Mark van Bommel

Van Bommel started his amateur career at local club RKVV Maasbracht before earning a professional contract with Fortuna Sittard in 1992. His colleagues at Fortuna who would later join PSV alongside him were Wilfred Bouma and Kevin Hofland.

Barcelona

Van Bommel with Barcelona.

Seeking to strengthen his already title-winning squad, Frank Rijkaard signed Van Bommel on a free transfer for Barcelona.[4] Van Bommel spent the summer prior to his move to Spain learning the Spanish language in a convent in Eindhoven.[5] Similar to his role at PSV where he was largely used as a holding midfielder, utilising his ball-winning skills to complement the more skillful players already at the club.[4][5] As per his squad role, throughout the league campaign he was rotated with fellow midfielders Xavi, Edmílson, Andrés Iniesta, Deco and Thiago Motta, featuring in 24 domestic matches and a further 12 in cup competitions. His only season with Barcelona was largely successful as the club won La Liga and the 2005–06 Champions League. He won his third trophy with the club on 20 August 2006 as Barça beat city rivals Espanyol in the 2006 Supercopa de España. Six days later, however, it was announced that Van Bommel had joined Bayern Munich.[5]

Bayern Munich

Mark van Bommel with Bayern Munich in 2009

On 26 August 2006, Bayern Munich team manager Uli Hoeneß announced Van Bommel would be joining the Bundesliga club. Media reports speculated that the move was influenced by the ongoing Owen Hargreaves transfer saga, but Hoeneß insisted the club intended to go forward with both players.[6] Bayern Munich paid 6 million euro to Barcelona in the deal.

Soon after joining the Bavarian side, Van Bommel proved to be a key player for them, providing strength in the middle of the pitch. Due to his terrific performances during his first season at Bayern, he was voted the Bayern Player of the Year for 2006–07, beating out longtime fan-favorites Roy Makaay and Mehmet Scholl. In the 2007–08 season, he won his first silverware with club as Bayern claimed a double of the Bundesliga title and DFB-Pokal.

After Oliver Kahn retired in 2008, Van Bommel was selected as captain, becoming the club's first ever non-German captain.[7]

Under the management of compatriot Louis van Gaal, Van Bommel led Bayern to the second league and cup double of his time at the club during the 2009–10 season. The team also reached the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final, but a defeat by Internazionale denied Bayern its first ever treble.

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.

Van Bommel with Dutch fans.

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.

Mark van Bommel (left) with (from left to right) Gregory van der Wiel, Demy de Zeeuw and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

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.[13] 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.[14]

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.[15] 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.[16]

Following the Netherlands' elimination from the Euro 2012, Van Bommel retired from international football.[17]

Van Bommel started his coaching career as an assistant manager in January 2014, joining the Netherlands U17 national team under Maarten Stekelenburg.[18] On 1 September 2015, he joined his father-in-law Bert van Marwijk at the Saudi Arabia national team, serving as assistant there for two years.[19] On 25 April 2017, he was appointed head coach of the PSV youth (U19) team.[20] On 23 March 2018, he reunited with van Marwijk at the Australia national team, assisting him at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[21]

As of match played 15 December 2019

Van Bommel is married to Andra, daughter of Bert van Marwijk, with whom he has three children: Thomas, Ruben and Renée.[29]

• On 21 August 2007, television broadcaster TV Limburg and Van Bommel made a joke to show that news is often spread without verification of its source. The station sent an interview, stating that Van Bommel applied for German nationality. Van Bommel did not want to play Marco van Basten in the Dutch football team anymore. Through this application, Van Bommel could continue his international career through the German football team. Obviously, this is not possible in practice according to the rules of the FIFA. Whoever has played an official international country for a country may, according to the World Football Association, no longer qualify for another country. Television broadcaster TV Limburg said to have wanted to show that other news sources are simply taking over sources without verifying them. The joke succeeded because the "newsfeed" became uncontrolled - further told by the Dutch NOS News, which is well known for high quality and objective news telling.[30]
• On 8 September 2011, Fortuna Sittard announced[31] that a unique portrait of Van Bommel was auctioned. It was made on Van Bommel’s father commission by the Dutch contemporary oil painter Edwin IJpeij. The father of Mark, John van Bommel, organized this auction to raise funds to help solving the financial problems of Fortuna Sittard, the club where Mark van Bommel was trained and made his debut.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mark van Bommel.

• Mark van Bommel at National-Football-Teams.com
• Mark van Bommel – FIFA competition record
• Mark van Bommel at fcbayern.de
• Mark van Bommel at fussballdaten.de (in German)