Dennis Bergkamp - Biography

Last Editor: marketing				Dennis Bergkamp Biography -   Name : Dennis Bergkamp Date of birth : May 10, 1969 Place of birth : Amsterdam

Dennis Bergkamp Trivia -

N/A

Dennis Bergkamp Detailed Biography -

Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (born May 10, 1969 in Amsterdam) is a Dutch professional football player, a former player for the Netherlands national football team, who currently plays for Arsenal. Bergkamp plays most of his best games as a support striker, where his tactical awareness and deft passes make him a great exponent of the game from the "hole". His parents, who were football fanatics, named him after Manchester United and Scotland striker Denis Law, though they altered the spelling of the name. The Dutch authorities decided that Denis was too similar to "Denise", so Bergkamp's parents settled for Dennis. In the summer of 1993, Bergkamp and his Ajax team-mate Wim Jonk were signed by Internazionale of Milan. However, his time in Italy was less successful. Although he won a second UEFA Cup in 1994, he found it hard to adapt to the Italian defensive style of play, scoring just 11 times in 50 appearances. Bergkamp's poor form was not helped by his frosty relationship with the Italian press, and indeed some of his own team-mates. Bergkamp made his international debut for the Netherlands in 1990 against Italy. His first major tournament was Euro 92, where the Dutch were defending champions. Bergkamp impressed (catching the eye of Inter, who would later sign him), but the Dutch lost on penalties in the semi-finals. Bergkamp also impressed in the 1994 World Cup, playing in all of his side's matches, scoring a spectacular goal against Brazil, a match the Dutch ultimately lost 3-2. Holland disappointed in Euro 96, with the squad riven by in-fighting, although Bergkamp still scored once, and set up Patrick Kluivert's consolatory goal against England that got the side into the quarter-finals. In the 1998 World Cup, Bergkamp scored three times, the most memorable of which being the winning goal in the final minute of the quarter-final against Argentina. Bergkamp controlled a long 50-yard aerial pass from Frank de Boer, reverse-flicking it past defender Roberto Ayala with his right foot, before firing a half-volley past the keeper at a tight angle from the right. It was widely regarded as one of the best goals of the tournament. The Netherlands joint-hosted Euro 2000 and were one of the favourites. After progressing through the "group of death", they lost on penalties to Italy in the semi-finals. Bergkamp didn't score at all during the tournament but still played an important role. After the defeat, Bergkamp announced his retirement from international football, because the next major tournament, the 2002 World Cup, would be played in Japan and South Korea and Bergkamp's aviophobia (see below) would prevent him from travelling there. He did not play the qualification matches, since he thought that it would be unfair to do so; the Netherlands ended up not qualifying at all for the World Cup, something which many attribute to Bergkamp's retirement. He ended his international career first on the all-time list of goal scorers for the Dutch national team, with 37 goals in 79 games. He currently stands second, having been passed by Patrick Kluivert. Bergkamp is a striker who stands out more because of the quality of his goals than the quantity. He has stated that he usually visualize exactly how he will enact his goal even before the chance comes, so that by then he can do so without looking. A case in point is the goal he scored against Newcastle United on the March 2, 2002, which later earned him the Goal of the Season award. This goal illustrates many traits of the best of Bergkamp: his fine ball control, his sublime first touch, his ability to go past defences through quick thinking and his preference to score (or to set up a goal) from outside the box. Further discussion of the goal is covered on BBC Sport's website here