He amassedEredivisie totals of 372 games and 112 goals forAjax andPSV combined, winning fifteen major titles between the two clubs, including the1988 European Cup with the latter. Subsequently he played in Japan, France and Germany, in a 20-year professional career.
Born inUtrecht ofSurinamese descent,[2] Vanenburg finished his football formation withAFC Ajax, and made hisEredivisie debuts exactly one month after his 17th birthday, againstADO Den Haag. He finishedhis first season with 11 games and three goals, being soon dubbedVaantje andGeraldinho for his above-average skills.
Vanenburg became an undisputed starter for theAmsterdam side shortly after, providing countlessassists forstrikersMarco van Basten andWim Kieft and adding 30 himself in two seasons combined as the club won back-to-back national championships; before leaving in June 1986, he scored in double digits in two more seasons. Himself, van Basten, Kieft were amongst a steady stream of talented youngsters that also includedFrank Rijkaard that helped to the conquest of three league titles between 1982 and 1985.[3]
Having rejected a lucrative move toAS Roma, Vanenburg played and scored regularly for PSV in the following five seasons, winning a further three leagues and twoDutch Cups. He appeared in nearly 500 official games between the two clubs, scoring almost 150 goals. He was also one of five European players to ever achieve the feat of winning four competitions – three with their club and one with the national team – in the same year, the others being teammatesBerry van Aerle,Hans van Breukelen, Kieft and Koeman.
Aged 29, Vanenburg had his first abroad experience, helpingJúbilo Iwata promote to theJ1 League in his first year then playing a further two seasons with them. He finished the1996–97 campaign back in his country, still being relatively played as hometown'sFC Utrecht ranked in 12th position.
Until his retirement in 2000 at the age of 36, Vanenburg played three more years of top flight football, withAS Cannes (France) andTSV 1860 Munich (Germany), where he began appearing regularly as asweeper.
After leaving 1860 Munich, Vanenburg immediately returned to PSV where he was appointed the youth team's manager but, during that timeframe, also managed former club TSV during three months, starting in April 2004, with the team eventuallybeing relegated from theBundesliga.
In2006–07, Vanenburg coachedHelmond Sport in theEerste Divisie, being fired on 17 February 2007. On 1 January of the following year he was appointed at another club in the category,FC Eindhoven.
