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A defensive midfielder, with a tactical intelligence and passing ability, Frank Rijkaard was born on September 30, 1962, in Amsterdam.
Club Career
Frank played football with Ruud Gullit until he made his senior debut for Ajax on August 23, 1980. It was a 4-2 victory over Go Ahead Eagles, which he scored the 3rd goal of his side.
Rijkaard netted 4 goals in his 1st season, and the glory got bigger when he won the 1981-82 league title.
Frank could keep the Eredivisie title in the next season and won it in 1984-85 too. He received the Dutch Golden Shoe award in 1985.
Rijkaard won the Dutch Cup three times and added the 1986-87 European Cup Winners’ Cup victory to his career achievements.
These accomplishments brought him another Dutch Golden Shoe in his last season.
Frank later swore that he would never play under Johan Cruyff, after he got mad at this new coach in September 1987.
Afterward he joined Sporting CP, but got loaned to Real Zaragoza without performing in any games.
Frank, before finishing the season at Real Zaragoza, got transferred to A.C. Milan in 1988.
His 5-year spell in Serie-A was excellent.
Scoring their 1st goal against Sampdoria, Frank contributed to the 1988 Supercoppa Italiana victory.
In the 1988-89 season, Rijkaard took part in the European Cup, European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup victories.
He kept the titles in the following season, becoming the “Man of the Match” in the 1990 Intercontinental Cup.
Frank completed his tenure with 1991-92 and 1992-93 Serie-A championships and returned to Ajax.
In his 2nd spell, he won the Eredivisie title in 1994 and 1995.
Frank then finished his playing career after the 1995 UEFA Champions League victory.
International Career
Rijkaard performed for the Netherlands from 1981 to 1994.
With a 2-0 victory over the Soviet Union, he won the Euro 1988 and named in the Team of the Tournament.
Frank Rijkaard later represented his country in the 1990 World Cup, in which he involved in a conflict with Rudi Völler.
In the round of 16, Frank and Völler got mad at each other, and Frank spat on Völler. They sent off, and the Netherlands lost the game 2-1 to West Germany.
Euro 1992 was the competition that Frank showed an impressive performance by scoring the equalizer against Denmark in the semi-finals.
Yet, they lost the match during the penalty shootouts.
His last game for the national team came in the 1994 World Cup, in the quarter-final defeat to Brazil.
Frank then departed, having 73 caps for the Netherlands.
#Dutch,#The-Netherlands,#defensive-midfielder,#Ajax,#Eredivisie,#Dutch-Cup,#1986-87-European-Cup-Winners-Cup,#A.C.-Milan,#Serie-A,#1988-Supercoppa-Italiana,#1988-89-European-Cup,#1989-European-Super-Cup,#1989-Intercontinental-Cup,#1990-Intercontinental-Cup,#1995-UEFA-Champions-League,#Euro-1988,#Euro-1992,#1990-World-Cup,#1994-World-Cup
