Boudewijn Zenden

His father Pierre Zenden is a former judoka who worked as a sports broadcaster for the public NOS broadcasting system from 1968 to 2005.

Zenden played football and was also competitive in judo as a child.

Boudewijn Zenden (born 15 August 1976) also known by his nickname Bolo, is a Dutch former footballer who played as a left winger or as an attacking midfielder.

In 1985, Dutch club MVV Maastricht signed Zenden after watching him play for amateur club Leonidas.

Two years later, he joined the youth academy of PSV.

Zenden earned his judo black belt at age 14 and was three times judo champion of his home province of Limburg.

Zenden has been a strict vegetarian since age 19.

As his career developed at PSV, Zenden made the left wing position his own, displacing Peter Hoekstra and finally becoming a firm member of the starting line-up after the departure of Dutch national team player Jan Wouters.

Zenden was an important part of the PSV team that won the Eredivisie championship in 1996–97, where he also received the 1997 Dutch Talent of the Year award.

Named the 1997 Dutch Football Talent of the Year, Zenden played for four teams in the English Premier League, totalling 180 games and 19 goals.

He also played in the highest leagues in the Netherlands, Spain and France, for PSV, Barcelona and Marseille respectively.

Internationally, Zenden earned 54 caps and scored seven goals for the Netherlands, whom he represented at two UEFA European Championships and the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Zenden was born in Maastricht, Limburg.

After another season at PSV, in which he scored 12 goals in 23 games, he moved to Spanish club Barcelona in 1998.

At Barcelona, Zenden became part of a large contingent of Dutch players under Barcelona's Dutch coach Louis van Gaal.

He found his first-team opportunities at Barcelona limited by the form of fellow Dutchman Marc Overmars, however, who played in Zenden's favoured left wing position for both club and country.

Instead, Zenden was deployed as a left wing-back, a defensive role which he took on successfully, as he displaced Spanish international and local favourite Sergi.

Zenden helped Barcelona win the 1998–99 La Liga championship, and in the 1999–2000 season, he scored his only three goals for the club.

After Van Gaal's resignation as coach in 2000, however, first team appearances became more scarce for Zenden.

At the end of the 2000–01 season, English club Chelsea bought him for £7.5 million.

In his two years at Chelsea, Zenden played in the 2002 FA Cup final, a 2–0 defeat to Arsenal, however he struggled to maintain a constant place in the starting line-up mainly due to persistent injuries.

Zenden was loaned out to Middlesbrough for the 2003–04 season.

Here he found playing success, as he scored the winning goal in the 2004 League Cup final against Bolton Wanderers to secure Middlesbrough their first major trophy in club history.

When his contract with Chelsea expired in the summer 2004, he moved to Middlesbrough on a free transfer, signing a one-year contract for the 2004–05 season.

He was deployed in a central midfield position, where he played 36 of 38 league games, scoring five goals in the process, and was voted the Middlesbrough fans' 2005 Player of the Year.

However, it would be his last for Middlesbrough, as he left in the summer of 2005 when his contract ran out.

Zenden joined newly crowned UEFA Champions League champions Liverpool on 4 July 2005.

He started his Liverpool career being used regularly as a left midfielder, and was in the starting line-up as Liverpool won the 2005 UEFA Super Cup.

However, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury in his right knee in December 2005, which ruled him out for the rest of the season.

He recovered for the start of the 2006–07 season and was part of the Liverpool team that won the 2006 FA Community Shield.

After the departure of German central midfielder Dietmar Hamann in the summer of 2006, Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez indicated that he saw Zenden as an option in the central midfield.

Zenden suffered a further knee injury playing against Manchester City on 25 November 2006, for which he underwent corrective surgery.

Zenden played in both legs of Liverpool's Champions League semi-final against former club Chelsea, scoring Liverpool's first penalty in the penalty shootout at the end of the second leg, which Liverpool won 4–1.

He went on to start in the final, which Liverpool lost to Milan.

Zenden scored twice during his spell at Liverpool with goals against West Ham United and Portsmouth in the Premier League.

On 24 May 2007, it was announced by Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez that Zenden's contract would not be renewed and that he was allowed to talk to other clubs, and on 6 July 2007, Zenden signed a two-year contract with Marseille.

He made his competitive debut for Marseille on 11 August 2007, starting and eventually being substituted in a 0–0 stalemate with Rennes.

At Marseille, Zenden struggled for regular football.

In the 2008–09 Ligue 1 season, he featured 13 times (predominately as a substitute) scoring three goals.

After being released, Zenden revealed that he wanted to end his career in England, with Blackburn Rovers and Portsmouth interested in the player.