Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, he scored 300 goals in a high-profile career, but played his last match in 1993, at the age of 28, due to recurring ankle injury which forced him to announce his retirement two years later.

Known for his close ball control, attacking intelligence, impeccable headers, and spectacular strikes and volleys, Van Basten was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1992 and won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1988, 1989 and 1992.

With the Netherlands, Van Basten won UEFA Euro 1988 where he earned the Golden Boot, scoring five goals, including a memorable volley in the final against the Soviet Union,[2][4] considered one of the best ever.

[10] In 2004, a poll for the 100 greatest Dutch people was held in the Netherlands: Van Basten ranked number 25, the second highest for a football player, behind Johan Cruyff.

He played his first match for Ajax on 3 April 1982, coming on as a substitute for Johan Cruyff, and scoring a debut goal in the team's 5–0 victory over NEC.

[13][14] In the 1982–83 season, he competed with the European top scorer and first choice Holland international Wim Kieft for the position of centre forward, and scored nine goals in 20 league matches.

In his first season, Milan won their first Scudetto in eight years, but Van Basten played only 11 matches and was constantly troubled by an ankle injury.

In November 1992, he became the first player to score four goals in a Champions League match, against IFK Göteborg, including a picture perfect bicycle kick.

[2] His troublesome ankle injury[20] recurred in a game against Ancona, forcing him to endure another six-month layoff, and undergo a series of surgeries.

[2] He came off in the 86th minute for Stefano Eranio, after a hard tackle behind from Basile Boli condemned Van Basten to the third ankle surgery of his career.

[29] The Dutch national team exited the 1990 World Cup early, losing 2–1 to eventual champions West Germany in the second round.

[31] Regarded as one of the greatest and most complete strikers and players in the history of the sport, due to his prolific goalscoring and great skill set, Van Basten was dubbed the "Swan Of Utrecht" for his elegance and intelligent attacking play, and was known for his penchant for scoring acrobatic goals.

[2][32][33][34] His height and strength allowed him to excel in the air, and his technical ability and agility saw him execute spectacular strikes throughout his career, such as volleys and bicycle kicks.

[34][35][39] Throughout his career, Van Basten converted 53 penalties out of the 57 he took, with a 93.0% success rate, the sixth highest in history, behind Ledio Pano (100%), Matthew Le Tissier (97.9%), Zico (97.8%), Cuauhtémoc Blanco (97.3%), and Ferenc Puskás (96.7%).

[40] Although he was mainly known as a traditional attacker who operated in the penalty area as a centre-forward throughout his career,[33][34] Van Basten also possessed excellent vision and distribution, in addition to his goalscoring ability, which enabled him to play in deeper, more creative positions, as a second striker, for example, and which allowed him to participate in the build-up of attacking plays and provide assists to his teammates in addition to scoring goals himself;[39][41][42][43][44][45] one of his most notable assists was the one he provided to Frank Rijkaard for Milan's winning goal in the 1990 European Cup final against Benfica.

[33] Despite his ability, Van Basten's career was severely affected by many grave injuries, which eventually forced him to retire from football prematurely at the age of 28.

[48] In 1998, prior to the World Cup that year, FIFA completely outlawed the tackle from behind;[49] this ruling came to be known colloquially as the "Van Basten law" in the media.

[53] In 2004, he was named by Pelé in the FIFA 100, his list of the world's 125 greatest living players,[10] and also placed fourth in the UEFA Golden Jubilee Poll, celebrating the best European footballers of the past fifty years.

In 1994, defender Pietro Vierchowod described Van Basten as "the absolute number one" and as a "superstar," also adding that "he is strong with his head, good with either foot, capable of changing the face of a game with a single play or, [even] when he is not at his best, of becoming the best assist-provider for his teammates.

"[57] Former Arsenal player Tony Adams described Van Basten as the toughest and most difficult opponent he had ever faced in 2006, stating: "He’s the quickest 6 ft 3 in centre-forward I’ve ever seen!

"[68] When Hernán Crespo was asked in 2015 who was the greatest centre-forward of all time, he echoed Sacchi's views, responding: "Marco van Basten.

[71] Van Basten's appointment as manager of the Netherlands sparked a little controversy at the time, since he only just started his managerial career and the media argued that he did not have a lot of experience yet.

[76] The Netherlands were widely tipped to do well at the 2006 World Cup, having achieved the highest points average of any team in qualification, as well as breaking their reputation for in-fighting, and having a short journey to the finals in Germany.

[88] Van Basten started the season well, having spent millions on players such as Miralem Sulejmani, Ismaïl Aissati, Darío Cvitanich, Evander Sno, Eyong Enoh and Oleguer.

However, in the second half of the season, striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar left for Real Madrid, and Van Basten started switching around his lineups.

[90] On 28 August 2014, Van Basten took a leave of absence for the following match against Dordrecht, with multiple Dutch news outlets reporting he was suffering of stress-related heart palpitations, and was replaced by assistant coaches Alex Pastoor and Dennis Haar.

[96] Van Basten played in the Demetrio Albertini testimonial match at the San Siro in March 2006, and headed in a goal before being substituted early in the first half.

One of the most marketable players in the world, in the late 1980s Diadora launched his own personalized football boots, the San Siro Van Basten, earning him two million dollars over 5 years.

Van Basten stated that he believed his microphone was off when he made the remark, and that it was in response to his colleague Hans Kraay's interview with Heracles's German manager, Frank Wormuth, following the team's 4–1 loss to Ajax.

His use of the term attracted particular controversy as it occurred on a weekend during which Dutch football clubs were observing a minute of silence prior to matches in protest against discrimination.