Giovanni van Bronckhorst

Giovanni Christiaan van Bronckhorst (born 5 February 1975) is a Dutch football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Rangers.

Formerly a midfielder, he moved to left-back later in his career.

During his club career, Van Bronckhorst played for RKC Waalwijk, Feyenoord, Rangers, Arsenal, Barcelona and again with Feyenoord.

In 1990, aged 15, the club offered him a professional contract, which he accepted.

He won the Dutch Youth League with Feyenoord in 1991, but struggled to break into the first team.

He was loaned out to RKC Waalwijk, making his league debut in 1993.

He returned to Feyenoord for the 1994–95 season, but was used as a fringe player, making only ten appearances for the club.

1995–96 was his breakthrough season, as he started almost every match for Feyenoord, playing alongside the likes of Regi Blinker and Henrik Larsson.

Domestically, with Feyenoord failing to break the PSV–Ajax stranglehold on the Eredivisie for the fourth-straight year, and major players such as Henrik Larsson leaving the team, Van Bronckhorst began to search for a new club.

Van Bronckhorst earned 107 caps for the Netherlands national team, and played for his country in three FIFA World Cups, in 1998, 2006 and 2010, as well as three UEFA European Championships, in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

He chose to join Dick Advocaat (his former manager at international U-16 and U-18 level) at Rangers, joining the club in 1998 for a reported transfer fee between £5–5.5 million.

In Van Bronckhorst's first competitive game for Rangers on 22 July 1998, he scored as they came from 3–0 down to win 5–3 over League of Ireland side Shelbourne at Prenton Park in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Cup.

He went on to score 22 goals for Rangers (13 in the league, three in the Scottish Cup, one in the Scottish League Cup, three in the UEFA Champions League and two in the UEFA Cup), mostly in midfield, before joining Arsenal for a fee of £8.5 million, signing a five-year contract.

One of his goals was in the 2000 Scottish Cup Final which Rangers won 4–0 against Aberdeen.

Opposition goalkeeper Jim Leighton was injured in the third minute without a substitute available, and striker Robbie Winters had to take his position.

He injured his groin on international duty that October, and returned on 3 March 2001 against Heart of Midlothian, playing for just 23 minutes of the 2–0 home win before being injured by Colin Cameron.

Arsène Wenger had signed Van Bronckhorst in June 2001 for £8 million.

He sought to replace the midfield void from by the departure of Emmanuel Petit from Arsenal, and so partnered Patrick Vieira in the centre.

However, Van Bronckhorst's start at Highbury was marked by a cruciate knee ligament injury which saw him sidelined after only a few months at the club.

Despite this, Van Bronckhorst went on to win the Premier League title in 2001–02 and the FA Cup in 2002–03 with Arsenal.

In all, he made 64 appearances for the Gunners, scoring twice.

As the 2003–04 season approached, Van Bronckhorst had the opportunity to move to Barcelona and work with its new head coach Frank Rijkaard on a one-year loan, with a view to a permanent transfer.

After adapting to his new role as a left-back, he helped Barça to a revival in the second half of the season.

In May 2004, Van Bronckhorst completed his move from Arsenal to Barcelona for a fee of €2 million, signing a three-year deal.

He won the Liga title in the 2004–05 season after some of his finest displays together with four goals to his credit.

He was an instrumental player in Barcelona's 2005–06 UEFA Champions League victory, being in the starting line-up of the final, having played every Champions League match for Barcelona that season.

In 2005–06, he helped his club repeat as Liga champions while winning the 2005–06 UEFA Champions League as well (he was the only player who participated in all Champions League matches that season).

In Spain, he used "Gio" as the name on his shirt.

Van Bronckhorst had a year remaining on his Barcelona contract in 2007, but returned to Feyenoord on 27 June 2007 due to a clause in his contract stipulating he could join Feyenoord on a free transfer.

Shortly after, head coach Bert van Marwijk made him captain of the club.

He would go on to become a pivotal member of the squad, providing stability in an injury-hit side.

At the end of his first season, he led "De Stadionclub" to win the 2007–08 KNVB Cup following a 2–0 victory in the final against Roda JC.

After captaining the Oranje in the 2010 World Cup final, he was elected into the Order of Orange-Nassau.

The 2010 World Cup final was the last match in his career.

After assisting the Dutch under-21 team and Feyenoord, Van Bronckhorst became Feyenoord manager in May 2015.

He won the KNVB Cup in his first season and the club's first Eredivisie title for 18 years in 2017.

In November 2021, he returned to Rangers as manager, reaching the Europa League final and winning the Scottish Cup in his first season.

Van Bronckhorst was born in Rotterdam to Victor van Bronckhorst, an Indonesian-Dutch father, and Fransien Sapulette, an Indonesian mother of Moluccan descent.

He began playing for a local amateur youth team in Rotterdam, Linker Maas Oever, from age six.

He joined the youth academy at Feyenoord the following year.