The name of a man like Stekelenburg Marten is well known to any football fan. After all, this is a famous Dutch goalkeeper, who currently protects the colors not only of his national team, but also of the English club Everton.
early years
Stekelenburg Marten was born in North Holland, in the city of Haarlem, in 1982, on September 22. Like any other football player, he was fond of this sport from childhood. He began to study at FC Schoten. And then, at age 15, he became part of Ajax, hitting the football school of the most famous Dutch club. He also played his first official game for this team. The event took place in 2002, February 24th. Then, “Ajax” played against “NAC Breda”.
But Marten for three seasons was not the main goalkeeper of the team. For 3 years he played 9, 10 and 11 matches. All the time he had to compete for a place in the goal with goalkeepers such as Joey Didulitsa, Henk Timmer and Bogdan Lobonts. But in 2005/06. Marten still managed to become the main goalkeeper. And for three years he remained them. A newcomer appeared on the team - Kenneth Wermer. And the new head coach, which was Marco van Basten, decided to send Stekelenburg to the bench. Marten immediately became interested in such teams as Arsenal, Manchester United and even Bayern Munich. However, when van Basten left the club, the goalkeeper returned to duty.
Careers in Italy
In early August 2011, Stekelenburg Marten signed a contract with the Italian Roma. It was bought back for 6 million euros. Two weeks later, the goalkeeper entered the field.
The Dutchman called his first season in Italy fantastic, even though he would suffer a shoulder injury in it. But then the team was led by Zdenek Zeman, as a result of which the football goalkeeper went to the bench. The coach justified this by injuring the player and the fact that he only speaks English, which almost no one uses in the club.
Further years
In June 5, 2013, Stekelenburg Marten accepted the offer from Fulham. This club has long shown interest in the Dutchman. However, he played only 19 matches for him. Because the very next summer of 2014 it was rented by Monaco. He spent a year there, and during this time Marten was released on the field only once.
Then the Dutch goalkeeper rented a Southampton. The goalkeeper survived the first match for his new English club “dry”, so the “saints” won in that game against “Vitesse” (3: 0).
And on July 1, 2016, Martin Stekelenburg, whose biography and career is quite saturated, moved to Everton. There he has already played 7 matches.
In the national team
For his national team, the Dutch football player made his debut in 2004, September 3. It was a game against the national team of Liechtenstein. And her Marten team won 3-0. Then he was announced at the 2006 World Cup, but Stekelenburg never entered the field there. Which is not surprising, because the Netherlands team had Edwin van der Sar. But in 2008 he made his debut in the international arena - he went out in a match against the Romanian team and left the goal “dry”.
In 2010, he became the main goalkeeper of the team. After all, Edwin van der Sar ended his career. And the place at the gate, according to the decision of the head coach Bert van Marwijk, went to Martin. He entered the field in almost all qualifying matches held for the 2010 World Cup.
In the national team, the goalkeeper sometimes rescued the team in the most hopeless situations. Recall at least one of the games with Spain, when the goalkeeper repelled a powerful and quick shot by Sergio Ramos and Cesc Fabregs.
It is worth noting that the goalkeeper has many awards. With Ajax, he twice became the champion of the country, won the Cup, as well as the Dutch Super Cup. With Roma, he reached the final of the Italian Cup. And together with the national team in 2010, won silver at the World Cup. And you can be sure that these are not the latest achievements, the talented goalkeeper will be able to achieve much more.