Calvin Stengs (; born 18 December 1998) 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 winger for club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

and the Netherlands national team. A product of the AZacademy, Stengs broke into the first team during the 2017–18 season. He developed into a key player for the club, and earned a transfer to

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

club

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

. There, he won the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

and

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

. In 2023, he returned to the Netherlands where he signed with defending

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 ...

title winners

for a fee worth €6 million. At international level, Stengs has represented the Netherlands, having made his debut for the senior team in November 2019.

Club career

AZ

Born in

Amstelveen Amstelveen () is a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, with a population of 95,996 as of 202 ...

, and growing up in Nieuw-Vennep,

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 ...

, Stengs joined AZ's youth academy at the age of 12, having formerly played for local side SV DIOS and HFC Haarlem. He was promoted to the AZ reserves for the 2016–17 season playing in the third division. He made his professional debut for the first team on 14 December 2016, starting as a right winger in a

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 ...

match against lower league

ASWH ASWH, short for Altijd Sterker Worden Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, is an association football club from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1929. It won section championships in 1949, 1959, 1961, 1970, 1883, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, a ...

, which his team won 2–0. That season, he made 22 league appearances for Jong AZ, scoring six goals and making eight assists. His strong performances for the reserves were noticed by first team head coach John van den Brom, and on 5 March 2017, Stengs made his league debut for AZ in a 1–1 home draw against

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 ...

in the

. Stengs was promoted to the AZ first team ahead of the 2017–18 season, and he made his first start for the club on 12 August in a 3–2 away loss against PSV. In the seventh minute of the match he twisted his knee and tore his anterior cruciate ligament, cutting his first professional season short. Stengs returned to first team action in November 2018 and reconquered his position in the AZ starting eleven, 15 months after his injury. On 16 January 2019, he scored his first goal for AZ in a 3–0 home win over

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 ...

. Stengs ended the 2018–19 season with three goals and four assists in 21 appearances. On 25 July 2019, Stengs made his debut in the

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 ...

in a 0–0 home draw against

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; ), also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan (, ) is a professional association football league in Sweden and the highest level of the Swedish football league system. Founded in 1924, it operates on a system of promotion and relegatio ...

club

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional association football, football club based in Gothenburg (Hisingen). It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Forme ...

. He made his first European goal in the return match in Sweden, netting in the 56th minute as AZ won 3–0 and advanced in the competition. He continued as a starter under head coaches

Arne Slot Arend Martijn "Arne" Slot (; born 17 September 1978) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of club Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. He is regarded as one of t ...

and Pascal Jansen.

Nice

On 14 July 2021, Stengs signed for

club

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one milliontransfer fee reported to be €10 million plus bonuses. On 28 August 2021, he made his debut for the club in a 4–0 league win over

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. He came on as a 36th-minute substitute for injured compatriot Justin Kluivert. On 25 September, he scored his first goal in a 3–0 win over bottom of the league

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; Franco-Provençal: ''Sant-Etiève''), also written St. Etienne, is a city and the prefecture of the Loire département, in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes regi ...

Loan to Antwerp

On 30 August 2022, Stengs joined

club

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 4 September, starting in a 3–0 league victory over

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. Th ...

. In his following appearance, a 2–1 home win against

Seraing Seraing (; ) is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city of Wallonia located in the Liège Province, province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-M ...

on 16 September, he recorded his first assist as his corner-kick was headed in by

Toby Alderweireld Tobias Albertine Maurits Alderweireld (; born 2 March 1989) is a Belgian former professional association football, footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, centre-back. Alderweireld began his professional career at D ...

. He scored his first goal for Antwerp on 10 November, contributing to a 2–2 draw in the

against

Beveren Beveren () is a former municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') ...

, which Antwerp would go on to win after a penalty-shootout. His first league goal came on 27 December in a 3–3 away draw against Westerlo, completing a comeback in the 88th minute. On 29 January 2023, Stengs was sent off for the second time in his professional career in a league game against

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 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, B ...

after a punching motion towards Amadou Diawara. On 30 April 2023, Stengs won the Belgian Cup with Antwerp. Just over a month later, on 4 June, he won the league title with the club on the final match-day after a dramatic 2–2 draw against

Genk Genk () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and City status in Belgium, city located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality comprises only the town of Genk itself. It ...

, handing Antwerp their first league title in 66 years. Stengs was suspended for the game.

Feyenoord

On 26 July 2023, Stengs joined reigning Dutch champions

on a four-year contract, where he reunited with

, who also coached him at AZ. The Rotterdam club paid Nice a reported €6 million transfer fee. He made his debut on 6 August against PSV in the 2023 Johan Cruyff Shield, which Feyenoord lost 1–0. On 13 August, Stengs started in Feyenoord's opening match of the 2023–24 Eredivisie season, a 0–0 home draw against

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 scored his first goal for the club on 3 September, scoring the second goal in a 5–1 away win against

International career

Born in the Netherlands, Stengs is of Surinamese descent. Stengs made his international debut for the Netherlands under-21 team on 24 March 2019 in a friendly against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. On 19 November 2019, Stengs made his debut for the Netherlands national team in the

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, intended to be playe ...

match against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

, giving two assists in a 5–0 victory. On 21 November 2023, Stengs scored a hat-trick in the Netherlands' final

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 ...

qualifier against

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

to register his first senior international goals.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Nice *

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 ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Antwerp *

: 2022–23 *

: 2022–23 Feyenoord *

: 2023–24 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

External links

*
Profile
at the Royal Dutch Football Association website (in Dutch) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stengs, Calvin 1998 births Living people Footballers from Amstelveen Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Tweede Divisie players Ligue 1 players Belgian Pro League players AZ Alkmaar players Jong AZ players OGC Nice players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Feyenoord players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 21st-century Dutch sportsmen