Фернандо Риксен – футболист из Голландии, finished his professional career in 2013. I played at the right midfield. From 2001 to 2003 played in the national team of the Netherlands. During his career he played for such clubs as Fortuna Sittard, AZ Alkmaar, Rangers and Zenit St. Petersburg. After the end of his career, he played one season at the amateur level for the Dutch team "Minor". The growth of the ex-football player is 175 centimeters. He is the owner of 14 trophies, among which are the cup of the championship of Scotland, the Cup and the UEFA Super Cup, as well as the cup of the championship of Russia.
30 октября 2013 года стало известно, что Фернандо Riksen is terminally ill. The Dutch ex-football player was diagnosed with motor nerve disease. In other words, it is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. ALS is a chronic progressive disease of the central nervous system of unexplored etiology. During the progress of the disease, motor neurons of the brain and spinal cord are affected, muscle atrophy occurs.
Fernando Ricksen was born on July 27 in 1976year in the city of Heerlen, the Netherlands. I started playing football at the age of five, I played at the local academy of the club. Until 1993, he played in such youth clubs as "RHONS", "Roda" and "Fortuna Sittard". In the last team and began to play on a professional level. From 1993 to 1998 played Fortuna Sittard in 94 official matches and scored 5 goals scored.
In 1998, the football club AZ Alkmaar expressedthe intention to acquire a young talented midfielder Fernando Ricksen. The amount of the transaction was not disclosed. During the short negotiations the transfer took place, and Fernando Rixen tried on a T-shirt of "cheese farmers". He played here until 2000, had 92 fights and scored 12 times.
In the summer of 2000, he joined the Scottish"Rangers" for 3.75 million pounds sterling. From the first days in the club began to demonstrate their best football qualities, thereby quickly gaining the confidence of teammates and coaching staff. In the period from 2000 to 2006, in the "teddy bears" has achieved the following result: two cups of the championship of Scotland, two Cups of Scotland and three Cups of the Scottish League. Here, the "rangers" three times became vice-champions of Scotland and once took bronze medals. As a result, in the "light blue" held 182 matches and scored 13 goals.
On March 30, 2014, Fernando Ricksen (photo above) was inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame along with such players as Scotsman Lee McCulloch and Spaniard Nacho Novo.
On September 9, 2006, Fernando joined the"Zenith" on loan, but after two and a half months was completely redeemed from the "Rangers". In the season I played 14 matches, in which I managed to score two goals. The 2006/07 season was a triumph for the St. Petersburg club - Zenit became the Russian Football Champion.
On November 28, 2006, Zenit St. Petersburgofficially announced that he was buying the transfer rights to Fernando Ricksen from the Scottish Rangers. Two weeks later, a friendly match took place between the "Rangers" and "Zenith", in which Fernando Ricksen injured former team-mate Chris Burke. Fans of the "rangers" booed Riksena, and Burke dropped out for a month. A few weeks later Fernando took up a fist fight on the field with captain of the St. Petersburg team Vladislav Radimov. Despite the fact that most recently the St. Petersburg club bought the rights to the Dutch midfielder, he still continued to clarify the relationship with Radimov in January 2007.
In January 2009, after two and a half yearsstay in the St. Petersburg club, Fernando Riksen was downgraded to reservists. The fact is that the football player had serious problems with alcohol and drugs, in which he was repeatedly convicted. Rixen writes about this in his autobiographical book titled "Spirit of the fighter". On August 28, 2009 Zenit terminated the contract due to constant disciplinary violations.
After a two-year break from football, FernandoРиксен has decided to be reunited with "Fortune Ситтард" with which once began the career. The contract was drawn up for one season. Subsequently, Ricksen re-contracted and played in the club until 2013. During this period he played 48 matches and scored a scored goal.
In 2013, football player Fernando Ricksen presentedbook, his autobiography, "The Spirit of the Boy". In the book, the midfielder told not only about his victories and achievements, but also about the "cheerful life" in which there were drugs, alcohol and girls of easy virtue. The autobiographical work The Spirit of the Fighter has gained popularity in the Netherlands. Soon after his presentation, it became a real bestseller. On the occasion of the success of this book, Fernando Rixena and co-author Vincent de Vries (editor, journalist) were invited to the studio of one of the Netherlands TV for an interview.
In the course of the ether our hero answered with a hunt everythingasked questions of a journalist. After some time while trying to answer the next question, Riksen stopped and could not connect a single word. In the process of an awkward moment, Fernando turned to Vincent de Vries and asked him to continue his speech for him. In the eyes of the ex-football player, fear was visible, he could hardly restrain himself from crying. Vincent de Vries took the microphone and admitted to the public that Fernando Ricksen was suffering from an incurable disease - lateral amyotrophic sclerosis (in other words, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - BAS).
Today's medicine is powerless against the diseaseBASS. This complication progresses very slowly, gradually hitting the central nervous system. As a result of the disease, the upper and lower motor neurons are affected. The final result of the disease is ALS alone - the muscles are paralyzed and atrophied, and then - the lethal outcome, due to the refusal of the respiratory muscles. With Fernando Ricksen's disease live from 3 to 5 years, but in the world there is one surprising exception - the famous English scientist theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. He has been living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis for more than 54 years.
After the whole world learned about the sad newsabout Fernando, the entire football community began to express its support for the Dutch midfielder. The football club Rangers has organized and held several football matches, the fees from which will go to him for treatment. The management of Zenit organized treatment in St. Petersburg. It is noteworthy that the charitable match for Fernando was held and the "Celtic", which is the most important rival of the "rangers". In addition, the club from Glasgow has allocated £ 10,000. on the treatment of Riksen.
From the moment of diagnosis our herorepeatedly publicly stated that he would not give up. Ex-footballer said that he wants to become the first person in the world to win this disease. Fernando said that he must see how his daughter grows up. Therefore, he is ready to fight day and night with an incurable disease.
Fernando does not really give up, he continuesmaintain and experience the rhythm of life. Being incurable, he launched a line of clothing of his own design, and also took part in a photo shoot with a bare torso, showing off his tattoos.
In the summer of 2015, Riksen, along with his wife and daughterrested at a resort in Spain. On vacation, he often swam in the pool and always walked. Fernando Ricksen is not going to sit in a wheelchair until the moment he can still make at least one step. It is necessary to admit that his problems with the movement are already very noticeable: in order to overcome the distance of 10 meters, Riksen needs about a minute of time. Recently, the state of Fernando Ricksen is very unstable. From the latest news it is reported that in the winter he sleeps 17-18 hours a day, and recently once again fell and broke his arm.
