DANIëL DE RIDDER

'Daniël de Ridder' (, born March 6, 1984) is a Dutch-Israeli footballer, who currently plays for Birmingham City. He previously played for Celta Vigo, Ajax Amsterdam as a forward winger or attacking midfielder. He was born to a Dutch father and an Israeli mother.
He made his official debut for Celta de Vigo in the match against Sevilla in September 2005, and played as a regular after the winterstop in matches against Osasuna, FC Barcelona and other Spanish clubs in the Primera Division.
De Ridder made his first-team breakthrough at Ajax on 21 January 2004 against Roda JC. He was a regular throughout the second half of the campaign, featuring in the UEFA Champions League, only to seek a fresh start in Spain with Celta de Vigo this season, having joined on a five-year contract.
Ever present in the qualification games of the Netherlands U-21 team along with Klaas Jan Huntelaar, the Amsterdam-born attacker entered the finals as the most experienced member of the Netherlands' U-21 squad with 18 caps. De Ridder scored the decisive goal in the match against Italy.
Holland won the UEFA U-21 Championship 2006. In 2007 De Ridder was called up by Jong Oranje coach Foppe de Haan to be part of his squad for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship held in the Netherlands. De Ridder participated in their first round group match against Israel (1-0 win) and after the match against Portugal (2-1 win) they secured a semi final spot and qualification for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the semi finals against England (1-1, 13-12 after 32 penalty kicks) De Ridder scored and missed one of the penalty kicks. In the final against Serbia (4-1), De Ridder provided the pass from which Otman Bakkal could score the 1-0. In the second half De Ridder created the opportunity for Ryan Babel to score 2-0. In the 87' minute Luigi Bruins tapped in the 4-1 through a move of De Ridder. And Holland won the UEFA U-21 Championship 2007.
Despite being an ever present figure in the Dutch youth teams, he's yet to receive a call-up for the senior side.

Contents

Ajax

Celta Vigo

Birmingham City

Statistics

Awards

Notes

External links

Ajax

Born in Amsterdam to a Dutch father and an Israeli mother, he is a forward/midfield player who operates either on the right or left-hand side but can also play in a more advanced role. De Ridder worked his way up to first-team selection from Ajax's youth department, making his full debut in an away game against Roda JC on 21 January 2004, and scored his first goal against Willem II on 16 May.
De Ridder was a regular throughout the second half of the campaign, starting nine games and appearing a further six times as a substitute. De Ridder made his UEFA Champions League debut in September 2004, coming on as a 69th-minute substitute in a 4-0 defeat at Bayern Munich.
Part of the Netherlands side that reached the second qualifying round of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in 2002/03, de Ridder stepped up to the U21s as the 2004/06 UEFA European Championship qualifying campaign kicked off.
De Ridder was told prior to the 2005-2006 season that there would be no room for him the squad and he could expect little playing time if he decided to stay.
In May 2005 newspapers reported that Olympique Lyon, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and Olympique Marseille showed interest in De Ridder. Local TV reports that some clubs from the Spanish La Liga also had de Ridder amongst their transfer targets.

Celta Vigo

Ajax and Celta reached an agreement on a two-year loan for De Ridder to the Spanish club - with the option to buy at the end of that period for €1 million.
On 25 September 2005, De Ridder made his official debut for Celta when they beat Sevilla, allowing the Galician club to temporarily top the Primera División. On 3 April 2006, de Ridder scored his first official goal for Celta against Atlético Madrid. Throughout the second half of the campaign he was a regular for Celta the Vigo against FC Barcelona, Valencia CF, CA Osasuna and other clubs.
Celta were relegated from the Spanish Primera Division at the end of the 2006-2007 season. De Ridder returned to Ajax, as Celta Vigo had decided not to excise their option to buy him, where he was allowed to leave on a free transfer.

Birmingham City

De Ridder signed for Birmingham City on a free transfer on 3 July 2007.^[1] He made his official debut on 12 August 2007 in the first competition match against Chelsea.

Statistics

Season	Club	Country	Competition	Matches	Goals
2003-04	AFC Ajax	Netherlands	Eredivisie	15	1
2004-05	AFC Ajax	Netherlands	Eredivisie	15	2
2005-06	Celta de Vigo	Spain	Primera División	17	1
2006-07	Celta de Vigo	Spain	Primera División	3	0
2007-08	Birmingham City	England	Premier League	1	0

Awards

★ Individual Award: 2004 - Talent of the Year (NOS Award)


★ Eredivisie: National Championschip 2004 (Ajax Amsterdam)


★ 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship


★ 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship

Notes

1. Birmingham sign winger De Ridder

External links

★ Daniel De Ridder - Info & News

★ FootballDatabase.com Profile

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★ Footballclips.net Video