Arvid Benjamin Smit (born 12 December 1980) is a Dutch football coach and 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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He is the assistant coach for the Netherlands women's national team.

Career

Smit was born in

Heerhugowaard Heerhugowaard (; West Frisian Dutch: ''Heerhugoweard'', ''Heregeweard'' or ''De Weard'') is a city in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and the region of West Friesland. Heerhugowaard was previously a separate municipality, whic ...

North Holland North Holland (, ) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht (province), Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevola ...

. After impressing with

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, he was signed by country giants

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

in 2002, but would appear very rarely officially for his new team and never in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

, going on to serve three loans in the country, always in the top flight. In January 2007, still owned by PSV, Smit moved to Portugal's

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

, making his first appearance on the 29th in the

local derby A sports rivalry is intense competition between athletic teams or athletes, affecting participants, management, and supporters all to varying degrees. One of the first known sports rivalries occurred in the Roman Empire between the Blues and th ...

Madeira Madeira ( ; ), officially the Autonomous Region of Madeira (), is an autonomous Regions of Portugal, autonomous region of Portugal. It is an archipelago situated in the North Atlantic Ocean, in the region of Macaronesia, just under north of ...

against

C.D. Nacional Clube Desportivo Nacional (), commonly known as Nacional da Madeira and sometimes just Nacional, is a Portuguese football club based in Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Founded on 8 December 1910, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal , P ...

. After a good spell – he started in all the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

games during the season, completing all but one – the move was made permanent, but he was deemed surplus to requirements shortly after, which prompted a new January move, also in the country, as he joined (on loan)

U.D. Leiria União Desportiva de Leiria (), commonly known as União de Leiria, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Leiria. Founded on 6 June 1966, it currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home matches at Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pe ...

. Smit returned to his country in the 2008 summer, signing with top-level side

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024 ...

. After having appeared sparingly throughout the campaign, he dropped down a category and returned to his first professional club, Telstar, retiring from professional football in July 2011 at the age of 30.

References

External links

Beijen profile

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Smit, Arvid 1980 births Living people Sportspeople from Heerhugowaard Dutch men's footballers Footballers from North Holland Men's association football midfielders Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Primeira Liga players Segunda Divisão players SC Telstar players De Graafschap players PSV Eindhoven players FC Groningen players Willem II Tilburg players FC Volendam players C.S. Marítimo players U.D. Leiria players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal