Billy Pierre Bakker (; born 23 November 1988) is a Dutch former

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player who played as a midfielder or forward for the Netherlands national team. Bakker scored a total of 65 goals in 236 appearances for the national team from 2009 until 2021.

Club career

Bakker started playing hockey at age six at Randwijck. When he was 10 years old he moved to

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, where he made his debut in the first senior team in 2007. In 2012 he became the captain of the team. He won the Dutch national title in 2010–11 and 2011–12. In 2017 he played a season in the

Hockey India League Hockey India League is a professional field hockey league in India. It is organized by Hockey India, the governing body for the sport in India. It is considered one of the major sports leagues of the country. It was founded in 2013 as a part ...

for the

Kalinga Lancers Kalinga Lancers () is a professional field hockey franchise team based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. Owned by Vedanta Limited since 2024, the franchise competes in the Hockey India League. History In their 2014 Hockey India League, inaugural season ...

, helping them win the title.

International career

Bakker made his debut for the national team on 28 November 2009 at the

2009 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy The 2009 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy was the 31st edition of the Hockey Champions Trophy men's field hockey tournament. It was held from 28 November to 6 December 2009 in Melbourne, Australia. Teams The International Hockey Federation announce ...

. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, he competed for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

in the men's tournament, winning a silver medal. He was the

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the Netherlands national team at the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

, where they won the silver medal. In 2017 and 2018, Bakker was nominated for the FIH Player of the Year Award. After the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

, he announced his retirement from the national team.

Honours

Club

;Amsterdam *

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

: 2010–11, 2011–12 *Gold Cup: 2018–19 ;Kalinga Lancers *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

International

;Netherlands *

EuroHockey Championship The Men's EuroHockey Championship is an international men's field hockey competition organised by the European Hockey Federation (EHF) for the top eight European national teams. It is the top division of the EuroHockey Championships. The tourname ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* Hockey World League:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* * 1988 births Living people Dutch male field hockey players Field hockey players from Amsterdam Male field hockey midfielders Male field hockey forwards 2010 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2014 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2016 Summer Olympics 2018 Men's Hockey World Cup players Field hockey players at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic field hockey players for the Netherlands Olympic silver medalists for the Netherlands Olympic medalists in field hockey Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Amsterdamsche Hockey & Bandy Club players Men's Hoofdklasse Hockey players Hockey India League players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen {{Netherlands-Olympic-medalist-stub