Justin Mathieu (born 12 April 1996) 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

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or winger for

Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main domestic football competition in the kingdom of Bahrain. Currently known as the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, the first season was held in 1956-1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify f ...

club Al-Riffa.

Career

Willem II

Born in

Goirle Goirle () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Part of the suburban area of the city of Tilburg, it shares with it its phone area code and public transport syst ...

, Mathieu began his football career at amateur club SV Triborgh. In 2003, aged 7, he was signed for the Willem II youth academy. Mathieu was part of the Netherlands U16 squad. In the summer of 2013, Willem II manager

Jurgen Streppel Jurgen Streppel (born 25 June 1969) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, who is the current technical director of Helmond Sport. Playing career Born in Voorst, Streppel began his professional career in 1990 as a midfield ...

selected ten players from the youth academy to be part of the first team in preparation for the new season. At the start of the competition it was announced that, together with two other youth players, Mathieu would be a permanent member of the first team for the rest of the season. On 23 August 2013, at the age of 17, he made his professional debut in a 3–0 home win against

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 ...

replacing Bruno Andrade in the 89th minute. On 28 August, it was announced that Mathieu had signed his first professional contract. Willem II signed him for three years. On 14 August 2014, it was announced that Mathieu was sent on loan to

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

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 ...

until the end of the season. There, he played almost all matches that season and contributed to the team winning a "period title". Upon his return to Willem II, Mathieu made his debut in the

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 ...

for the club in August 2015. One day before the summer transfer market closed that month, the club sent Mathieu on loan to

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 ...

for the remainder of the season, who had suffered relegation to the Eerste Divisie in the previous season. As of 1 January 2016, the club from

Deventer Deventer (; Sallaans dialect, Sallands: ) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Salland historical region of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Overijssel, ...

no longer needed him and he returned to

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 ...

Cambuur

In July 2017, Mathieu signed a contract until mid-2020 with Cambuur, who had signed him after he had experienced a strong season as part of the FC Oss team in 2016–17, where he had scored 10 goals and made 10 assists. Mathieu experienced a tumultuous time in Cambuur, serving three separate suspensions for the club in one year due to disciplinary issues.

Gorica

In February 2019, he moved to the Croatian club

HNK Gorica Hrvatski nogometni klub Gorica (), commonly referred to as HNK Gorica, is a Croatian football club based in the town of Velika Gorica, located just south of the Croatian capital Zagreb. They play their home matches at the Gradski stadion Velik ...

where he signed a contract until mid-2022. He left the club at the end of May 2020, to be in the Netherlands for the birth of his son during 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 ...

TOP Oss

In January 2021, Mathieu returned to FC Oss – which had since been renamed

TOP 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 abbrevia ...

– on a six-month amateur deal. It was his third spell with the club.

Noah

In July 2023, Mathieu left

and signed a contract with

Armenian Premier League The Armenian Premier League (, known as the Armenian Fastex Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is the top association football, football competition in Armenia. From 1936 to 1991, the competition was held as a regional tournament within th ...

club

Noah Noah (; , also Noach) appears as the last of the Antediluvian Patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs in the traditions of Abrahamic religions. His story appears in the Hebrew Bible (Book of Genesis, chapters 5–9), the Quran and Baháʼí literature, ...

. During his sole season with the club, he scored four goals across 35 appearances in all competitions.

Personal life

His brother Dani Mathieu is also a professional footballer.

Honours

Willem II *

: 2013–14

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathieu, Justin 1996 births Living people Footballers from Goirle Dutch people of Indonesian descent Sportspeople of Indonesian descent Men's association football wingers Dutch men's footballers Willem II Tilburg players TOP Oss players Go Ahead Eagles players SC Cambuur players HNK Gorica players FC Noah players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Croatian Football League players Armenian Premier League players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Armenia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Armenia 21st-century Dutch sportsmen