Top 100 Quotes & Sayings by Edwin van der Sar

Explore popular quotes and sayings by a Dutch athlete Edwin van der Sar.

Last updated on October 18, 2024.

Edwin van der Sar OON is a Dutch football executive and former professional player who is currently the chief executive of AFC Ajax, with whom he began his senior playing career in the early 1990s; he is considered to be a member of the club's golden generation and was part of the Ajax team that won the UEFA Champions League in 1995. A goalkeeper, he left Ajax for Juventus in 1999, where he spent two years before moving to England, first to Fulham and then to Manchester United in 2005. There he won a second Champions League title in 2008, making him one of just eight players at the time to have won the competition with more than one club. He retired as a professional in 2011, but briefly came out of retirement in 2016 to play a match for Dutch amateur team VV Noordwijk, for whom he had previously played as a youth. He played 130 times for the Netherlands national team, and was the nation's most-capped player until 2017, when he was overtaken by Wesley Sneijder.

Dutch - Athlete | Born: October 29, 1970

Source: Wikipedia

If you go to Juventus, you want to go for longer than two years, and you want to win titles.

Edwin van der Sar

For us at Ajax, it is all about football.

Edwin van der Sar

It's great to have people talking about the club again, to reinvent and get to know Ajax again.

Edwin van der Sar

I signed for Ajax in 1989 when I was still at school.

Edwin van der Sar

If you have a love for sport, everybody knows the success of Madrid in the '60s, Ajax in the '70s, Bayern Munich, and so on.

Edwin van der Sar

I can't sleep at night when I think about the FA Cup!

Edwin van der Sar

I was in two successive European finals early in my career, so initially, you think that sort of thing is going to happen regularly. Then suddenly, it dries up, and before you know it, 13 years have passed before you get your next chance.

Edwin van der Sar

Ajax has always been about homegrown players developed in a small country.

Edwin van der Sar

Off the field, Ronaldo was also focusing on everything extensively, such as resting up properly and strengthening his body. After training sessions, he would often work on his free-kicks and then come to me and say, 'Edwin, can you go in goal?'

Edwin van der Sar

It is almost impossible to orchestrate the farewell you desire. That is something only a few people manage to do.

Edwin van der Sar

I accept that I didn't play very well in Italy for the two years. It was lower than my Ajax standard. I don't know why.

Edwin van der Sar

The Dutch league is not one of the strongest five leagues in the world, or even Europe, and that's why it is difficult to maintain.

Edwin van der Sar

I always said I wanted to finish my career back at Ajax, but I didn't think I was going to play for so long at such a high level, so that's not going to happen now.

Edwin van der Sar

It's always difficult if you're coming into a new club and new league, especially the English one. It's a very demanding one, can be a very tough one.

Edwin van der Sar

Celtic and Ajax are great names in history. They both have great followings all over the world, not just in Holland and Scotland.

Edwin van der Sar

As a goalkeeper, I needed good players around me. I needed Nemanja Vidic, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Wayne Rooney. It's the same as a CEO.

Edwin van der Sar

Of course that's Ajax development, giving young players a chance.

Edwin van der Sar

I remember that, often, Mike Phelan would just nip down to the touchline for a message to one or two players. It was usually just a tactical thing. But when Sir Alex comes to the touchline, all the players know that it's serious stuff.

Edwin van der Sar

United is a much bigger challenge than Ajax. They're not just a big and famous club but also a worldwide brand, yet when you're inside, it's still a family place.

Edwin van der Sar

You try and learn from clubs where you have been or actions clubs are taking to grow in certain markets, and that, for myself, is also important.

Edwin van der Sar

Sometimes I miss European football.

Edwin van der Sar

As a striker, all you want to do is score.

Edwin van der Sar

I'm just not very rock n' roll.

Edwin van der Sar

I've been the captain at Ajax and once for the national team - it's nice and makes you an important player.

Edwin van der Sar

I think every player gives a bit extra when he sees that his manager is fighting, too.

Edwin van der Sar

Matthijs is very mature for his age: he has the physique of a 24-year-old. He is also strong with both feet, has an extremely good range of passing, can head the ball, scores goals, and is a real leader at the back already at the age of 18.

Edwin van der Sar

Every time I hear that Champions League song, it reminds me of hearing it for the first time in the old Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.

Edwin van der Sar

Diehards know what Ajax is about, but you always need a new following, and if you are not successful, it is difficult.

Edwin van der Sar

At certain times, you start to - maybe not lose the faith - but just wonder how long it will take until someone picks me up. I was thinking, 'Is it just me? Do I think I'm better than any manager does?'

Edwin van der Sar

I think there are always a lot of rumours about players from Ajax. We develop great players, not only in Amsterdam but hopefully also in Cape Town, and there is interest in a lot of our players, but we like to keep them for as long as possible.

Edwin van der Sar

You want to build your own team for the highest level, and that happens more with teams that stay together.

Edwin van der Sar

Personally, I would never criticise a player in public.

Edwin van der Sar

When you see Sir Alex arguing with referees and linesmen, he is showing passion that has taken him to the very highest level of the game.

Edwin van der Sar

If I see something right, I say so.

Edwin van der Sar

I've never had the experience of 10 years at Unilever and five years at Coca Cola. But I'm not the marketing director who only wants 25 per cent a year on the revenues. In the old days, you sold something, and you would be happy. At Ajax, we thought we needed more from that than selling a seat and making five grand.

Edwin van der Sar

We want to bring our own players through. That is what people like about Ajax.

Edwin van der Sar

I remember, when I was 24, I said 34 was going to be the limit I will play to. But as everyone says, the older you get, the longer you want to go on because it gives you so much satisfaction.

Edwin van der Sar

You know you're in for a tough time if you're trailing and the other teams are doing well.

Edwin van der Sar

The FA Cup is the oldest cup competition in the world. Players are keen and willing to play in these games.

Edwin van der Sar

If you win, everyone asks what's your secret, when most of the time you did exactly the same in the ones you lost.

Edwin van der Sar

I share a special bond with Ajax. I think we are a special club. And we're known for our philosophy around the world.

Edwin van der Sar

I am not worried about being a legend, like Solskjaer; you do your bit, and that's what counts.

Edwin van der Sar

At Ajax, we have a certain philosophy that is sometimes more important than winning - the development of players.

Edwin van der Sar

You hope to bring your 'A Game' to any game, and of course you do in a final. You hope to bring experience, fitness, communication skills, motivational skills.

Edwin van der Sar

Running a marathon is unlike anything I have done. You can recall all those bad weights sessions or the work you had to do in pre-season, but marathon running is worse than any of it, probably the hardest thing I have had to do in my entire life.

Edwin van der Sar

Every flaw you have or lapse of concentration can cost you a goal, so you have to be on your toes every minute of the game.

Edwin van der Sar

I don't think there was a single United player from 2009 who could say he gave it everything and played well.

Edwin van der Sar

When I see the kind of passion Sir Alex shows, it is hard to believe he is about to celebrate his 71st birthday.

Edwin van der Sar

I think England's always good at making something special.

Edwin van der Sar

I went to Fulham for the project they explained to me - but it didn't really work out. I might have been playing at a high level for the national team, but I was starting to miss those European nights and challenging for titles.

Edwin van der Sar

It's hard for the older boys to play twice a week, so it's important for everyone in the squad to play their part.

Edwin van der Sar

Craven Cottage is a great stadium, really traditional, going through the rows of houses until a stadium suddenly appears.

Edwin van der Sar

A lot of the guys who played in the 1995 final for Ajax had been there since the age of 12 or 13. Patrick Kluivert and Edgar Davids had been there from age seven or eight, so I had a lot of catching up to do.

Edwin van der Sar

We accept that, in one way now, if you are 27, 28 and still playing for Ajax, you are probably not good enough for the top of Europe because players want to go to the top in Europe.

Edwin van der Sar

Personally, I don't think about the things I have won but the things I have lost.

Edwin van der Sar

It's always best if you can leave with a good memory.

Edwin van der Sar

I get great respect from the United fans and the directors and the people who are there still when you go there. It is a very warm club, very comparable to Ajax, only they have grown internationally amazingly.

Edwin van der Sar

I have won things in my career, and people ask why that's not enough. But there can always be more.

Edwin van der Sar

A lot of clubs have lost the perspective of what is a football club.

Edwin van der Sar

United is a special place.

Edwin van der Sar