Personal information
Marco van Ginkel (December 1, 1992) started his football career at De Valleivogels, a club from Scherpenzeel, the village in which Marco grew up. As a 9-year-old boy, Marco moved to the youth ranks of Vitesse Arnhem. After making his way through the various youth levels at Vitesse and playing for the Dutch Under 15 team, Marco officially debuted on April 9, 2010. Midfielder Marco was only 17 years old and played his first match as a substitute player. His first match as a starting player was on April 18, against Roda JC Kerkrade.
His first goal for Vitesse came in his first appearance of the 2010-2011 Eredivisie campaign, netting in the 2-2 in the first half of the match against Ajax Amsterdam (4-2 win). Marco acted in 28 matches during that season and scored five goals. He became a key player for the Arnhem side and was selected for the Dutch national team. Marco played his first cap on November 14, 2012 against Germany (0-0) and was one of the members of the Dutch Under 21 team at the European Championship in Israel.
One season later, on May 13, 2013, he was voted as Dutch Talent of the Year. In the same season, Marco won the Best Player of the Year Award in the Dutch province Gelderland and ended up as highest Dutch player on the ranking of the Player of the Dutch league Award.
On July 5, 2013 Marco signed a five-year contract with Chelsea FC. Nearly two weeks later, Marco made his officious debut for the British side. His official, first match at Chelsea followed on the opening day of the 2013-2014 Premier League season. Marco debuted as a substitute against Hull City. On September 18, 2013, he played his first Champions League match against FC Basel.
Marco moved, on loan, to AC Milan after a long injury in September 2014. His first match, against Empoli on September 23, ended in a disappointment: Marco got injured again. He played 18 matches in total for the Italian side and scored his only goal against AS Roma (2-1 win) in May.
In the summer of 2015, Marco went back to Great-Britain to join Stoke City on loan for the 2015-2016 season. He played 21 games for ‘The Potters’ and moved to PSV Eindhoven in the winter break. Marco became one of the key players and scored 8 goals in only 13 league matches. With PSV, Marco was close to the quarter final of the UEFA Champions League, but Atletico Madrid defeated PSV after a decisive penalty shoot-out. On the closing day of the 2015-2016 season, Marco and his teammates became the Dutch champions after a 3-1 victory over PEC Zwolle and a draw (1-1) of competitor Ajax.
Marco moved on loan to PSV Eindhoven in the second part of the 2016-2017 season and stayed at the club in the following season. As the team captain, Marco celebrated his second Dutch championship with the Eindhoven side after beating closest attacker Ajax Amsterdam.