René van der Gijp

René van der Gijp

Van der Gijp in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	(1961-04-04) 4 April 1961
Place of birth	Dordrecht, Netherlands
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Winger
Youth career
	DFC
1975–1976	Feyenoord
1976–1978	Sparta Rotterdam
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1978–1982	Sparta Rotterdam	83	(28)
1982–1984	Lokeren	66	(18)
1984–1987	PSV	83	(43)
1987–1988	Neuchâtel Xamax	19	(6)
1988–1989	Aarau	6	(1)
1989–1990	Sparta Rotterdam	17	(0)
1990–1992	Heerenveen	32	(6)
International career
1982–1987	Netherlands	15	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

René van der Gijp (born 4 April 1961) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right winger for Sparta Rotterdam, Lokeren, PSV, Neuchâtel Xamax, Aarau and Heerenveen, as well as for the Netherlands national team. Since retiring from football in 1992, he has worked as a sports pundit and commentator.

The son of former footballer Wim and nephew of Cor, van der Gijp was born in Dordrecht and began his senior career with Sparta Rotterdam in 1978. During his career, where his best period was in the mid-1980s for PSV, he gained 15 caps for the Netherlands national team in which he scored two goals.

After ending his playing career, van der Gijp became known on television as a co-host in the football talk show Voetbal Inside (later Veronica Inside). His contribution to the program earned him a nomination for the "Televizier Talent Award" in 2010. The biographies Gijp (2012) and De wereld volgens Gijp (2016) were bestsellers and were awarded the "NS Publieksprijs" (NS Audience Award).

Football career

Club career

Born in Dordrecht, van der Gijp started playing football at local side DFC. In 1975, he started playing in the Feyenoord youth academy with the likes of Hans Kraay Jr.. After a year, however, he was sent away from Feyenoord and moved to Sparta Rotterdam on the advice of Hans Kraay Sr. Two years later, van der Gijp made his debut in the first team, which counted players such as Louis van Gaal, Arie van Staveren, Luuk Balkestein, Adri van Tiggelen, Danny Blind, Ruud Geels, Ronald Lengkeek, Gerard van der Lem, Geert Meijer, Dick Advocaat and David Loggie.

After four seasons, in 1982, van der Gijp left Sparta joined Lokeren in Belgium. There, he made his first European appearances in his first season. He managed to score twice in four UEFA Cup matches.

Van der Gijp and Ruud Gullit for the Netherlands (1982).

After two and a half seasons, van der Gijp returned to the Netherlands in November 1984 to play for PSV. At the Eindhoven-based club, van der Gijp experienced the most successful years of his career, in which he became Dutch champions twice and scored more than forty goals. On 1 July 1987, van der Gijp left PSV, where he had played together with Ernie Brandts, Hallvar Thoresen, Glenn Hysén, Kenneth Brylle, Ruud Gullit, Frank Arnesen, Gerald Vanenburg and Ronald Koeman. His new club became the Swiss Neuchâtel Xamax coached by Gilbert Gress. Club management had assumed that van der Gijp was a striker with strong heading abilities, while he had in reality never played that position. Nevertheless, Neuchâtel Xamax became Swiss champions with van der Gijp in the team and also won the Swiss Super Cup twice. In Switzerland, he played another season and a half for FC Aarau, before returning to his former club Sparta. After half a season with the Rotterdam team, he played the last two years of his career for SC Heerenveen, where he retired in 1992.

International career

From left to right: Hoekstra, Kieft, Van der Gijp, Holverda and Rijvers (1984).

In 1982, van der Gijp was first called up for the Netherlands national team by then national team coach Kees Rijvers. He made his international debut on 22 September 1982, in a UEFA Euro 1984 qualifying match at home against Ireland (2–1). Van der Gijp thus became the second Oranje international in history whose father also played in the Dutch national team. He would eventually play fifteen international matches in which he scored two goals, both scored in a friendly against Denmark (6-0). For the Netherlands, van der Gijp played mostly together with Ruud Gullit, Hans van Breukelen, Ronald Spelbos, Frank Rijkaard, Ben Wijnstekers, Marco van Basten, Sonny Silooy, Peter Boeve, Willy van de Kerkhof and Adri van Tiggelen. René became the third Van der Gijp to play for the Dutch national team. Both his uncle Cor van der Gijp and his father Wim van der Gijp wore the Orange jersey. René van der Gijp is often referred to the fact that he has not been able to get the most out of his career. Experts believe that he could have played more international matches with his talent and perhaps could have started working for a European top club. However, he himself questions this.

Media career

After his football career, van der Gijp became known as a television pundit for Dutch football talk show Voetbal International, broadcast by RTL. He is now active in the same role in Veronica Inside (which has the same format as Voetbal International) on Veronica.

Van der Gijp announced a theater show scheduled for 2 September 2020 in Rotterdam Ahoy.

References

Bibliography

Printed

• van Egmond, Michel (2013). Gijp. Gouda: Voetbal International. ISBN 978-90-71359-47-7. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• van Egmond, Michel (2016). De wereld volgens Gijp. Gouda: Voetbal International. ISBN 978-90-488-3952-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

Online

• "René van der Gijp will be in Ahoy in 2020 with a theater show". www.tellerreport.com. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
• de Jong, Andries (16 February 2018). "Ex-vrouw onthult: 'René van der Gijp sloeg me'" (in Dutch). Nieuwe Revu. Retrieved 13 September 2020.

External links

Media related to René van der Gijp at Wikimedia Commons

• René van der Gijp at National-Football-Teams.com
• René van der Gijp at WorldFootball.net