Arjen Robben

Robben, born in Bedum on 23 January 1984, was not around to see those halcyon days of ‘Total football’ and was little more than a toddler when his current international manager spearheaded a memorable Dutch triumph at the 1988 European Championship. However, since beginning his career with FC Groningen in November of 2000 and winning the club’s Player of the Year award while still just 17, the winger has set about making history all of his own.

PSV gambled 4.2million Euros on him realising his potential at that fledging stage of his career and, after loaning the teenager back to Gronigen for a season, reaped their rewards when he returned to the Philips Stadium and immediately struck up a deadly partnership with Mateja Kezman a player against whom he is likely to line up on 11 June, when the Netherlands lock horns with Serbia and Montenegro.

The Dutch title was secured with ease in his first full season with PSV and, though the following campaign was punctuated by a string of injuries that at one stage threatened his involvement at EURO 2004, that did not dissuade Manchester United and Chelsea from entering into a battle for his signature from which the super-rich London club eventually emerged triumphant. His first season in England again saw injuries hamper his progress, but though Chelsea would have preferred to see a greater quantity of appearances from the young Dutchman, there was no disputing his quality. Robben appeared more frequently in the 2005/06 campaign and arrived in Germany having helped Chelsea capture a second successive Premiership title.

2006 will be Robben’s first FIFA World Cup™, and many consider him the ace in the Netherlands’ pack. In the three-pronged attack preferred by Marco van Basten, he and Ruud van Nistelrooy are adjudged certainties to take up the left and central roles respectively, leaving the likes of Dirk Kuyt, Robin van Persie and Roy Makaay to jostle for the remaining slot.