Jordi Balk (born 26 April 1994) is a retired 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 played as a

centre 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 Ross County,

FC Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

FC Lienden FC Lienden is a football club from Lienden, Netherlands. The club was established on 1 August 1930. History In the 2010s, the club saw a rise through the Dutch football pyramid, under the guidance of former professional player Hans Kraay Jr. ...

, VV DUNO, DOVO and

Sportlust '46 Zaterdag Sportvereniging Sportlust '46, more commonly known as ZSV Sportlust '46 or simply Sportlust '46 (), is a football club based in Woerden, Netherlands. It currently plays in the Derde Divisie, the fourth tier of Dutch football. Formed on 5 ...

Club career

Ross County

Balk, who had previously played in the youth academy of Dutch club

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

, signed for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

club Ross County in July 2014. He made his debut appearance on 16 August 2014, in a 2–1 defeat against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

. Balk was released from his contract in November 2014.

FC Oss

In January 2015, he signed with Dutch

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 ...

side

until the end of the season. He stayed with FC Oss until 2017.

St Patrick's Athletic

After 3 seasons with

, Balk went on trial with

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Men's Premier Division (), also known as the SSE Airtricity Men's Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in the Republic of Ireland and the highest level of the Republic of I ...

club

, from the capital city of

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. On 5 July 2017 he played the full 90 minutes as a trialist in a 1–0 friendly win over

side Heart of Midlothian at

Richmond Park Richmond Park, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, is the largest of Royal Parks of London, London's Royal Parks and is of national and international importance for wildlife conservation. It was created by Charles I of England, Cha ...

. After impressing fans and coaching staff with his passing, positional sense and tackling, Balk signed a contract with the Saints on 7 July 2017, becoming the first

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

player to play for the club. Balk made his full debut on 9 July in a narrow 1–0 defeat away to league leaders

Cork City Cork ( ; from , meaning 'marsh') is the second-largest city in Republic of Ireland, Ireland, the county town of County Cork, the largest city in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and the List of settlements on the island of Ireland ...

. He scored his first goal in the clubs crucial 4-2 win against Cork which helped St Pats stay in

Return to Holland

On 19 December, Balk announced to his fans via his Instagram account that despite

offering him a multi-year contract, he would be leaving

and returning home to sign for

of the

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie (; ) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and between 1962 and 19 ...

on a 1.5 year contract. Balk signed with Voetbalvereniging Duno Doorwerth, better known as VV DUNO, in the beginning of 2019. However, already on 12 February 2019 it was confirmed, that Balk would join DOVO from the upcoming season. Balk played for

from 2020 until he retired from football in July 2022. On 9 September 2023, Balk returned to Dublin to play in a friendly for a

legends team for Ian Bermingham's

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

Career statistics

References

* https://www.irishmirror.ie/sport/soccer/soccer-news/relegation-threatened-st-pats-were-11729219 * https://www.dublinlive.ie/sport/liam-buckley-praises-jordi-balk-14075897 * https://www.gelderlander.nl/voetbal-arnhem/jordi-balk-van-schotland-ierland-en-lienden-naar-duno-in-doorwerth~af821231/ * https://www.elfvoetbal.nl/Avonturiers/270135/Zo-wil-Jordi-Balk-via-Ierland-zijn-Engelse-droom-waarmaken * https://www.the42.ie/jordi-balk-league-of-ireland-st-patricks-athletic-3617685-Sep2017/

External links

Profile
- Voetbal International *
VV Duno
profile {{DEFAULTSORT:Balk, Jordi 1994 births Living people People from Wijk bij Duurstede Dutch men's footballers Men's association football defenders Scottish Professional Football League players Ross County F.C. players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland TOP Oss players Eerste Divisie players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Tweede Divisie players FC Lienden players VV DOVO players Sportlust '46 players League of Ireland players Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Footballers from Utrecht (province) 21st-century Dutch sportsmen