Dirk Kuyt

Dirk Kuyt
Kuyt with Feyenoord in 2015
Personal information
Full name Dirk Kuijt[1]
Date of birth (1980-07-22) 22 July 1980 (age 44)[2]
Place of birth Katwijk,[3] Netherlands
Height 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[4][5]
Position(s) Forward, winger
Team information
Current team
Beerschot (manager)
Youth career
1985–1998 Quick Boys
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998 Quick Boys 6 (3)
1998–2003 Utrecht 160 (51)
2003–2006 Feyenoord 101 (71)
2006–2012 Liverpool 208 (51)
2012–2015 Fenerbahçe 95 (26)
2015–2017 Feyenoord 63 (31)
2018 Quick Boys 3 (0)
Total 636 (233)
International career
1998–1999 Netherlands U18 5 (2)
2000–2001 Netherlands U21 11 (6)
2004–2014 Netherlands 104 (24)
Managerial career
2018–2020 Feyenoord (U19)
2022 ADO Den Haag
2023– Beerschot
Medal record
Representing  Netherlands
Men's football
FIFA World Cup
Runner-up 2010 South Africa Team
Third place 2014 Brazil Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Dirk Kuijt (Dutch: [ˈdɪr(ə) ˈkœyt] ; born 22 July 1980), anglicised to Kuyt, is a Dutch former professional footballer and the current manager of Pro League club Beerschot. Originally starting out as a striker, he played much of his career as a winger.

Kuyt began his professional career with Utrecht in 1998 and quickly became part of its first team. He spent five years at the club, and in his final season he won his first senior honour, the KNVB Cup, and was chosen as the season's Dutch Golden Shoe Winner. Following this, he left Utrecht in a €1 million transfer to Feyenoord. He became the club captain in 2005 and was a prolific goalscorer at the Rotterdam club; he was the club's top scorer for three consecutive seasons, the top goalscorer in the 2004–05 Eredivisie season, and the 2005–06 Dutch Footballer of the Year. Kuyt missed only five games over seven seasons from 1999 until 2006 and appeared in 179 consecutive matches between 2001 and 2006, striking up a fruitful partnership with fellow Feyenoord teammate Salomon Kalou.

He left Feyenoord after three years, having scored 71 league goals in 101 appearances, and joined Premier League side Liverpool for £10 million.[6] He scored in the UEFA Champions League final which Liverpool lost against Milan. He scored several important goals for Liverpool elsewhere, including seven goals in the 2007–08 Champions League, including a goal in the quarter-final against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium and in the semi-final against Chelsea, and two penalty kicks against Everton in the derby the same season. He scored his first hat-trick for Liverpool against Manchester United in March 2011. After coming on as a substitute, his extra time goal at Wembley for Liverpool against Cardiff City in the 2012 League Cup Final helped win the trophy for Liverpool, and was also his only trophy as a Liverpool player.

Kuyt played for the Netherlands from 2004 to 2014. He represented the nation at five major international tournaments, the 2006, 2010, and 2014 FIFA World Cups and the 2008 and 2012 UEFA European Championships.

Kuyt announced his retirement from football in 2017, having scored a hat-trick in the last game of the season to secure Feyenoord their first title since 1999 three days earlier. He briefly came out of retirement the following April, to help out Quick Boys, where he already was the assistant-manager, to fix their shortage on strikers for the remainder of the season.[7]

  1. ^ "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: List of Players: Netherlands" (PDF). FIFA. 14 July 2014. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Dirk Kuyt: Overview". ESPN. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  3. ^ "Dirk Kuyt: Profile". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Dirk Kuyt: Overview". Premier League. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  5. ^ "18. Dirk Kuyt". Liverpool F.C. Archived from the original on 15 April 2012.
  6. ^ Burt, Jason (18 August 2006). "Kuyt flies in to join Liverpool 'dream' team". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  7. ^ "Feyenoord-held Dirk Kuijt gaat per direct voetballen bij Quick Boys". Omroep West (in Dutch). Retrieved 24 May 2020.