Marco van Basten

Marco van Basten got married to Liesbeth van Cappelleveen in 1993. The couple has two daughters - Rebecca and Deborah and a son Alexander.

Marco van Basten was born on 31, October, 1964 in Utrecht, Netherlands to Joop van Basten and his wife Leny van Basten. His father Joop played football but only till semi-professional level.

He showed early promise as a footballer and when he was only six years old, he registered with a local club in Utrecht called EDO. At seven, he joined UVV Utrecht, the biggest club in the city and spent nine years at the youth levels of the club.

He was taken to Amsterdam by Dutch club AFC Ajax in 1981 and the following year in April, he made his debut for the club and announced himself on the big stage with a goal.

In the season beginning 1982, Marco van Basten came into his own for AFC Ajax as he netted nine goals in the league and started competing for the place of the forward. In the subsequent four seasons, he ended up as the top scorer in the Dutch league and emerged as the premier striker in Europe.

In the season that ended in 1986, he returned a haul of 36 goals in the league for Ajax and his performance won him the European Golden Boot. He left the club the following year and in his 6 year stint at the club he scored 128 goals in 133 games. He also helped them win 3 league titles and a solitary UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup title.

He scored 5 goals and led his country to the European Championships title in 1988. In the World Cup in Germany, he could not score any goals but in the following European Championships four years later, he was part of the Dutch team which reached the semi finals. He scored 24 goals in 58 games for his country.

Van Basten moved to Italian club AC Milan in 1987 and at the end of the very first season won the league title even though he did not play much owing to an injury. In the following season, he scored 19 league goals as AC Milan ended up winning the league and the European Cup. The season after, he helped the club retain their European Cup crown.

He helped AC Milan go unbeaten an entire season in 1991-92 by scoring 25 goals as they captured the league title and in an injury plagued season the following year he played intermittently for the club. A knee problem brought his time at AC Milan to an end after eight fruitful years during which he scored 90 goals in 147 league appearances. He retired from professional football after that.

He won the Ballon D’Or in 1988 and won it the following year as well.

He won the FIFA World Player of the Year Award and the Ballon D’Or in 1992.

Brazilian legend Pele named Van Basten in the ‘FIFA 100’ in 2004, which was a list of the greatest living footballers.

His most important achievement was that of scoring 5 goals in the European Championships of 1988 which helped his team win the title. He was also the highest goal scorer in the tournament.