Gianni Zuiverloon

From Tekken City

Revision as of 19:27, 15 March 2011

Gianni Zuiverloon
Birthplace	Rotterdam, Netherlands
Birth Date	December 30, 1986 (19)
Position	Defender
Previous Clubs	Feyenoord (NED) RKC Waalwijk (NED) SC Heerenveen
W.A.G	Unknown

Gianni Zuiverloon (born December 30, 1986 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch football defender, who played for Tekken City from August 2007 to July 2009 in the FA Barclays Premiership in England.

Career Overview

Gianni Zuiverloon started playing football at the age of six, when he got tired of other sports such as karate and swimming. His mother, who did not know much about football, called the first team she found at the yellow pages and surprisingly enough this happened to be Feyenoord. Feyenoord allowed Zuiverloon to join a youth training session, and after having proven himself at this session he was allowed to join the club, where he spent 11 years in various youth teams.

Due to the injury of a fellow team mate (Dustley Mulder) at Feyenoord, coach Ruud Gullit selected Zuiverloon for the first team, where he made his debut in professional football in the season of 2004/2005. His first game was against Willem II Tilburg, on the 22nd of August 2004. He played a total of ten games that season, scoring no goals. In order to get more first team experience he was loaned out to RKC Waalwijk in the 2005/2006 season, where he played a total of 28 games.

In June 2006 he signed a 3-year deal with his new club SC Heerenveen. The year before he was loaned to RKC, scoring his only goal that season against SC Heerenveen.

Tekken City

On August 31, 2007, (transfer deadline day), he completed a £4 million switch to Tekken City. He signed a 5-year-contract. Zuiverloon signed for the club as a immediate replacement for Stuart Atkiss, who joined Aston Villa on a season loan. Zuiverloon played at right back for Tekken for a number of games. However, he failed to cement a place, and Steven Cherundolo suffocated his chance to start week-in-week out.

In July, 2009 Zuiverloon was loaned out to West Brom for the season and immediately made an impact at the Hawthorns. The Baggies then made the move Permanent in January that season.

International games

Gianni Zuiverloon is a Holland Under 21 regular. He joined the Holland U21 squad for the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in France in the summer of 2006 and was capped three times.

In 2007 Zuiverloon was called up by Jong Oranje coach Foppe de Haan to be part of his squad for the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship held in the Netherlands. Zuiverloon participated in both of their first round group matches against Israel (1-0 win) and Portugal (2-1 win) to secure a semi final spot and to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the semi finals against England Zuiverloon had a great effort, playing a quality match which ended in 1-1 after extra time. In the following penalty shoothout with 32 kicks taken, Zuiverloon forced the decision with his strike past Scott Carson and brought the Dutch in their second straight final. The Dutch went on to retain their 2006 title by beating Serbia 4-1 in the final. After the tournament he was named in the 'UEFA Team of the tournament'.