Dutch football legend Wesley Sneijder has returned to the place where he has always felt at home. The former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Ajax player retired from the game in 2019, and now, seven years on, he is returning to the pitch.
According to the newspaper Marca, at the age of 41, Sneijder is returning to the pitch, with his destination being OSM’75, a Dutch fourth-tier side managed by Rodney Sneijder, the brother of the former Real Madrid player.
The player who holds the record for the most international caps in Dutch history still generates excitement: no one wanted to miss his return, with over 1,000 spectators flocking to the ground to watch him take to the pitch once again.
The match against "Vox 07" ended in a hard-fought 1-0 victory, with Sneijder only coming on in the 70th minute.
Wesley told ESPN: “I wouldn’t have done this at any other club; I’m here with my family.”
The match attracted a lot of media attention, but Schneider didn’t care about the limelight, saying: “With or without you, I enjoyed the match just as much.”
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The match was not without controversy, as the visiting team is considering lodging a complaint over the possible inclusion of an ineligible player, on the grounds that four substitutions were made. However, Schneider’s new club insists that the whole matter was a misunderstanding, as one of the substitutions occurred after a player received a heavy blow to the head, which is an exception permitted by the rules.
The club expressed its delight at Wesley’s arrival, stating that having Schneider in their ranks is a great honour.
Board member Alexander de Mol stated: “He deserved to win the Ballon d’Or in 2010, but it was taken away from him.”
There was room for humour from the bench too... His manager joked with the player about his limited time: “If he wants to be a first-team player, he has to put his TV work on hold for a while, and then he has to train with the team at least once; that’s the condition.”