Hedwiges Maduro

Hedwiges Maduro (born February 13, 1985 in Almere) is a Netherlands football (soccer) midfielder who currently plays for Valencia CF. His father is originally from the island of Aruba in the Caribbean the mother from Curaçao.

Biography

At Ajax he was voted as the club's brightest emerging talent in 2003-04. As a result he made his appearance in Ajax' first team squad for the 2004-05 season, making his debut against Roda JC on February 26, 2005 in a 1-2 away win. Just weeks after his Eredivisie debut he was called up to the Netherlands national football team, making his debut against Romania national football team in March 2005.

As of the 2005-06 season he became a first team regular and he won his first career trophies, starting with the 2005 Johan Cruijff-schaal and the 2006 KNVB Cup.
He was called up for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and featured in one match against Argentina national football team. Both the Johan Cruijff-schaal and the KNVB Cup were successfully defended in the 2006-07 season

Despite already having amassed 12 senior caps, in 2007 he took part in the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship in the Netherlands, and also scored the competition's first goal when Netherlands national under-21 football team beat Israel national under-21 football team 1-0. He also played in their second match against Portugal national under-21 football team (2-1 win) to secure a semi final spot and to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the semi finals against England national under-21 football team the score was 1-1 after 120 minutes, in the following penalty shootout with 32 kicks taken, the Dutch reached their second straight final winning the shootout 13-12. The Dutch went on to retain their 2006 title by beating Serbia national under-21 football team 4-1 in the final. After the tournament he was named in the 'UEFA Team of the tournament'.

After helping to win the Johan Cruijff-schaal for the third consecutive time at the start of the 2007-08 season, Maduro joined La Liga's Valencia C.F on January 18, 2008.