Football’s hottest couple split up: Rafael van der Vaart admits to hitting Sylvie

Germany’s biggest newspaper Bild revealed the news today that Rafael van der Vaart has split up from wife Sylvie after a New Year’s Eve incident that turned violent.

If you follow the van der Vaarts on Twitter, nothing would have given away what must have been an unsavoury Festive Season for football’s hottest couple.

After Sylvie van der Vaart had Tweeted a picture of Rafael and her best friend Sabia, see left, Bild allege that the Hamburg playmaker hit his wife in front of their guests.

Rafael ruefully told Bild: “It was a very stupid thing from me. I’m an idiot. I’m very sorry. That should never have happened.”

The former Spurs midfielder continued: “I am very sad that it did not work out for us. We are the culprits. Sylvie alone and I have to answer for it.”

Bild say Sylvie has already forgiven her husband and blamed other reasons for their split: “We have unfortunately drifted apart over time. It was an ongoing process that was not easy to stop, even though it sounds weird, we still love and respect each other.”

Their 6-year-old son Damian is expected to live with his mother. Rafael will move out the family home when he returns from a trainign camp with Hamburg in Abu Dhabi.

On Christmas Day, the van der Vaart’s had released a family photo that can be seen below.

After the photo is a somewhat bizarre Tweet from Rafa van der Vaart.