Edson Braafheid

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Edson Braafheid
Personal information
Full name	Edson Rene Braafheid
Date of birth	April 8, 1983 (1983-04-08) (age 26)
Place of birth	Paramaribo, Suriname
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Left Back
Club information
Current club	FC Bayern Munich
Number	4
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2003-2007 2007-2009 2009-	FC Utrecht FC Twente Bayern Munich	080 0(2) 076 0(1) 000 0(0)
National team2
2009–	Netherlands	01 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 10, 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of October 10, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Edson Braafheid (born 8 April 1983 in Paramaribo, Suriname) is a Surinamese-Dutch footballer, currently playing as a left back for Bayern Munich.

Contents 1 Career 1.1 Career stats 2 Twente and Olympics 3 Oranje 4 References

[edit] Career

On February 10, 2007 he played his first Eredivisie match for Twente against Feyenoord ^[1] His current contract at the club lasts until 2010.

[edit] Career stats

Season	Club	Country	Competition	Matches	Goals
2003/04	FC Utrecht	Netherlands	Eredivisie	13	0
2004/05	FC Utrecht	Netherlands	Eredivisie	23	0
2005/06	FC Utrecht	Netherlands	Eredivisie	31	2
2006/07	FC Utrecht	Netherlands	Eredivisie	13	0
2006/07	FC Twente	Netherlands	Eredivisie	11	0
2007/08	FC Twente	Netherlands	Eredivisie	32	0
2008/09	FC Twente	Netherlands	Eredivisie	33	1
			Total	156	3

[edit] Twente and Olympics

Edson Braafheid came to FC Twente for free after his contract with Utrecht expired; he was a talented leftback, but Braafheid impressed friend and foe when playing for Twente as a strong, sturdy central defender instead of his former position. He kept talented central defender Ramon Zomer out of the Twente squad ever since he made the position his own. Former Twente and now Schalke 04 coach Fred Rutten is to thank for that, turning Braafheid from a noticeably talented back to an impressive central defender, despite his mediate height. In early summer of 2008 Braafheid was selected for the Dutch Olympic Squad going to Beijing, along with fellow FC Twente defender Rob Wielaert as one of the three possible dispensation players. But as Twente qualified for Champions League football in play-offs by beating Ajax, Braafheid and Wielaert were no longer allowed to go, as their CL-matches are early in the season.

[edit] Oranje

In a column in early 2008, critic Hugo Borst had named Braafheid as a true defender, and stated he should have been in the Dutch squad for the EC 2008, in Austria and Switzerland under, now former, coach Marco van Basten. Dutch fans heavily criticise the defence after Jaap Stam, Frank de Boer and other highly rated defenders said goodbye to the Orange shirt. Even despite the defenders since then continued to concede very few goals in the post-Stam era, defence was considered as the greatest weakness. On 11 February 2009, Braafheid made his debut for the Dutch national squad versus Tunisia national football team. In 2006 he was part of the Netherlands squad that won the UEFA U-21 Championship 2006 in Portugal.

[edit] References

• Profile at VI.nl (Dutch)

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