Rudolfus Hubertus "Ruud" Hesp (Dutch pronunciation:[rytˈɦɛsp]; born 31 October 1965) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Club career
Born in Bussum, North Holland, Hesp started his career in the 1985–86 season at Haarlem. He was recommended to Haarlem by Piet Schrijvers, who had coached him at Abcoude.[2] Despite rarely playing in his two years for Haarlem, he moved along with coach Hans van Doorneveld to another club in the Eredivisie, Fortuna Sittard, where he would remain the following seven years; during his first ten professional campaigns (one with Fortuna was spent in the second division), he did not miss a single game.
After three seasons with Roda,[3] Hesp signed with Spanish side Barcelona as the Catalans were being managed by countryman Louis van Gaal, also newly signed.[4] Van Gaal resorted to Hesp after he was able to sign neither Edwin van der Sar, who stayed at Ajax, nor Ed de Goey, who signed for Chelsea.[2] He easily beat competition from Portuguese Vítor Baía,[5] playing in 73 out of 76 possible La Liga matches as Barça won back-to-back leagues (in 1998, the double befell).[6]
In his last season at the Camp Nou, Hesp split first-choice status with youth graduate Francesc Arnau, then moved back to the Netherlands and Fortuna, retiring at almost 37 in 2002. Subsequently, he joined Groningen as a goalkeeper coach.[7]
In the summer of 2013, Hesp left Groningen for PSV Eindhoven in the same capacity.[8]
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