Joël Ivo Veltman (born 15 January 1992) 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 defender for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

and the Netherlands national team. A product of the

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 ...

youth academy, Veltman made 246 appearances for the

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

club before moving on to Brighton in July 2020 for a £900,000 fee on a three-year deal. Veltman has won 28 caps for the Netherlands national team since his debut in November 2013.

Club career

Ajax

Veltman began his football career in the youth teams of VV IJmuiden in his hometown of

IJmuiden n IJ (digraph) and that should remain the only places where they are used. > IJmuiden () is a port city in the Netherlands, Dutch province of North Holland. It is the main town in the municipality of Velsen which lies mainly to the south-e ...

before moving to

in 2001, where he went through the youth ranks of the club. While playing for the Ajax A1 youth squad in 2011–12, Veltman helped his side to win the Nike Eredivisie league title, as well finishing as runners-up to

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

in the

NextGen Series The NextGen Series was a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. It was designed to provide players with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers of their agegroup in a competitive envi ...

(the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

equivalent for under-20 teams) after losing on penalties (5–3) following a 1–1 deadlock after extra time. He made his official debut for the Ajax first team on 19 August 2012 in an away match against

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

Nijmegen Nijmegen (;; Spanish and it, Nimega. Nijmeegs: ''Nimwèège'' ) is the largest city in the Dutch province of Gelderland and tenth largest of the Netherlands as a whole, located on the Waal river close to the German border. It is about 6 ...

, entering as a substitute for Mitchell Dijks in the 79th minute; the match ended in a 6–1 away win for Ajax. Following a successful starting season with the Ajax first team, helping his side secure its third-straight national title and his personal first, on 6 June 2013 it was announced that Veltman had extended his contract with Ajax for another four years, keeping him with the club until the summer of 2017. On 5 August 2013, Veltman played in the

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 ...

debut of the newly-promoted reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

at the start of the season. Substituted off in the 89th minute of a 2–0 home win, due to a sustained injury, Veltman found himself sidelined for the next two months. He returned from injury on 30 September 2013 in another match for Jong Ajax, this time against

Volendam Volendam () is a fishing town in the municipality of Edam-Volendam, province of North Holland, Netherlands. As of 1 January 2021, it has a population of 22,715. It is twinned with Coventry, England. History Originally, Volendam was the location ...

, where he scored his first professional goal in the 3–2 loss at the

Sportpark De Toekomst Sportcomplex De Toekomst (Dutch for ''Sporting complex The Future'') is a sporting complex in Ouder-Amstel, Netherlands, owned by AFC Ajax N.V. The complex comprises nine football fields and is located close to the Johan Cruyff Arena. Its main ...

, netting the opener in the seventh minute. On 22 October 2013, Veltman made his continental debut for the first team when he replaced injured first-choice

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Niklas Moisander Niklas Moisander (born 29 September 1985) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Swedish club Malmö FF. Moisander was born in Turku, where he played for the local TPS youth team before moving to AFC Ajax. Following ...

in the

2013–14 UEFA Champions League The 2013–14 UEFA Champions League was the 59th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 22nd season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. The final wa ...

group stage match against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

. The away match at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

ended in a 2–1 loss for the

side. In April 2018, Veltman tore his ACL in a match against

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, followin ...

. After a long recovery he returned to first-team action in February 2019.

Brighton & Hove Albion

2020–21 season: Debut campaign

On 29 July 2020,

club

announced that they had completed the signing of Veltman from Ajax on a three-year deal after activating the release clause in his contract, valued at £900,000. Veltman chose to wear the number 34 jersey, as a tribute to former Ajax teammate

Abdelhak Nouri Abdelhak "Appie" Nouri (born 2 April 1997) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He operated primarily as an attacking midfielder, but could also be deployed as a winger. A youth product of Eredivisie club Ajax ...

, who collapsed during a friendly in 2017 and went into an induced coma. Veltman made his debut for the Sussex side on 17 September 2020 starting in a 4–0 home victory over

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is admi ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

. Veltman made his league debut for Brighton on 3 October, coming on as a substitute at half time for

Tariq Lamptey Tariq Kwame Nii-Lante Lamptey (born 30 September 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a right wing-back or right-back for club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Ghana national team. Previously a youth international for England, Lampte ...

in a eventual 4–2 away defeat at Everton. He scored his first goal for the Sussex side, scoring an equaliser in an eventual 2–1 home defeat against bitter rivals

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

on 22 February 2021.

2021–22 season

In the first Crystal Palace rivalry match of the 2021–22 season away at Crystal Palace on 27 September, from a poor

Vicente Guaita Vicente Guaita Panadero (; born 10 January 1987) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Crystal Palace. He appeared in 176 La Liga matches over eight seasons with Valencia and Getafe, as well as a season on l ...

goal kick, Veltman hit a long ball up to

Neal Maupay Neal Maupay (born 14 August 1996) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Brentford on loan from Everton. Maupay started his career with Nice and was a France youth international. He is eligible t ...

in which he lobbed the keeper and scored a 90+5th equaliser ending the match at 1–1, taking a point back to the south coast. On 7 May 2022, Veltman played the whole match of the 4–0 humiliation of

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, helping Brighton to their biggest ever top flight victory. On 22 May, the last game of the season, Veltman scored his second goal for the ''Albion,'' the equaliser in an eventual 3–1 home victory over

West Ham West Ham is an area in East London, located east of Charing Cross in the west of the modern London Borough of Newham. The area, which lies immediately to the north of the River Thames and east of the River Lea, was originally an ancient ...

. The win secured Brighton's highest ever top flight finish, finishing in ninth place. Veltman revealed that he felt the 2021–22 season was his best of his career, earning the nickname ''Mr Consistent'' while also finishing as the runner-up in ''Albions Supporters' Player of the Season award. He spoke of his form saying “It probably is my best season in terms of how I have played. The Premier League is the toughest competition in the world. I can say myself that I did well, I can be proud."

2022–23 season

BHA 5 v Espanyol 1 pre season 30 07 2022 10

On 4 March 2023, after coming on replacing the injured

, with

Alexis Mac Allister Alexis Mac Allister (born 24 December 1998) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Argentina national team. Born to a footballing family, Mac Allister started his ...

flicking on from a

Pascal Groß Pascal Groß (, sometimes rendered in English as Gross; born 15 June 1991) is a German professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or defender for club Brighton & Hove Albion. Groß played at youth international level for Germany. Career ...

corner Veltman chested home into the bottom corner to make it 2–0 in the eventual 4–0 home win over West Ham.

International career

Youth

Veltman made Netherlands debut playing for the under-17 squad on 10 February 2009 in the 2009 edition of the

La Manga Cup La Manga Cup is a winter football tournament played in La Manga Club, La Manga del Mar Menor ( Murcia, Spain). Usual participants are clubs from countries with a summer football season: Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,Th ...

in the 0–4 loss against Czech Republic U17s. He also played in the

2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the eighth edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship since it was renamed from the original under-16 event, in 2001. Germany hosted the championship, during 6 to 18 May 2009, in thi ...

group stage match against England U17s which ended in a 1–1 draw, having previously appeared in three of the qualification matches. On 2 September 2010, Veltman made his debut for Netherlands U19s in a friendly against

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

which ended in a 2–2 draw. On 9 February 2011, Veltman scored his first international goal in another friendly for the U19s against

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

, with the match ending in a 1–1 draw. On 23 May 2012, Veltman made his debut for the U21 side at the

2012 Toulon Tournament The 2012 Toulon Tournament was the 40th edition of the Toulon Tournament and took place from 23 May to 1 June. Colombia were the defending champions, but they did not participate this year. Mexico U-23 won their first tournament title by defe ...

in France. He appeared in four matches for the Dutch, making his debut against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

in the 3–0 win.

Senior

On 8 November 2013, it was announced that Veltman received his first call-up for the Netherlands senior team by head coach

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spel ...

for the friendly matches against Japan and Colombia. Remaining on the bench for the duration of the first match against Japan, Veltman made his debut for the first team on 19 November in the fixture against Colombia, playing the full 90 minutes in the 0–0 draw at the

Amsterdam 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 ...

. On 31 May 2014, Veltman was named as part of the 23-man squad heading to the finals of the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting rig ...

under Van Gaal. He was joined by Ajax teammates

Daley Blind Daley Blind (; born 9 March 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder, left-back or centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team. He is the son of former Ajax defender and f ...

and

Jasper Cillessen Jacobus Antonius Peter Johannes "Jasper" Cillessen (born 22 April 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club NEC and the Netherlands national team. Cillessen joined NEC's youth team in 2001, making hi ...

. Veltman was named in the Dutch 34-man preliminary squad for

Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europ ...

on 14 May 2021, with the 26-man squad to be announced on 26 May. The tournament which is taken place in the summer of 2021 due to the previous year's postponement as a result of Coronavirus. He was included in the final 26-man squad on 26 May. His only appearance of the tournament came in the Netherlands' opening group game against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian invas ...

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 ...

on 13 June, where he came on in the 88th minute replacing

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. Mainly a centre-back, he can also play as a right-back. Timber joined Ajax's you ...

in a 3-2 victory. The Dutch were knocked out in the Round of 16 after a 2–0 loss against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

on 27 June at the

Puskás Aréna Puskás Aréna is a football stadium in the 14th district (Zugló) of Budapest, Hungary. The stadium's construction started in 2017 and was finished before the end of 2019. It is an all-seater with a capacity of 67,215. The Hungarian Football Fe ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

Personal life

Veltman is of distant Malaysian & Indonesian descent through one of his great-grandmothers.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Netherlands' goal tally first.''

Honours

Ajax *

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 ...

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, 2013–14, 2018–19 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. O ...

: 2018–19 *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footba ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

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 ...

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

runner-up: 2016–17 Netherlands *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the ' (FIFA), the ...

third place:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Individual * Eredivisie Team of the Year: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16

References

External links

Joël Veltman
at ''

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but le ...

''
Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Veltman, Joel 1992 births Living people People from Velsen Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Men's association football defenders AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Premier League players 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch people of Indonesian descent Footballers from North Holland