trick in the gates of Yugoslavia in the ¼ final. Five goals allowed Patrick to share first place with Savo Milosevic in the championship scorers' dispute and enter the symbolic team of the entire tournament. In the ½ finals, Holland lost to the Italian national team and shared 3-4 places. Most of the time ended with a score of 0-0, and in the penalty shootout the Italians were more accurate - 3-1.
After the home European Championship, the national team began to decline. The team flew past the 2002 World Cup, and Patrick lost his place in the first team. At the 2004 European Championship, Kluivert never entered the football field. In 2004, Marco van Basten became the coach , who no longer challenged Patrick Kluivert to the national team.
Statistics
During his career, Kluivert played in 7 clubs and 6 championships. In total, he played 343 matches, in which he scored 149 goals. With Ajax, Kluivert won the Holland Cup and three times the championship, Intercontinental Cup, Champions League, European Super Cup. In 1997, Patrick became the champion of Spain as part of Barcelona. It was his only trophy outside his home country. Patrick Kluivert won his last trophy in 2007, when he managed to win the Dutch championship as part of PSV.
In his first season, he became the country's best young player and received a call to the Dutch national team. The best young player in Europe in 1995 was also Patrick Kluivert. The biography of the athlete is striking in its unusualness. At 18, he was the main striking force of the team, and at 27 he was not included in the composition. In total, Patrick Kluivert spent 79 matches for the national team and scored 40 goals. In 2008, Kluivert announced his decision to end his football career.