Edwin van der Sar is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who was most recently the chief executive of Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a member of the club's golden generation and was part of the Ajax team that won the UEFA Champions League in 1995. A goalkeeper, he left Ajax for Juventus in 1999, where he spent two years before moving to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United in 2005. There he won a second Champions League title in 2008, making him one of just eight players at the time to have won the competition with more than one club. He retired as a professional in 2011, but briefly came out of retirement in 2016 to play a match for Dutch amateur team VV Noordwijk, for whom he had previously played as a youth. He played 130 times for the Netherlands national team, and was the nation's most-capped player until 2017, when he was overtaken by Wesley Sneijder.
Van der Sar at the 2015 Web Summit, Dublin
Van der Sar at Fulham.
Van der Sar in action for Manchester United.
Van der Sar playing for Manchester United during the 2010–11 season
Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax, also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax is the most successful club in the Netherlands, with 36 Eredivisie titles and 20 KNVB Cups. It has continuously played in the Eredivisie since the league's inception in 1956, and along with Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven, it is one of the country's "big three" clubs that have dominated that competition.
Johan Cruyff played at Ajax from 1959 to 1973, and from 1981 to 1983, winning 3 European Cups; his No. 14 is the only squad number Ajax has ever retired. Cruyff came back to manage the club from 1985 to 1988.
Against Panathinaikos in the 1971 European Cup Final
Cruijff, seen here with van Basten and Rijkaard, returned as manager in 1985.
Het Houten Stadion, Ajax's first venue, c. 1917–18