Branco van den Boomen (born 21 July 1995) 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

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 ...

for club

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

Club career

Ajax

Born in

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

, Van den Boomen began his football career in the youth ranks of RKVVO in

Oerle Oerle is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Veldhoven, about 7 km west of Eindhoven. The village was first mentioned in 1249 Oerle, and is a combination of "open forest" and "s ...

, before moving to nearby Willem II/

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 ...

in 2004. He then joined the famed

Ajax Youth Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

signing his first professional contract, a three-year deal with

on 4 March 2011. Van den Boomen began the 2013–14 season playing for Ajax A1, the under-19 team, playing in the Nike A-Juniors Eredivisie. He also competed in three matches in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

while scoring once against AC Milan U19, which earned him a berth with the club's reserves squad

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 ...

competing in the

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. He made his debut for Jong Ajax on 11 November 2013 in a match 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 ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute for Wang Chengkuai who also made his debut in the same match. The match ended in a 2–1 loss at home for Jong Ajax. Van den Boomen scored his first professional goal in an away match against

SC Telstar Sportclub Telstar () is a Dutch professional football club based in the town of Velsen-Zuid, North Holland. The team competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in t ...

, scoring in the 3rd minute of the 3–1 loss. In January 2014 it was announced that Van den Boomen had officially been promoted to the Jong Ajax squad, and would not return to the club's youth ranks.

FC Eindhoven

On 19 June 2014, it was announced that Van den Boomen had signed with

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

as a free transfer, returning to his city of birth, signing a three-year contract with the club. He made his first appearance for his new club on 15 August 2014 in a 3–0 home win against

FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch professional football club based in Emmen, Drenthe. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2022–23 season. Founded in 1925, the club ...

Toulouse

On 7 August 2020, Van den Boomen left the Netherlands for the first time in his career and joined French club

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, who had been relegated to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

after finishing 20th during the

2019–20 Ligue 1 The 2019–20 Ligue 1 season, also known as Ligue 1 Conforama for sponsorship reasons, was a French association football tournament within Ligue 1. It was the 82nd season since its establishment. The season began on 9 August 2019 and ended abrupt ...

season. Toulouse agreed to a €350,000 transfer fee with

. Van den Boomen became the second Dutch player to join Toulouse after

Rob Rensenbrink Pieter Robert Rensenbrink (; 3 July 1947 – 24 January 2020) was a Dutch footballer and member of the Netherlands national team that reached two FIFA World Cup finals, in 1974 and 1978. A creative and prolific left winger or forward, he bec ...

. In the 2020–21 season, Van den Boomen became one of the key players of the Toulouse midfield also composed of Stijn Spierings and Brecht Dejaegere, scoring five goals and making seven assists. The 2021–22 season saw Van den Boomen massively improve his numbers, scoring twelve goals and assisting a league-record twenty-one.

Return to Ajax

On 29 May 2023, Van den Boomen signed a pre-contract agreement with

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 ...

club Ajax, where he spent three years in his early career. He signed a four-year deal running from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2027.

Career statistics

Honours

Toulouse *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France (), also known in English language, English as the French Cup or less commonly as the France Cup, is the premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in French football organised by the French Football Fed ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

: 2021–22 Individual * UNFP Ligue 2 Team of the Year: 2021–22 *

top assist provider: 2017–18 * Ligue 2 Player of the Year: 2021–22 *

top assist provider: 2021–22

References

External links

Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boomen, Branco van den 1995 births Living people Footballers from Veldhoven Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Jong Ajax players FC Eindhoven players SC Heerenveen players Willem II Tilburg players De Graafschap players Toulouse FC players AFC Ajax players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France 21st-century Dutch sportsmen