Dirk Wanner Proper (born 24 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 ...

who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

club NEC.

Club career

Born in Elst,

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

, Proper started playing football at amateur club SV Spero before joining the NEC youth academy at the age of nine, where he was quickly regarded as one of the club's most promising prospects. He made his professional debut in the Dutch second-tier

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as th ...

on 13 December 2019 in a 3–2 loss to Almere City. In January 2020, Proper was definitively promoted to the NEC first team. He gradually became integrated into the first team during this 2019–20 season, with head coach François Gesthuizen utilising him as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. In July 2020, Proper's contract was extended until the summer of 2023. Proper scored his first goal on 3 October 2020 in the 6–0 win over

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...

with NEC, by beating

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

2–1 in the final of the play-offs. Proper made his debut in the top-level

on 14 August 2021, the first matchday of the 2021–22 season, starting in a 5–0 away loss to

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), by the ancient Gree ...

at the

Johan Cruyff Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

International career

From under-15 level, Proper has been part of Netherlands youth teams. With the Netherlands under-17 team, he won the

2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2019 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-17 Euro 2019) was the 18th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (37th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football cha ...

. He also participated in the

2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 18th edition of the FIFA U-17 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was hosted by Brazil betw ...

Career statistics

Honours

Netherlands U17 *

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

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Proper, Dirk 2002 births Living people People from Overbetuwe Footballers from Gelderland Dutch footballers Association football midfielders Netherlands youth international footballers NEC Nijmegen players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players