Donny de Groot (born 16 August 1979) is a Dutch former 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 played as a striker.

Club career

Early career

De Groot started his football career with amateur side UNIO in

Oudewater Oudewater () is a municipality and a city in the Netherlands. History The origin of the town of Oudewater is obscure and no information has been found concerning the first settlement of citizens. It is also difficult to recover the name of Oud ...

, near his native town Gouda. As a youth player, he moved to

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 ...

, where he made his debut for the main squad on 27 February 2000, in the home game against AZ. During the next two and a half years in Utrecht, De Groot played only five matches for the main squad. During the 2001–02 season, De Groot moved to

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024 ...

, where he scored 9 goals in 15 matches. De Groot moved to

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 ...

for the next season. His 30 goals in 31 matches made him top scorer of the

2002–03 Eerste Divisie The Dutch Eerste Divisie in the 2002–03 season was contested by 18 teams. ADO Den Haag won the championship. Promoted teams These teams were promoted to the Eredivisie * ADO Den Haag — Eerste Divisie champions * FC Volendam — playoff winne ...

Success and career abroad

He returned to FC Utrecht for the

2003–04 Eredivisie The 2003–04 season of the Dutch Eredivisie began in August 2003 and ended in May 2004. The title was won by Ajax. League standings Results Promotion/relegation play-offs Top scorers See also * 2003–04 Eerste Divisie * ...

season; he played 23 matches, scoring 5 goals. At the end of the season, De Groot moved to

RBC Roosendaal RBC, previously known as RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the fifth-tier Vierde Divisie after bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in the tenth tier Vijfde Klasse. History 1912– ...

, and during the

2005–06 Eredivisie The 2005–06 season of the Eredivisie began in August 2005 and ended in May 2006. PSV Eindhoven became champion on April 9, 2006. The season was overshadowed by the death of FC Utrecht player David di Tommaso. Promoted teams These teams we ...

season, he went to Eerste Divisie side

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 ...

. At the end of the season, De Groot moved abroad, signing a two-year deal with

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC (, "Athletic Union Kition (ancient state), Kition of Larnaca") is a Cyprus, Cypriot professional association football, football club based in Larnaca. The club was formed in 1994 after a merger of two historical Larnaca clubs, EP ...

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

. De Groot played for the Cypriot side for only one season, and returned to De Graafschap for the

2007–08 Eredivisie The 2007–08 Eredivisie was the 52nd season of the Eredivisie, the top division of association football in the Netherlands. The season began in August 2007 and ended on 18 May 2008, with defending champions PSV retaining their title with 72 ...

season. On 30 January 2009, he went to

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from the Australi ...

on a free transfer. On 10 March 2009, he made his debut for Newcastle in their 2–0 loss in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club (), known in AFC competitions as Beijing FC, is a Chinese professional football club based in Beijing, that competes in . Beijing Guoan plays its home matches at the Workers' Stadium, located within Chaoyang Distr ...

. De Groot fell out of favour under new manager

Branko Čulina Branko Culina (; born 1 October 1957) is a soccer coach and former player. He previously managed Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Playing career Culina was born in Zadar, Socialist Republic of Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia and em ...

and was given permission to negotiate with other clubs.

Return home

Therefore, he went to back to his home country where he signed 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 ...

on a free transfer in January 2010. He immediately made an impact, scoring two goals as a

jet lag Jet lag is a temporary physiological condition that occurs when a person's circadian rhythm is out of sync with the time zone they are in, and is a typical result from travelling rapidly across multiple time zones (east–west or west–east). ...

ged second-half substitute in a Dutch Cup quarter finals away win over Eredivisie side

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 Eredivisi ...

. He had only finished his long journey from Australia less than 24 hours earlier. In June 2011 it was reported that he would sign a contract at

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

ian side

Willem II Tilburg Willem II Tilburg (), commonly known simply as Willem II, is a Dutch football club (association football), football club based in Tilburg, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch footb ...

Honours

Club

FC Utrecht *

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 ...

: 2003–04 RKC Waalwijk: *

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 ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Individual

Player of the Year: 2002–03 *

Top scorer: 2002–03

References

External links

Newcastle Jets profile

Donny de Groot Interview

Donny on the spot: Jets sense Dutch of class in de Groot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groot, Donny De 1979 births Living people Footballers from Gouda, South Holland Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers De Graafschap players RBC Roosendaal players FC Volendam players FC Utrecht players FC Emmen players RKC Waalwijk players Go Ahead Eagles players AEK Larnaca FC players Newcastle Jets FC players Willem II Tilburg players Sint-Truidense V.V. players FC Eindhoven players Fortuna Sittard players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Cypriot First Division players A-League Men players Challenger Pro League players Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Australia Men's association football forwards