BARCELONA LEGEND

Marc Overmars (born March 29, 1973 in Emst) is a former Dutch football player. He was best known as a right-footed left-winger. Though Overmars had that rare ability to be able to use both his feet with equal precision and power. Known for his great speed and blitzes into enemy territory, Overmars' nicknames included "the Roadrunner" or simply "meep-meep."

In all, Overmars played 87 games for the Dutch national team, scoring 17 goals. Overmars was the youngest Dutch player to reach 50 caps with the Dutch national team. His final match was the Netherlands' loss to Portugal in the semifinals of the 2004 European Championships.

Overmars first joined a small Dutch club called SV Epe before joining Go Ahead Eagles. Willem II Tilburg later bought him from Go Ahead Eagles for ₤200 000 and during the 1991/1992 season, AFC Ajax Amsterdam bought him. In 1993, he made his debut in the Dutch national team against Turkey.

Marc Overmars became famous with Ajax under Louis van Gaal. He was the member of the Ajax team that won the European Cup in 1995 against A.C. Milan of Italy. Soon after 1995, he left Ajax for Arsenal F.C. of England in 1997 after having a heavy right knee injury in 1996. His knee injury did not allow him to be part of EURO96. It was at the London club that his talents were demonstrated with utmost skill, scoring vital goals (his most famous in the FA Cup Final) and assisting compatriot footballer, Dennis Bergkamp, on many goalscoring opportunities. In the World Cup 1998, he was a regular fixture for Holland where he assisted his nation to qualify for the ultimate showdown with Brazil. Overmars was one of the best Dutch players in the tournament but suffered an injury in the 2nd round game against Yugoslavia. This ruled Overmars out of the next match, which was against Argentina. However, Overmars did enter late in the game as a substitute. He made an immediate impact by providing an inch perfect cross that almost led to a goal for the Netherlands. Sadly, Overmars' injury became even worse after this game and he had to sit out the entire following match against Brazil. The Netherlands lost this match on penalties. Overmars was fit again to play in The Netherland's final match, which was the 3rd/4th play-off game against Croatia. The Dutch lost 2-1. In the summer of 2000, he moved to Spain and joined FC Barcelona. Barcelona paid Arsenal ₤25 million for Overmars' service. That made him the most expensive Dutch player ever.

2000: Joined FC Barcelona for €39.6m. Despite a difficult first term at his new club, Overmars was still an impressive performer, registering eight times in 31 appearances. Was a regular feature of Barcelona's 2001/02 Champions League campaign in which he scored once in ten matches en route to the semi-finals.

The last major international tournament that Overmars played in was Euro 2004 in Portugal. Overmars started all the games for the Netherlands from the bench, but when he did come on, the Dutch team suddenly became a more attacking team that created good chances. Nevertheless, Overmars could not prevent the Netherlands losing in the semi-finals.

Despite interest from several "attractive" clubs, On July 26th, 2004, Marc Overmars announced his retirement from professional football due to knee problems.