Gijs Smal (born 31 August 1997) 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

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

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

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 ...

Career

Born in De Rijp, Smal made his

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 ...

debut for

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 ...

on 22 September 2017 in a game against De Graafschap. He then managed to establish himself in the starting line-up and made 28 league appearances in his first season. The following season, Smal lost the competition for left-back to Robin Schouten, who had come over from

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 ...

, and mainly appeared as a substitute. However, he did become champion of the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; ), formerly known as Topklasse (; ), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league is placed between the Tweede D ...

Sunday with the reserve team, Jong Volendam. Under the new head coach

Wim Jonk Wilhelmus Maria "Wim" Jonk (; born 12 October 1966) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, who is the current technical manager of Eerste Divisie club Volendam. In his career as a midfielder, he won a variety of national hon ...

, he again became a starter for the first team in the 2019–20 season. With six goals and ten assists, he was a key player in the second-tier that season, which was suspended and later abandoned due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. On 26 June 2020, Smal signed a three-year contract with

club

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

, coming over on a free transfer.

Feyenoord

On 31 May 2024, Smal signed a four-year contract with

. He made his official debut for the club on 18 August, coming on as a substitute in a 5–1 away win against

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Team of the Month: May 2022, August 2022, November 2022, January 2023,

References

External links

* * 1997 births Living people People from Graft-De Rijp Footballers from Alkmaar Dutch men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Derde Divisie players AFC '34 players Jong Volendam players FC Volendam players FC Twente players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub