Gianni Zuiverloon

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Gianni Zuiverloon
Personal information
Full name	Gianni Michel Eugène Zuiverloon
Date of birth	December 30, 1986 (1986-12-30) (age 22)
Place of birth	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Right back/Centre back
Club information
Current club	West Bromwich Albion
Number	22
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2004–2006 2005–2006 2006–2008 2008–	Feyenoord → RKC Waalwijk (loan) SC Heerenveen West Bromwich Albion	10 (0) 28 (1) 60 (3) 30 (0)
National team2
	Netherlands U21	17 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17:47, 8 February 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 16:25, 2 July 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Gianni Michel Eugène Zuiverloon (born 30 December 1986 in Rotterdam, Netherlands) is a Dutch footballer. He currently plays for Championship side West Bromwich Albion as either a right back or a centre back.

Contents 1 Club career 1.1 West Bromwich Albion 2 International career 3 References 4 External links

[edit] Club career

Zuiverloon started playing football at the age of six, when he got tired of other sports such as karate and swimming. His mother, who did not know much about football, called the first team she found in the yellow pages, which was Feyenoord. Feyenoord allowed Zuiverloon to join a youth training session, and after having proven himself at this session he was allowed to join the club, where he spent 11 years in various youth teams.

Due to the injury of a fellow team mate (Dustley Mulder) at Feyenoord, coach Ruud Gullit selected Zuiverloon for the first team, where he made his debut in professional football in the season of 2004–05. His first game was against Willem II Tilburg, on 22 August 2004. He played a total of ten games that season, scoring no goals. In order to get more first team experience he was loaned out to RKC Waalwijk in the 2005–06 season, where he played a total of 28 games.

In June 2006 he signed a three-year deal with his new club SC Heerenveen. The year before he was loaned to RKC, scoring his only goal that season against SC Heerenveen.

[edit] West Bromwich Albion

On 2 July 2008 it was confirmed by Heerenveen that he had signed a three-year deal, with an extra year in the club's favour, for West Bromwich Albion of the Premier League for £3.2million.

[edit] International career

Zuiverloon is a Netherlands Under 21 regular. He joined the Netherlands U21 squad for the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in France in the summer of 2006 and was capped three times.

In 2007 Zuiverloon 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. Zuiverloon participated in both of their first round group matches against Israel (1–0 win) and Portugal (2–1 win) to secure a semi final spot and to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the semi finals against England Zuiverloon had a great effort, playing a quality match which ended in 1–1 after extra time. In the following penalty shoot-out, with 32 kicks taken, Zuiverloon forced the decision with his strike past Scott Carson and brought the Dutch into their second straight final. The Dutch went on to retain their 2006 title by beating Serbia 4–1 in the final. After the tournament he was named in the 'UEFA Team of the tournament'. At the 2008 Olympics he helped the Netherlands to reach the quarter-finals, where they were defeated 2–1 by Argentina.^[1]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gianni Zuiverloon player profile at wba.co.uk
• Gianni Zuiverloon career stats at Soccerbase
• Official sc Heerenveen profile (Dutch)
• 2008 Beijing Olympics profile

v • d • e Netherlands squad – 2008 Summer Olympics 1 Velthuizen • 2 Zuiverloon • 3 Marcellis • 4 Jaliens • 5 Pieters • 6 Luyckx • 7 De Guzmán • 8 Emanuelson • 9 Makaay • 10 Sibon • 11 Babel • 12 Maduro • 13 Jong-a-Pin • 14 Sno • 15 Drenthe • 16 Beerens • 17 Bakkal • 18 Vermeer • Coach: de Haan

v • d • e West Bromwich Albion F.C. – current squad 1 Kiely · 3 Robinson · 4 Čech · 5 Barnett · 6 Clement · 7 Koren · 8 Greening (c) · 9 Bednář · 10 Miller · 11 Brunt · 12 Beattie · 13 Daniels · 14 Kim · 15 MacDonald · 16 Moore · 17 Dorrans · 19 Carson · 20 Teixeira · 22 Zuiverloon · 23 Méïté · 24 Martis · 26 Olsson · 27 Morrison · 28 Valero · 34 Downing · 38 Sawyers · 39 Wood · 41 Allsopp · — Cox · — Labadie · — Worrall · Manager: Di Matteo