Bas Edo Kuipers (born 17 August 1994) is a Dutch 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 plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for club

Twente 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 Germanic people ...

Club career

Ajax

Born in Amsterdam, Kuipers was recruited into the youth academy of

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

in 2001 after having been discovered during the club's annual Talentendagen (''Talent days'') where young kids can come play football at Ajax for a chance to join the club's acclaimed youth academy. He joined the F1 Pupils selection at first from where he has advanced through every possible stage of the club's youth system. On 15 March 2013, Kuipers signed his first professional contract with Ajax, signing a two-year deal binding him to the club until 30 June 2015. Kuipers participated in the club's training camp during the pre-season, where he appeared in two friendly matches for the first team, namely against

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

on 13 July 2013, coming on in the 63' minute in the 5–1 victory at the Mandemakers Stadion, while also making an appearance in the pre-season friendly match in the 63' minute against

De Graafschap Vereniging Betaald Voetbal De Graafschap, simply known as De Graafschap () is a professional association football club based in Doetinchem, Netherlands. The team competes in the , the second level of the Dutch football league system. Founded o ...

which ended in a 3–0 victory on the same day. The start of the 2013–14 season saw Kuipers beginning with the reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax (; ), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2, is a Dutch association football team. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. Jong Ajax is the only reserve team to have won a title in Dutch professional foot ...

who had recently been promoted to the Dutch

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

, the 2nd tier of professional football in the Netherlands, having previously played in the

Beloften Eredivisie The Beloften Eredivisie (; ''"Promised Honor Division"'') was the highest football league for reserve teams in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB). The league was founded in 1992 as ''Reserve Teams Eredivisie'' ...

. On 30 August 2013, Kuipers made his professional debut for the reserves team in a home match against Jong Twente. The match ended in a 2–1 victory for the Amsterdammers. On 8 September 2013, Kuipers wore the captain's arm band for the first time for Jong Ajax in the away match against

Achilles '29 Achilles '29 is a football club from Groesbeek, Netherlands, competing in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse. The club is known for its successes in the Dutch domestic cup, having knocked FC Volendam, Heracles Almelo, RKC Waalwijk, Telstar and ...

, which ended in a 2–1 loss.

Excelsior

On 4 August 2014, it was announced that Kuipers would join

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

from

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

on a one-year loan deal. He made his first appearance for Excelsior on 2 November 2014 in a 3–3 draw against AZ in Alkmaar. Following a successful season with Excelsior where he made 30 regular season appearances, Kuipers then made a permanent transfer in the Summer of 2015, signing a two-year contract.

NEC

After a short spell in Romania with Viitorul Constanța in 2019, where he won the

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

and Romanian Super Cup, appearing in both matches, Kuipers returned to Holland in August 2019 signing for

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

in the Eerste Divisie on an initial trial. After a successful trial, Kuipers signed a one-year contract with NEC with the option for a further year. He played as a starter on left back during the 2019–20 season, but did not receive a contract extension and left the club as a free agent.

Go Ahead Eagles

On 6 July 2020, Kuipers signed a two-year contract with

Go Ahead Eagles The Go Ahead Eagles are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer in the province of Overijssel. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in th ...

. He scored the crucial goal as Go Ahead Eagles defeated

1–0 to secure promotion to 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 ...

on 12 May 2021.

Twente

On 28 May 2024, Kuipers joined

on a four-season contract, beginning in the 2024–25 season.

International career

Kuipers made his debut for the Dutch national team playing for the under-16 selection in their 2009 appearance in the 11th Tournoi Val de Marne in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. His first appearance was on 29 October 2009 in a 1–2 loss against Spain U-16. Two days later he appeared in the 2–0 victory over Italy U-16 however failing to help his side secure advancement to the next round of the tournament. Two months later he appeared in the Nike International friendlies tournament '09 in

Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Arizona#List of cities and towns, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona. With over 1.6 million residents at the 2020 census, it is the ...

playing in two fixtures, namely against Portugal U-16 on 5 December 2012, which ended in a 2–1 win, and against the United States U-16 which resulted in a 3–0 victory for the Dutch. His final two appearances for the under-16 squad were at the Albufeira 4 nations tournament in Portugal where his side would face Italy U-16 and Ireland U-16 losing the first match 3–1, while securing the 3–1 win in the following fixture. He received his first call up for the Netherlands U-17 appearing in a friendly match against Germany U-17 on 15 September 2010 in game which ended in a 2–1 loss for the Netherlands.

Personal life

Kuipers is the nephew of the famous Dutch astronaut

André Kuipers André Kuipers (; born 5 October 1958) is a Dutch physician and ESA astronaut. He became the second Dutch citizen, third Dutch-born and fifth Dutch-speaking astronaut upon launch of Soyuz TMA-4 on 19 April 2004. Kuipers returned to Earth ab ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Viitorul Constanța *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 2018–19 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual *

Team of the Month: Agustus 2023

References

External links

Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuipers, Bas 1994 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Footballers from Amsterdam Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders AFC Ajax players Eerste Divisie players Jong Ajax players Eredivisie players Excelsior Rotterdam players ADO Den Haag players Go Ahead Eagles players FC Twente players Liga I players FC Viitorul Constanța players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Romania Expatriate men's footballers in Romania 21st-century Dutch sportsmen