Eljero Elia

Personal information
Full name	Eljero Elia
Date of birth	13 February 1987 (1987-02-13) (age 22)
Place of birth	Voorburg, Netherlands
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Winger
Club information
Current club	Hamburg
Number	11
Youth career
	SV Voorburg
	Forum Sport
	TONEGIDO
1996–2000	ADO Den Haag
2000–2002	Ajax
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2004–2007	ADO Den Haag	59	(6)
2007–2009	Twente	64	(11)
2009–	Hamburg	16	(5)
National team‡
2006–2008	Netherlands U21	3	(0)
2009	Netherlands B	1	(0)
2009-	Netherlands	3	(1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:23, 14 December 2009 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16:10, 09 September 2009 (UTC)

Eljero Elia (born 13 February 1987 in Voorburg) is a Dutch footballer who currently plays for German Bundesliga club Hamburger SV and the Netherlands national team.

[edit] Club career

[edit] ADO Den Haag

Before excelling in the ADO Den Haag youth team, he played for many amateur clubs. Elia made his professional debut in 2004 when he was just 17 years old. In that season he played 4 matches and scored one goal for ADO. But things went wrong when ADO Den Haag picked their new coach, Lex Schoenmaker. After some conflicts with Elia, FC Twente were fast to sign the player.

Elia with Twente

[edit] FC Twente

Not only Twente were interested, but also Ajax were keen to sign him. But if he chose Ajax, he would first be loaned out to ADO Den Haag, and Elia didn't have a chance of playing there. ADO were also relegated, and he did not want to play in the Jupiler League. Recently PSV Eindhoven has also made a bid for the player^[1]. When he played for Twente, he was being recognised as one of the Eredivisie's best players, being named Dutch Football Talent of the Year in 2009.

[edit] Hamburger SV

On 5 July 2009, Elia joined Hamburger SV on a five-year contract^[2] and cost 8.5 million euro^[3]. On 8 August 2009, Elia had his debut as a substitute in the first match of the season.

[edit] International career

Elia already began on the Netherlands U19 team in 2005, a year after his debute as a professional. He developed rapidly, and already in the beginning of 2006, he was selected for Netherlands U21. Elia was also selected by Bert van Marwijk for the senior national Dutch team's friendly encounter with England. ^[4]

On September 5, 2009, Elia had his debut for Netherlands national team against Japan in a friendly match^[5]. He came on at half-time replacing Arjen Robben. His first match for Oranje went very well, with Elia producing two assists in the 3-0 victory^[6]. In just his second match, Elia scored the only goal against Scotland on September 9, 2009.

^[7]

Eljero Elia: International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	September 9, 2009	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Scotland	0–1	0–1	2010 World Cup qualification

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Eljero Elia

• Eljero Elia stats at Voetbal International (Dutch)
• Profile at Transfermarkt.de
• Eljero Elia stats at Sky Sports
• Eljero Elia stats at Kicker Online (German)
• Career stats at Fussballdaten.de (German)

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