Rijaard's career began when he signed a professional contract with Excelsior Rotterdam, making his first first-team appearance in 1995, at the age of 18.
In total he played seven straight seasons at the Rotterdam club before making a move towards Eredivisie participants ADO Den Haag.
In his third season at ADO Den Haag he found himself on the bench more often and at the end of 2005 he went back to Excelsior on loan.
Rijaard made his debut for the Netherlands Antilles in a March 2004 World Cup qualifying match against Antigua and Barbuda.
This biographical article related to association football in the former Netherlands Antilles is a stub.