Stijn De Smet (; born 27 March 1985) is a Belgian former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He received his first call-up to the

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

squad in 2008 and made his debut as a starter against

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria ...

in a friendly at

King Baudouin Stadium The King Baudouin Stadium (french: Stade Roi Baudouin , nl, Koning Boudewijnstadion ) is a sports ground in north-west Brussels, Belgium. Located in the Heysel district of the City of Brussels, it was built to embellish the Heysel Plateau in ...

Club career

Cercle Brugge

De Smet started his football career at amateur club

Jabbeke Jabbeke () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the towns of Jabbeke proper, Snellegem, Stalhille, Varsenare and Zerkegem. On 1 January 2006 the municipality had 13,572 inhabitants. The ...

. At the age of 12, he made moved to the youth academy of professional club

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Division ...

, despite receiving an offer from city rivals

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. At Cercle, he progressed through the youth teams, and eventually made his senior debut in the 2003–04 season in a 0–0 home draw against

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. T ...

. The following year, De Smet grew into a starter, scoring four goals in 27 games. In December 2006, De Smet was invited for a trial with

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, the partner team of Cercle. Sadly for De Smet, a knee injury suffered in a match against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as th ...

forced him to stay in Belgium. De Smet quickly aroused interest from other teams, and was considered Cercle's most talented player since Thomas Buffel. Strong play alongside new signing Tom De Sutter, as well as 10 goals in 33 appearances during the 2007–08 season, meant that

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

clubs AZ and

PSV PSV may refer to: * Partial specific volume * PlayStation Vita, a handheld game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment * Petit Saint Vincent, an island south of St. Vincent in the Grenadine islands * Platform supply vessel, a specific typ ...

showed interest.

Gent

On 17 July 2009, De Smet signed a five-year contract with league rivals for

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent ( Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghent ** .gent, a ...

, replacing the outgoing

Bryan Ruiz Bryan Jafet Ruiz González (; born 18 August 1985) is a Costa Rican former footballer. A left-footed attacking midfielder, he also played as a second striker. Ruiz is the only Central American footballer to have played in the UEFA Champions L ...

who had signed with

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a G ...

, for a fee reported to be around €1.2 million. At Gent, he won the

2009–10 Belgian Cup The 2009–10 Belgian Cup (also known as '' Cofidis Cup'' because of sponsoring purposes) was the 55th season of the main knockout football competition in Belgium. It commenced on 25 July 2009 with the first matches of Round 1 and concluded with t ...

, beating his former club Cercle Brugge 3–0 in the final. De Smet came on as a 90th minute substitute for Elimane Coulibaly in the game. On 25 July 2011, De Smet was sent on a season-long loan to Westerlo. Due to an injury, he only played 23 games. From the 2012–13 season, he returned to Gent, but during the winter break he was sent on another loan, this time to

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amate ...

alongside Jordan Remacle. At Beveren he was reunited with his former coach at Cercle,

Glen De Boeck Glen De Boeck (; born 22 August 1971) is a Belgian football manager and former player who most recently managed Lokeren in the Belgian First Division B. During his career he played as central defender, mostly on the books of Anderlecht. Club c ...

Kortrijk

In the 2013–14 season, De Smet signed a two-year contract with

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It is the capital and larges ...

with an option for an additional year. After three successful seasons at the

West Flemish West Flemish (''West-Vlams'' or ''West-Vloams'' or ''Vlaemsch'' (in French Flanders, French-Flanders), nl, West-Vlaams, french: link=no, flamand occidental) is a collection of Dutch dialects spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas ...

club, his contract was not renewed following the 2017–18 season.

Roeselare

For the 2018–19 season, De Smet moved to

Roeselare Roeselare (; french: Roulers, ; West Flemish: ''Roeseloare'') is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Roeselare proper and the towns of Beveren, Oekene and Rumbeke. ...

as a free agent, signing a one-year contract with an option for an additional year.

Retirement

At the end of the 2018–19 season, it was announced that De Smet would retire from professional football and continue his career with amateur club

Zwevezele Zwevezele (Pronunciation: weːvəzeːlə) is a town in the Belgian province of West Flanders. It has been part of the Wingene municipality since 1 January 1977. Zwevezele has over 5,000 inhabitants. Between Zwevezele and Wingene there is a ham ...

. De Smet announced his retirement in December 2019. He later founded his own real estate agency.

International career

In the 2004–05 season, De Smet was selected for the matches of the Belgian national under-21 team. He was also part of the squad that qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. De Smet was selected for

for the first time for an unofficial friendly against

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the mo ...

, as a replacement for the injured Thomas Chatelle. De Smet played the last 10 minutes of the match. He was selected again for the friendly against

, and was part of the starting eleven.

Honours

Gent *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2009–10 Belgian Cup, 2009–10

References

External links

Cerclemuseum.be
* {{DEFAULTSORT:De Smet, Stijn Living people 1985 births Belgian footballers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players K.A.A. Gent players K.V.C. Westerlo players S.K. Beveren players K.V. Kortrijk players K.S.V. Roeselare players Association football forwards Footballers from Bruges Belgium international footballers Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgian Pro League players Olympic footballers of Belgium Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics K.S.K. Voorwaarts Zwevezele players