Philippe Senderos

Philippe Sylvain Senderos (born February 14, 1985 in Geneva) is a Switzerland football (soccer) player of Serbian and Spain descent who currently plays for Arsenal F.C. of the English Premier League as a central defender (football).

Club career

Early career

A member of the youth team set up at Swiss club Servette FC, his international options were expansive due to having a Spain father and a Serbian mother (Zorica Novaković).

However, Senderos has played at all levels of football from the Under-15s upward for Switzerland national football team, first coming to the general football world's attention when he captained Switzerland to a UEFA U-17 Championship in 2002.

As a result, he received inquiries from such clubs as Manchester United F.C., Liverpool F.C., Juventus, and both Internazionale Milano F.C. and A.C. Milan.

Arsenal

Senderos signed for Arsenal in December 2002, though he remained at Servette until the following summer. The transfer fee was reportedly £2.5m. His first season at Arsenal was plagued by injury and he did not make his first-team début until Arsenal's 2–1 away victory against Manchester City F.C. in the Football League Cup on October 27 2004. He made 13 league appearances in all during the 2004-05 in English football, including a UEFA Champions League début against Bayern Munich.

Senderos had an extended run in the first team when Sol Campbell was unavailable due to injury in 2005, and after Campbell's return from injury, retained his place on the first team. Senderos started the FA Cup Final 2005 against Manchester United; Arsenal eventually won the game on penalties.

A further series of injuries to Sol Campbell meant Senderos was able to forge a defensive partnership with Kolo Touré in the 2005-06 in English football season. Senderos had an unimpressive start to the season, which included a nervous and error-strewn performance against London rivals and eventual league champions Chelsea FC, especially in one-on-one situations against Chelsea's Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba. However, Senderos recovered to become a major force in the Arsenal's Champions League run which included a record-breaking run of ten clean sheets. He was injured however, for the final in Paris, which Arsenal lost 2–1 to FC Barcelona; coincidentally, Campbell started the match in his stead.

In summer 2006, Senderos was handed the number 6 jersey, formerly worn by then Arsenal captain Tony Adams (footballer). However, Senderos was unable to start the 2006-07 in English football season after the shoulder injury he incurred in the World Cup that summer.

He captained the Arsenal squad for the first time on August 2 2007, in their 2-1 friendly win against S.S. Lazio in the Amsterdam Tournament.

International career

He made his full international début on March 26 2005 in Switzerland's 0–0 draw against France national football team in Paris. After playing a big part in Switzerland's successful qualifying campaign, he was named in their FIFA World Cup 2006 squad. He started alongside Patrick Müller in all three of Switzerland's group matches, managing to score a goal in the third match against South Korea national football team. He broke his nose in that match, but more significantly, he suffered shoulder ligament damage that ruled him out of the remainder of Switzerland's World Cup campaign. They were knocked out in the Round of 16 to Ukraine National Football Team but they were the only team not to conceded a goal in normal and extra time. They lost on penalties, 3-0.

Personal life

In an interview with The Observer, he said, amongst other things, that he speaks six languages (English language, French language, Spanish language, German language, Italian language and Portuguese language) and that, if his football career were to end tomorrow, he would go into a career in communications: "I'd learn another language, something that not many people speak, like Russian language or Greek language". When Cesc Fàbregas first moved to Arsenal, he helped the Spaniard learn English.

His brother Julien Senderos plays basketball for the Geneva Devils and Swiss national team.

Arsenal career statistics

(correct as of May 20, 2007)

Honours

Arsenal
- Winner
- - FA Cup: 2005
- Runner-up
- - Champions League : 2006
- - League Cup : 2007
- - FA Community Shield: 2005