André Antonius Maria Ooijer (born 11 July 1974) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender for PSV, Blackburn Rovers, and Ajax.
Ooijer's international career lasted over a decade with the Netherlands and earned 57 caps. He was selected for UEFA Euro 2008 and three FIFA World Cups, helping the Dutch reach the final of the 2010 edition.
Born in Amsterdam, Ooijer joined his first amateur football team when he was five years old. Later, when he was 12 years old, he played for other amateur clubs SDW and SDZ. He went through the youth system of Ajax Amsterdam, where he would play until the age of 20.
Sensing that he had little future in a club with so much competition for a first-team place, he went on loan to Volendam for the 1994–95 season, before signing for Roda JC in the beginning of the 1995–96 season. Throughout his career at that point, he mostly played at right-back, although he could also operate at centre-back as well as defensive midfield. After two successful seasons with Roda JC, Ooijer joined PSV in the middle of the 1997–98 season.
Ooijer won the Eredivisie title with PSV five times and the KNVB Cup once. He was also a regular participant in the UEFA Champions League with the club.
On 15 July 2005, Ooijer appeared to have ended his eight-year association with PSV after he signed for Genoa, who were keen to defend their Serie A top-flight status after securing promotion in the 2004–05 season, for a fee of €1.5 million. However, following the Italian Football Federation (FIGC)'s investigation into a match-fixing allegation leveled against Genoa, and the FIGC's subsequent guilty verdict which meant that Genoa were relegated to Serie C1 as punishment; Ooijer's proposed transfer was cancelled and he returned to PSV.
On 23 August 2006, English Premier League club Blackburn Rovers signed Ooijer from PSV for a fee reputed to be in the region of £2 million. The defender signed an initial two-year contract, which included an option for a further one-year extension.
On 4 October 2006, Ooijer claimed that his move away from PSV was caused by the club having reneged on their proposed three-year extension for him and that if the club has not done so, he would have continued to play in the Eredivisie.
Ooijer's debut for Blackburn was against Chelsea on 27 August 2006 at Ewood Park. The player gave away a penalty after fouling John Terry and the subsequent spot-kick was scored by Frank Lampard. Ooijer was partially to blame for a second goal when he was outpaced by Didier Drogba in the match, which finished 2–0 to Chelsea. After this troubled start, which was soon followed by an own-goal in a game against Manchester City, he slowly adapted to Premier League football to become a mainstay in the Blackburn defence.
On 20 January 2007, in only his 20th league appearance for the club, Ooijer suffered a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments after an unfortunate fall involving Bernardo Corradi during Blackburn's victory over Manchester City at the City of Manchester Stadium. The injury kept him out of the game for the remainder of his debut season in the Premier League.
On 16 August 2008, on the opening day of the 2008–09 Premier League season, Ooijer scored his first goal for the club in the 94th minute of a 3–2 win over Everton. He scored his second goal for the club on 4 April 2009, notching the winning goal in a 2–1 home game against Tottenham Hotspur F.C., a result which was critical to Rovers' survival in the Premier League.
The club exercised their right to extend the original two-year contract for a further 12 months for the 2008–09 season.
On 25 March 2009, Ooijer confirmed to PSV TV that he would be returning to PSV in May 2009, when his contract with Blackburn expired.
On 21 May 2009, Ooijer agreed a one-year deal to return to PSV, bringing his stay at Ewood Park to an end. At the end of the season, his contract ended and Ooijer again left PSV.
On 9 August 2010, Ooijer signed a one-year deal with Ajax, joining on a free transfer. He made his debut in a 3–0 win against Roda JC on 21 August. On 30 October, Ooijer scored his first goal for Ajax against Heracles Almelo. On 15 April 2011, he signed a one-year contract extension with the club.
Ooijer announced on 13 March 2012 that he would retire from football at the end of the 2011–12 season. On 6 May 2012, he played his final professional match and scored a goal for Ajax in a 3–1 win against Vitesse.
Ooijer was selected as part of the Netherlands national team for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France by manager Guus Hiddink as cover for Michael Reiziger.
Frank Rijkaard, who replaced Hiddink as the head coach of the Dutch team in 1999, took notice of Ooijer's progress at club level. During a tour of Brazil that same year, Rijkaard handed him his first appearance as a substitute for Reiziger, who was injured during the game, in a match against Brazil on 5 June 1999. The match ended in a 2–2 draw and Ooijer made a confident start to the national team. Despite his convincing performances, he was not included in the final squad for the UEFA Euro 2000 tournament on home soil after being dropped at the last minute.