Mark van Bommel

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Born
1977 (48 years old)
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Maasbracht, Netherlands

Position
Manager

Status
Active

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Height
187 cm

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Kit
Wage Year

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Sport

Soccer

Team
Antwerp

2nd Team

League
Belgian Pro League

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Description

Mark Peter Gertruda Andreas van Bommel (born 22 April 1977) is a Dutch football coach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the manager of Belgian side Royal Antwerp. His FIFA World Cup profile describes him as "a tackling machine and expert ball-winner, but he also boasts a fine array of passes and a powerful shot, having been a free-kick specialist during his PSV days".

He played in and won the Dutch Eredivisie with PSV, Spanish La Liga with Barcelona, German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich, and Italian Serie A with Milan. Between 2000 and 2011, he won eight national championship titles in four competitions: four with PSV, two with Bayern, one with Barcelona and one with Milan. Van Bommel won the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League with Barcelona and was Bayern's first foreign captain. At Bayern, he led the team to two Bundesliga titles, and finished runner-up in the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final.

From 2000 to 2012, Van Bommel was part of the Netherlands team and earned 79 caps. He was part of the teams that went to the 2006 FIFA World Cup, finished runner-up at the 2010 FIFA World Cup and went to UEFA Euro 2012.

He began managing as a youth coach and assistant to his father-in-law and former international manager Bert van Marwijk. He then managed in his own right at PSV, VfL Wolfsburg and Royal Antwerp, winning the Belgian Pro League and Belgian Cup double with the latter in 2022–23.

Van Bommel's debut for the Netherlands was a 4–0 on 7 October 2000 against Cyprus. However, he did not make an appearance in a major tournament until 2006, with the Netherlands failing to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and injury preventing him from playing during UEFA Euro 2004 in Portugal.

National team manager Marco van Basten was dissatisfied with Van Bommel's defensive performance in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Romania and he was subsequently not selected for the rest of the qualification series. With many Dutch football observers believing Van Bommel's international career to be over, he was selected back into the Dutch side for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

At the 2006 World Cup, Van Bommel played in three of the games for his country (all except the match against Argentina, where both teams had already sealed their passage to the knockout stage of the tournament). He was substituted twice in these three matches. His position in the team was as right-half. His duties were mainly to play the anchor role in the Dutch three-man midfield in their usual 4–3–3 formation.

A notoriously hard-tackling competitor, he was the first of many players booked in the second-round defeat against Portugal, dubbed "The Battle of Nuremberg" by the press. After the World Cup, Van Bommel was not called up for the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Luxembourg and Belarus. In September 2006, after his move to Bayern Munich, he was added to Van Basten's squad to face Bulgaria; however, Van Bommel stated (alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy) he would not play for Oranje as long as Van Basten was in charge. After Van Basten left to manage Ajax, new Netherlands head coach (and father-in-law) Bert van Marwijk recalled Van Bommel, which led to his return in the Dutch national team. Van Bommel was part of the starting line-up in the Dutch team for the 2010 World Cup, managed by Van Marwijk.

Van Bommel was selected by Van Marwijk to succeed Giovanni van Bronckhorst as the new captain of the Netherlands, despite initial claims he did not want to be the new captain, having been absent from the national team for two years. He captained the side for the first time in a 5–0 away win against San Marino. Against San Marino, Van Bommel captained the Netherlands to a record-breaking 11–0 victory in Eindhoven on 2 September 2011.

Following the Netherlands' elimination from the Euro 2012, Van Bommel retired from international football. He scored ten goals in his 79 international appearances.

Van Bommel is married to Andra, daughter of Bert van Marwijk, with whom he has three children: Thomas, Ruben and Renée.

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