If he had not become a footballer, Clarence might have pursued a career as a professional tennis player. Tennis remains his second sporting passion.

Clarence is renowned as an inspirational speaker and is often called on by companies and organisations to speak about team-building, integration and an array of other subjects, drawing on his experience as a top professional footballer and a citizen of the world.

Clarence’s wife Luviana hails from Brazil, and Clarence has a longstanding admiration for Brazilian football club Flamengo.

Clarence has two younger brothers, Chedric and Jürgen who also started out at the Ajax academy and went on to play professionally. Chedric is now with Belgian club Oostende, Rahmlee is at Den Bosch in Holland and Jürgen, who played for Ajax, NAC Breda and Graafschaap, is now a professional musician. Clarence’s cousin, Stefano is also a professional footballer, who started with Ajax and currently plays for Veria FC in Greece.

In 2004, Brazilian legend Pele named Clarence on his list of the 125 best footballers still playing today, compiled at the request of FIFA.

Clarence is currently studying for a master’s degree in management at the University of Bocconi in Milan He has already established his own sports management company and has expressed his desire to “make a difference in the way the game of football is played “ before and after he hangs up his boots.

In 1994, at the age of just 18, Clarence scored on his international debut for the Netherlands in a European Championship qualifier versus Luxembourg.

In 2007, Clarence was named as the first global ambassador for Goal 4 Africa, a new initiative designed to promote African development through football and education in the build-up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The 2007/08 edition of the Champions League is the 12th of Clarence’s career. Having won it on four of those occasions, he boasts the best success ratio in the tournament of any player in the game today.

Clarence is the only player in the history of the Champions League to win the trophy four times with three different clubs: Ajax (1995), Real Madrid (1998) and AC Milan (2003 & 2007).

Clarence actually made his ‘debut’ in a European final way back in 1992 at the age of 16… as a ball boy! The match in question was the home leg of the UEFA Cup final between Ajax and Torino. “I was so impressed by the atmosphere in the stadium,” recalls Clarence. “It was an honor to be ball-boy, especially at a European final.”

No Dutch player has played more European games in club football than Clarence. When he featured for AC Milan against Arsenal in the Champions League on 20 February 2008, he equalled the record of 127 games, held by Frank de Boer.

Clarence was born in Suriname, the former Dutch colony in South America which has been a remarkable hotbed of football talent, and produced a large number of footballers who have represented the Netherlands national team. Other Suriname-born players or players of Surinamese descent include Frank Rijkaard, Ruud Gullit, Patrick Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Aron Winter and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

In 2007, Clarence recorded a CD to raise funds for the Oncology Unit at Melegnano Hospital (www.aomelegnano.it) in Italy. Performing along side well-known artists including Vasco Rossi, Ramona Badescu and Milton Morales Clarence sang cover versions of Otis Redding’s Sitting on the Dock of the Bay and Bob Marley’s Redemption Song.

In December 2007, Clarence clocked up his 100th Champions League game when he featured for AC Milan against Celtic, thus becoming only the seventh player in the history of the competition to manage a ‘century’ of appearances in Europe’s top club competition.