Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (born 11 February
1983) is a Dutch footballer who plays for Bundesliga
side HSV and plays for the Dutch national team. Van
der Vaart was born to a Spanish mother and a Dutch
father in Heemskerk, in North Holland. He has scored
12 goals in 50 caps for the national team and he is
a free kick specialist.
His previous clubs were Ajax and De Kennemers in his
hometown of Heemskerk. Van der Vaart played for the
Netherlands in Euro 2004 and in the 2006 World Cup.
He married Sylvie Meis, on June 10, 2005, and their
first child, Damián Rafael, was born May 28, 2006.
Rafael van der Vaart made his international debut
against Andorra on October 6 2001. He was a member
of the squads that participated in Euro 2004 and the
2006 World Cup. Despite figuring prominently in a
number of qualifying stage matches, Van der Vaart
has had a lack of luck when it came to the final
tournament. A sub-par performance by the Dutch
during their opening game of Euro 2004 persuaded
former manager Dick Advocaat to change the side's
formation into one which he felt the talented Van
der Vaart did not fit in to. With Advocaat's new
system seemingly working, Van der Vaart would be
reduced to play a bit-part role at EURO 2004, as the
Oranje reached the semifinals. Despite that setback,
Van der Vaart produced some superlative performances
in the Bundesliga the following season, and it
seemed that Van der Vaart's turn to shine on the big
stage was to finally come -- at the 2006 FIFA World
Cup. However, niggling injury problems resurfaced,
and Van der Vaart was not risked by Dutch coach
Marco van Basten for the opening World Cup encounter
against Serbia and Montenegro. With victory in that
opening game, the national team coach would once
again decide to continue fielding a van der
Vaart-less lineup. And once again, Rafael van der
Vaart was reduced to a bit-part role in the squad.
