Ian Ethan Maatsen (born 10 March 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 for club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

and the Netherlands national team. Primarily 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 ...

, he can also play as a winger. Maatsen was born near

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

and played for local clubs

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

and

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 ...

as a child, later moving to

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

where he was scouted by and signed by Chelsea. He made his professional debut for Chelsea in 2019 and played on loan at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

, and finally

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

where he was named in the UEFA Team of the Season for 2023–24. He signed for Aston Villa in June 2024. He played for the Netherlands at all youth levels up to under-21 and was included in the senior squad for

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 football championship organised by U ...

Club career

Early career

Maatsen joined

's academy at the age of seven, but was allegedly dropped for being too small. He moved to

and then

, before joining Chelsea in 2018.

Chelsea

On 25 September 2019, he made his debut for the London club as a substitute in a 7–1

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

victory over

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

Loan to Charlton Athletic

On 13 October 2020, Maatsen joined

on a season-long loan. On 20 October, he made his league debut for Charlton, coming off the bench as a second-half substitute in the side's 1–0 win over

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

. He scored his first senior goal on 2 April 2021 in a 1–0 away win over

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system after winning the 202 ...

Loan to Coventry

On 30 July 2021, Maatsen joined

on loan. On 2 October 2021, he scored his first goal for Coventry in a match against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

, helping his team to a 4–1 victory. Overall, Maatsen made 40 league appearances for the ''Sky Blues'' and scored three goals during the 2021–22 season.

Loan to Burnley

On 15 July 2022, Maatsen joined

on a season-long loan. He made his debut in the first round of the

2022–23 EFL Championship The 2022–23 EFL Championship (referred to as the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 7th season of the EFL Championship under its current title and the 31st season under its current league division format. The season started o ...

against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

, where he also scored the only goal of the game in a 1–0 win. Following his impressive performances, Maatsen was named the

EFL Championship Player of the Month The EFL Championship Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the player adjudged the best for each month of the season in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Originally named the Football L ...

for January 2023. His team eventually won the league and promotion to the Premier League, with Maatsen being included in the Championship Team of the Season as the best left-back.

Loan to Borussia Dortmund

On 12 January 2024, Maatsen signed a contract extension with Chelsea until 2026 and joined

on a six-month loan. On 16 April, he scored his first Champions League goal in a 4–2 win against

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), commonly referred to as Atlético Madrid or simply Atlético, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid that plays in La Liga. The club play their home game ...

in the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

second leg, helping his team progress to the semi-finals. Borussia eventually reached the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, where Maatsen started the match and made a misplaced pass that led to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

's second goal in a 2–0 defeat at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

. However, he was named in the competition's Team of the Season as the best left-back.

Aston Villa

On 28 June 2024, 22-year-old Maatsen signed for fellow Premier League club

for an undisclosed fee, reported to be £37.5 million, signing a six-year contract. On 17 August 2024, Maatsen made his Aston Villa debut as a substitute in a 2–1 opening day victory over

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

. On 12 March 2025, Maatsen scored his first goal for Aston Villa during a 3–0 win against

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional Association football, football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capac ...

in 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 ...

round of 16 A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

International career

Maatsen was a youth international for the Netherlands, representing the country at all levels from under-15 to under-21. In September 2023, he received his first call-up to the Netherlands senior team by head coach

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...

, for two

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

matches against

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 ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. In May 2024, Maatsen was selected in the 30-man preliminary 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 ...

, but was later omitted from the final squad. However, he was re-called to the Netherlands' Euro 2024 squad on 11 June as a replacement for the injured

Frenkie de Jong Frenkie de Jong (; born 12 May 1997) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays primarily as a midfielder for club Barcelona and the Netherlands national team. He is widely regarded as one of the best midfielders of his generation and as one ...

. On 21 March 2025, Maatsen was called up for the Netherlands senior team once again, after initially being called up for the U21 team, after

Jurriën Timber Jurriën David Norman Timber (; born 17 June 2001) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender for club Arsenal and the Netherlands national team. Timber joined Ajax's youth academy in 2014, from Feyenoord. He made his first- ...

withdrew from the squad with illness. On 23 March, the 23-year-old scored on his debut match against Spain in the second leg of the 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A quarter-final.

Personal life

Born in

Vlaardingen Vlaardingen () is a large town and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in South Holland in the Netherlands. It is located on the north bank of the Nieuwe Maas river at the confluence with the Oude Maas. The municipality admin ...

South Holland South Holland ( ) is a province of the Netherlands with a population of over 3.8 million as of January 2023 and a population density of about , making it the country's most populous province and one of the world's most densely populated areas. ...

, Maatsen is of Surinamese descent and also has Indonesian ancestry from

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Burnley *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

2022–23 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 ...

Borussia Dortmund *

runner-up: 2023–24 Netherlands U17 *

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, ...

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 ...

Individual *

: January 2023 *EFL Championship Team of the Season: 2022–23 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...

: 2022–23 Championship *

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

Rookie of the Month: January 2024 *UEFA Champions League Team of the Season: 2023–24

References

External links

Ian Maatsen
at

Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English foot ...

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maatsen, Ian 2002 births Living people Footballers from Vlaardingen Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football wingers Feyenoord players Sparta Rotterdam players PSV Eindhoven players Chelsea F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Borussia Dortmund players Aston Villa F.C. players Eerste Divisie players English Football League players Premier League players Bundesliga players UEFA Euro 2024 players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Dutch people of Indonesian descent Sportspeople of Indonesian descent 21st-century Dutch sportsmen