Wesley Sneijder born 9 June 1984) is a Dutch
footballer who plays for Turkish
Süper Lig club
Galatasaray and the
Dutch national team. He was named
UEFA midfielder of the season and one of the three best midfielders in the world for
2010 by
FIFA. A product of the
AFC Ajax Academy, he previously played for
AFC Ajax, with whom he won seven trophies and was awarded the
Johan Cruijff Award in 2004. He was sold to
Real Madrid for €27 million in 2007, winning
La Liga in his first season with the club and later being sold to
Internazionale for €15 million. At Inter, he won
Serie A, the
UEFA Champions League, the
Club World Cup, and the
Coppa Italia twice. After being sold to
Galatasaray for €7.5 million in 2013, he helped the club win the
Süper Lig in his first season.
Sneijder previously represented various youth squads for the Netherlands. He is now a regular player for the
Dutch national team, having made his debut in April 2003 at the age of 18, and having represented his country at the World Cup in
2006 and
2010 (reaching the finals) as well as
UEFA Euro2004 and
2008. Individually, he was awarded the
2010 Bronze Boot, the
2010 Silver Ball, and included in the team of the tournament for UEFA Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup, as well as named man of the match for six out of eleven games played by the
Oranje at these two tournaments.
