Marco van Ginkel: The extremely positive captain

Van Ginkel captained Vitesse 24 times last season, arguably in one of the most eventful years in the club’s history. The club, where he climbed through the youth ranks and made his professional debut, was relegated and faced an existential crisis.

As their captain, Van Ginkel tried to help the team in the best possible way. “The pressure I experienced at Vitesse last season was very different from what I had been through at the bigger clubs I played for. There, it was about winning and losing on the pitch. Now, it was about so many factors beyond your control. As captain, you try to support the boys. Everyone is very focused on themselves. The atmosphere is naturally not good when you lose six games in a row. You try to take responsibility, but you get a lot thrown at you. You learn a lot from that too.”

Lessons for his next adventure at a club where Van Ginkel, as an experienced player, will undoubtedly once again play a role as one of the leaders.

Infection

He fought long and hard for that next adventure during his recent period without a club. Unbeknownst to passersby, they could see an eight-time international, who won the league twice with PSV and played for Chelsea and AC Milan, training alone at De Valleivogels in Scherpenzeel. At the club where it all began for him, he tried to keep himself in shape. In addition, he took up padel, a favourite sport of many (former) footballers, which has increasingly captivated him. It was one of the ways he kept his body active, waiting for a new club to come forward – potentially for what could be the last great chapter in his remarkable football career.

It’s an uncertain time, but Van Ginkel has faced bigger challenges during a career marked by injuries, but one that also brought him moments of glory. In 2019, he found himself in a hospital in Germany when a dangerous infection left him fearing he might never walk properly again. Three surgeries in five days over the Christmas period saved his knee. Only ultra-positive people like Marco van Ginkel can overcome such psychological low points.

John Terry

By that time, he had already played in the Champions League, scored a goal for AC Milan, and memorably made his debut for the Dutch national team against Germany. “In 2013, I found myself in the Chelsea dressing room. That’s where I saw how John Terry was a real captain. He was a role model in everything for the whole squad. On the pitch, he was always at the front, and before games, he gave amazing speeches.”

Terry was a tough, uncompromising defender. “But he was also a great teammate, telling me as a newcomer that I could sit next to him in the dressing room. He immediately put me at ease. That was nice, and I remembered that when I later became one of the leaders at PSV and Vitesse. John could also be strict and direct. If you want to win together and someone does something that doesn’t fit, that was made very clear.”

Terry wasn’t the only leader in that Chelsea team. “It was a team with Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Petr Cech, and Ashley Cole. José Mourinho was the manager and used to say that he didn’t have to say much to us. The squad knew when to step in and when not to. No one acted foolishly.”

Lampard was very different from Terry. “Frank was much calmer. He said much less than Terry, but he was a leader just by his qualities on the pitch.” Even when he was injured at Chelsea and couldn’t play for a long time, Terry was there for him. “He would send me messages and often ask how my rehabilitation was going. That made me always feel welcome at Chelsea. A real family bond was created.”

Our full interview with Marco van Ginkel can be read in ISSUE 82.