Brian Ebenezer Adjei Brobbey (born 1 February 2002) 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 striker for

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 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 ...

and the Netherlands national team.

Club career

Early career

Brobbey began his youth career with AFC before joining the

academy in 2010.

Ajax

Brobbey made his

debut in the

on 31 October 2020, coming on as a substitute and scoring in a 5–2 victory over

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; ) is a professional football club from the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was establi ...

. He made his European debut in the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

against

Atalanta Atalanta (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

on 9 December 2020 and his performance was praised by coach

Erik ten Hag Erik ten Hag ( ; born 2 February 1970) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. He will become the head coach of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen on 1 July 2025. Ten Hag played as a centre-back and began his career with Ere ...

. On 3 February 2021, Ajax

director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an senior management, executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many typ ...

Marc Overmars Marc Overmars (; born 29 March 1973) is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer and former director of football at Belgian First Division A, Belgian Pro League side Royal Antwerp F.C. He was previously director of football a ...

confirmed that Brobbey would leave the club at the expiry of his contract at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

. Brobbey scored his first goal in a European competition on 18 February, netting Ajax's second goal in their

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

round of 32 first leg away win over

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

RB Leipzig

On 12 March 2021,

RB Leipzig RasenBallsport Leipzig e.V. (), commonly known as RB Leipzig or informally as Red Bull Leipzig, is a German professional association football, football club based in Leipzig, Saxony. The club was founded in 2009 by the initiative of the company ...

announced the signing of Brobbey. He joined them on 1 July 2021.

Return to Ajax on loan

On 27 December 2021, it was announced that Brobbey would return to Ajax on a six-month loan spell without an option to buy. He was assigned shirt number 18, previously worn that season by

Jurgen Ekkelenkamp Jurgen Peter Ekkelenkamp (born 5 April 2000) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Udinese. Club career Ajax Ekkelenkamp made his professional debut in the Eerste Divisie for Jong Ajax on 9 April 2018 in a game ...

. He made his first appearance on 16 January 2022 in an away match against

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

as the starting striker, securing two goals before being substituted off in the 70th minute for

Davy Klaassen Davy Klaassen (born 21 February 1993) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as an midfielder for Eredivisie club AFC Ajax, Ajax and the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Club career Earl ...

in a 3–0 victory.

Return to Ajax

On 22 July 2022, Ajax confirmed the re-signing of Brian Brobbey on a five-year contract for a fee of €16.35 million plus €3 million in potential add ons. He made his competitive return debut on the first matchday of the 2022–23 season, also scoring his first return goal for Ajax in a 3–2 away win over

on 6 August. On 16 and 22 October 2022, Brobbey scored back-to-back braces, leading his team to a 7–1 victory over

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 ...

and a 4–1 win over

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 ...

, respectively. Brobbey scored 14 goals in 44 appearances in all competitions during the season, as he was in and out of the starting lineup under first head coach

Alfred Schreuder Alfred Schreuder (; born 2 November 1972) is a Dutch football coach and former player who was recently the head coach of UAE Pro League club Al Nasr SC. Club career During his career, Schreuder played for RKC Waalwijk, NAC Breda, Feyenoord, Tw ...

, and since interim coach

John Heitinga John Gijsbert Alan "Johnny" Heitinga (born 15 November 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former player who is currently the assistant manager at Premier League club Liverpool. He will become the manager of Eredivisie club Ajax on 1 July 2025. ...

. In the following season, Brobbey began as a starter in attack under newly appointed manager Maurice Steijn. Despite Ajax enduring a difficult campaign overall, Brobbey enjoyed a strong individual season, finishing as the club's top scorer with 22 goals in 43 appearances across all competitions. He earned back-to-back Eredivisie Player of the Month awards for December 2023 and January 2024, and his performances throughout the season led to him being named Ajax Player of the Year. His prolific form reportedly attracted significant interest from clubs abroad, including

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, during the subsequent transfer window.Brobbey remained at Ajax and continued as the main striker for the 2024–25 season under new manager

Francesco Farioli Francesco Farioli (; born 10 April 1989) is an Italian professional football coach who last managed the Dutch football club Ajax. Farioli started his coaching career in Turkey with spells at Fatih Karagümrük and Alanyaspor. He then had one se ...

. While Farioli noted in March 2025 that Brobbey's league goal tally was initially lower than expected, he praised the striker's progression and importance to the team. Brobbey contributed goals in both the Eredivisie and the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

campaign, and he won the Eredivisie Player of the Month award for a third time in February 2025.

International career

Born in the Netherlands, Brobbey is of Ghanaian descent. Brobbey represented the Netherlands U17 team at the

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

and

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 ...

editions of the

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

, winning both competitions. In October 2022, Brobbey was included in the preliminary squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. In October 2023, he received his first official call-up to the Netherlands senior national team for two UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. On 29 May 2024, Brobbey was named in the Netherlands' squad for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

Personal life

He is a younger brother of fellow football players Samuel Brobbey, Derrick Luckassen and Kevin Luckassen.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Netherlands score listed first, score column indicates score after each Brobbey goal.''

Honours

Ajax *

2020–21 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 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

Netherlands U17 *

Individual * Eredivisie Player of the Month: December 2023, January 2024,

February 2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

* Eredivisie Talent of the Month: May 2022, August 2022, October 2022 * Ajax Player of the Year (Rinus Michels Award): 2023–24

References

External links

Profile
at the AFC Ajax website
Profile
at the Royal Dutch Football Association website (in Dutch) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brobbey, Brian 2002 births Living people Dutch sportspeople of Ghanaian descent Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Men's association football forwards Amsterdamsche FC players Jong Ajax players AFC Ajax players RB Leipzig players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany 21st-century Dutch sportsmen