Mario Melchiot

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Mario Melchiot
Mario-Melchiot.jpg
Personnel
birthday 4th November 1976
place of birth Amsterdam ,  Netherlands
size 188 cm
position Defense
Juniors
Years station
De Volewijckers
Ajax Amsterdam
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1996-1999 Ajax Amsterdam 73 (1)
1999-2004 Chelsea FC 130 (4)
2004-2006 Birmingham City 56 (2)
2006-2007 Rennes stadium 30 (2)
2007-2010 Wigan Athletic 97 (0)
2010-2011 Umm-Salal SC 20 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
2000-2008 Netherlands 22 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Mario Melchiot (born November 4, 1976 in Amsterdam ) is a former Dutch football player . The defensive player, who was versatile as a right full-back or center- back as well as in midfield, first won the Dutch championship with his home club Ajax Amsterdam in 1998 and the cup twice ( 1998 and 1999 ) before moving to England for Chelsea and there in 2000 Won the FA Cup . In addition, he completed 22 full international matches for the Netherlands and was part of the “Oranje” squad for Euro 2008 .

Athletic career

Ajax Amsterdam

The son of Surinamese immigrants came to football through his older brother Winston - he had four siblings in total and was the second youngest. He emulated his brother in many ways and he guided him to the De Volewijckers , where he played himself. There, the young Mario discovered talent scouts from the top Dutch club Ajax Amsterdam at the age of nine and he finally completed a successful trial training session. From there on he was part of Ajax's youth work before the young coaches told the 17-year-old that he was not good enough for a professional career. Together with his brother Winston and a friend of his junior coach, he worked intensively from then on to recommend himself, but the sudden death of his brother a few months later suddenly felt his goal was pointless. Thanks to a maternal advice, however, he overcame this phase and his efforts were ultimately rewarded with a one-year contract with the Ajax amateurs. Finally, on August 14, 1996, he even made his professional debut at the opening of the Amsterdam Arena against AC Milan .

For a few months head coach Louis van Gaal discovered him as the best player in the reserve team and immediately brought him into the professional squad. In the further course of the 1996/97 season he was regularly used under van Gaal. He was in the semi-finals of the Champions League with Ajax and scored his first goal in the second leg against Juventus Turin , which was worthless in view of the 1: 4 defeat (after the 1: 2 in the first leg). Interest in him had risen by leaps and bounds, but he decided against an early club change - also in view of his family ties after the death of his brother - and instead signed a new two-year contract with Ajax. In the following two years Melchiot won the KNVB Cup twice and the Dutch championship in 1998 . He continuously improved his offensive skills and before the contract expired, Ajax presented him with a new three-year contract. Melchiot saw his future abroad, however, and moved to the English Premier League for Chelsea in the summer of 1999 for an initially planned three years on a free transfer .

Chelsea FC

Despite his Ajax successes, Melchiot, who had not yet matured to the senior national team, was considered a "no-name" in England. He had to wait eight months for his debut at the "Blues" before replacing the injured right-back Albert Ferrer in the 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough FC . A month later he was suddenly at Wembley in the cup final against Aston Villa . Here he showed a good performance and his offensive run, which could only be stopped with a free kick, indirectly ensured the decisive 1-0 for Roberto di Matteo . Again shortly afterwards he was in the team that defeated reigning champions Manchester United 2-0 in the Supercup and he finished himself with a left-footed shot to the final score. Somewhat surprisingly, he then lost his regular place, as coach Gianluca Vialli trusted his compatriot Christian Panucci, who was on loan . After Vialli's dismissal, however, he returned to the team under the successor Claudio Ranieri and in a changeable season of the club Melchiot stood out with duel strength and high commitment. He had thus conquered the regular place on the right side of the defense. In the following season 2001/02 he was part of a stable line of defense, which in the meantime allowed only one goal in eight games in a row (although he had a reputation for occasionally prone to lack of concentration). The negative interim episode in October 2001 was his red card in the UEFA Cup against Hapoel Tel Aviv , which ushered in the turnaround for the 2-0 defeat. On the other hand, he scored his first Premier League goal with a header in a 3-0 win against Manchester United at Old Trafford , which he followed up with a long-range goal to make it 3-2 against local rivals Fulham . In January 2002 he committed an assault against Teddy Sheringham from Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup , for which Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink was initially wrongly given the red card (the decision was quickly revised). Later he was another in an FA Cup final , but lost there 2-0 to Arsenal .

In the following year, Melchiot stabilized with Chelsea and the long-awaited Champions League qualification succeeded . Although he was only on the bench behind Ferrer at the beginning of the 2002/03 season, he returned to the second game and was more consistent than before - albeit without a goal of his own. When the club made a number of high-profile signings under new owner Roman Abramowitsch in the summer of 2003, Melchiot also got new competition with Glen Johnson . Johnson eventually pushed him out of the starting line-up, but with the help of the rotation of coach Ranieri and Johnson's occasional form weaknesses, he completed 23 Premier League games. He scored two goals, including the 1-0 winner at Southampton FC in November 2003. Later he lost with Chelsea twice within a short time 2-1 to Arsenal and he was blamed for the respective defeat in both games due to mistakes . After being demoted to the bench, he reported back with a goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers and he was also part of the team again in the successful rematch against Arsenal in the Champions League . He played the last six competitive games of the season, including the two semi-finals against AS Monaco , which resulted in the end of the current competition. His expiring contract was then not renewed and he moved to the new 2004/05 season on a free transfer to league rivals Birmingham City .

Birmingham, Rennes, Wigan & Umm Salal

In Birmingham he signed a two-year contract and the first season was relatively successful for Melchiot with a secured midfield . In the second year, however, the performance curve was down and Melchiot went through what was probably the most difficult phase of his career. The club struggled to stay in the league and ultimately rose from third from bottom to the second division. In addition, the club's supporters identified him as a scapegoat and expressed their displeasure with him. So he "fled" to France to the Stade Rennes and tried a new start there on the basis of a one-year contract.

Melchiot worked hard on himself and found his strength back in Rennes. He was considered a key player in the team that worked their way up from a relegation point to fourth place in the 2006/07 season . So two years after his last appearance he was back in the focus of the Dutch national team. Stade Rennes tried to further bind Melchiot, but this eventually returned to the Premier League. He signed a three-year contract with Wigan Athletic and became the team captain there. After the contract expired, Melchiot let his career come to an end in Qatar at Umm-Salal SC until 2011.

Dutch national team

Melchiot played 22 full internationals for the Dutch national team . He made his debut on October 11, 2000 in World Cup qualification against Portugal (0-2). After the Netherlands had not reached the World Cup finals in 2002, he was not part of the squad for the following tournaments (the Euro 2004 in Portugal and the 2006 World Cup in Germany). Only with his good performance in France did he make a lasting return and was part of the Elftal squad for the first time at a major tournament at the 2008 European Championship . He came to a use in the game against Romania (2-0), which was also the last in his career.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "Chelsea who's who" (BBC Sport)
  2. ↑ a b "About Mario Melchio" ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (mariomelchiot.com) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / mariomelchiot.com
  3. ↑ "Mario MELCHIOT - Chelsea FC - Biography of his football career at Chelsea." (Sporting Heroes)
personal data
SURNAME Melchiot, Mario
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH 4th November 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Amsterdam