Franciscus "Frank" de Boer (born May 15, 1970 in Hoorn, Noord-Holland) is a former Dutch professional footballer. He is the younger twin brother, by 10 minutes, of Ronald de Boer. As well as being a good defender, he was also known for his passing skills and free kicks.

[edit] Club career

De Boer began his career as a left back at Ajax before switching to centre back, a position he made his own for many years in the national team. After winning both the Champions League and UEFA Cup while at Ajax, he joined FC Barcelona where he was unable to repeat his earlier triumphs and suffered the ignominy of testing positive for the banned substance nandrolone. De Boer was suspended but he was reinstated after a successful appeal.^[2]

He briefly moved to Galatasaray in the summer of 2003 before joining Rangers in January 2004. He left Rangers in 2004 after Euro 2004 along with twin brother Ronald (his teammate at Ajax, Barcelona, and Rangers) to play the rest of his football career in Qatar with Al-Rayyan.

Frank de Boer announced his retirement from football in April 2006. Since 2007 he has taken up a coaching role at his former club Ajax where he is in charge of the club's youth sector.

[edit] Coaching career

Currently, he's the second assistant of the Netherlands national football team, with retired player Phillip Cocu.

[edit] International career

Having represented his national team 112 times, he was the most capped player in the history of the Netherlands national team, until Edwin van der Sar surpassed him. De Boer made his debut for the Netherlands in September 1990 against Italy.

De Boer also played for the Netherlands in the 1994 and 1998 World Cups, Euro 92, Euro 2000 and Euro 2004, but missed Euro 96 through injury. He is well-remembered for the arching 60-yard pass which allowed Dennis Bergkamp to score the last-minute goal that knocked out Argentina in the quarterfinals of the 1998 World Cup. During Euro 2000, hosted in his home country and Belgium, De Boer reached another semi-final with the Dutch team. De Boer missed an important penalty kick in the penalty shootout in the semi-finals, which led to defeat against Italy.

De Boer was a natural leader and held the captaincy of the Dutch national team until his retirement after Euro 2004. He is considered a talented defender and compensates lack of speed and pace with tenacity and extra hard work. He ended his international career in disappointing fashion after an injury forced him to be replaced in a quarterfinal game with Sweden at Euro 2004. The injury ruled him out from the semifinal match against Portugal, which the Netherlands lost 1-2.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Frank de Boer profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)

v • d • e Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 1992 semi-finalists 1 Van Breukelen • 2 Van Aerle • 3 Van Tiggelen • 4 Koeman • 5 Blind • 6 Wouters • 7 Bergkamp • 8 Rijkaard • 9 Van Basten • 10 Gullit • 11 Van 't Schip • 12 Kieft • 13 Menzo • 14 Rob Witschge • 15 Winter • 16 Bosz • 17 F. De Boer • 18 Jonk • 19 Viscaal • 20 Roy • Coach: Michels

v • d • e Netherlands squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 De Goey • 2 F. de Boer • 3 Rijkaard • 4 Koeman • 5 Rob Witschge • 6 Wouters • 7 Overmars • 8 Jonk • 9 R. de Boer • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Roy • 12 Bosman • 13 Van der Sar • 14 Van Gobbel • 15 Blind • 16 Numan • 17 Taument • 18 Valckx • 19 Van Vossen • 20 Winter • 21 De Wolf • 22 Snelders • Coach: Advocaat

v • d • e Netherlands squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Numan • 6 Jonk • 7 R. de Boer • 8 Bergkamp • 9 Kluivert • 10 Seedorf • 11 Cocu • 12 Zenden • 13 Ooijer • 14 Overmars • 15 Bogarde • 16 Davids • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 de Goey • 19 van Bronckhorst • 20 Winter • 21 Hasselbaink • 22 Hesp • Coach: Hiddink

v • d • e Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2000 semi-finalists 1 Van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Zenden • 6 Seedorf • 7 Cocu • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Overmars • 12 van Bronckhorst • 13 Konterman • 14 van Vossen • 15 Bosvelt • 16 R. de Boer • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 de Goey • 19 Numan • 20 Winter • 21 Makaay • 22 Westerveld • Coach: Rijkaard

v • d • e Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2004 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 Bouma • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Cocu • 7 van der Meyde • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 van Nistelrooy • 11 van der Vaart • 12 Makaay • 13 Westerveld • 14 Sneijder • 15 F. de Boer • 16 Overmars • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 Heitinga • 19 Robben • 20 Seedorf • 21 Bosvelt • 22 Zenden • 23 Waterreus • Coach: Advocaat