The substitutes
Trending
Substitute keeper Fred Grim didn’t play much of a part in Ajax’s triumphant season due to the presence of Edwin Van Der Sar. He stayed with Ajax for the remainder of his career though, retiring in 2002 to become a coach at the club. He has since gone on to become the manager of the Netherlands under-21 team and is currently the caretaker boss of the full national team.
Defender Winston Bogarde followed Ajax teammates Edgar Davids and Michael Reiziger to Milan for the 1997/98 season, but only appeared three times before moving to Barcelona halfway through the season. He then became infamous following his move to Chelsea – a move that saw him earn £40,000 a week despite barely playing. Bogarde apparently refused any further move as he recognised that no other club would pay him a comparable amount! He retired in 2005 and has barely surfaced since.
Attacking midfielder Nwankwo Kanu won Olympic gold with Nigeria in 1996 before a move to Internazionale, where he won the UEFA Cup with them in 1997/98. A move to Arsenal followed and saw him win two Premier League titles as well as two FA Cups, and he played out the remainder of his career in England by moving first to West Bromwich Albion and finally to Portsmouth, where he scored the winning goal in their 2008 FA Cup win. He retired in 2012 and has gone into coaching.
Striker Patrick Kluivert had the biggest impact as a substitute in the 1994/95 final as he came off the bench to score the winning goal. At just 18 he seemed to have a massively bright future and did go on to huge success at Barcelona following a short time at AC Milan.
Kluivert won the La Liga with Barca in 1998/99 and went on to play for Newcastle United, Valencia, PSV Eindhoven and Lille. Following his retirement, he acted as assistant coach for the Netherlands national team, managed Caribbean national side Curacao and is now Paris St. Germain’s Director of Football.
Forward Peter Van Vossen was fantastic on the Sensible World of Soccer video game but in real life he was more of a journeyman; after leaving Ajax following the Champions League win, he went on to represent clubs such as Rangers, Vitesse and Feyenoord. He’s since gone into management, most recently taking charge of Dutch side Fortuna Sittard before leaving in 2015.
