Lerin Duarte (born 11 August 1990) is a Dutch former 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Having come through the youth department of Sparta Rotterdam, he started his senior career at the club, before transferring to

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

. He spent two seasons there, before moving to Eredivisie champions

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), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

in 2013. Following two loans to

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

and

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

, he returned to Heracles Almelo in summer 2016.

Club career

Sparta and Heracles

Born in

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 ...

, Duarte started in the youth department of Sparta Rotterdam. He continued through the youth academy and made his first senior appearance for the club 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 ...

on 1 August 2009, in a 0–2 home defeat to

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 ...

. He continued to play in the first team in the 2009–2010 season and finished with 9 appearances. At the end of the season Sparta was relegated to the

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 ...

. After playing the following 2010–11 season with the club he joined

, thereby returning to the Eredivisie. Duarte agreed a three-year contract, with the option of an extra year, with Eredivisie club

after passing a medical on 15 June 2011. He made his league debut for the club on 6 August 2011 against

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

coming on as a substitute in the 60th minute.

Ajax

On 31 August 2013, at the end of the

match between

and

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

, it was announced by Jan Smit that Ajax and Heracles Almelo had agreed to terms for the direct transfer of Duarte to the capital city. Duarte joined the Amsterdammers for the sum of €2.5 million from Almelo, signing a four-year contract binding him to his new club until 2017. He was given the number 8 shirt previously worn by

Christian Eriksen Christian Dannemann Eriksen (; born 14 February 1992) is a Danish professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United and the Denmark national football team, ...

upon his arrival. Duarte made his debut for Ajax on 14 September 2013 in a 2–1 at home 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 ...

. He made his continental debut at

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

in a 4–0 loss against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of 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 was ...

Group stage match. On 28 September Duarte scored his first goal for Ajax, in a 6–0 victory at home against

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 ...

, scoring the fifth goal in the 64th minute of the game.

Heerenveen, NAC and Heracles

After the move of

Daley Sinkgraven Daley Sinkgraven (born 4 July 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Fortuna Sittard. Club career Heerenveen Sinkgraven started playing football with MVV Alcides from his hometown Meppel. He ended up in the ...

to Ajax, Duarte was sent on loan to

for the rest of the 2014–2015 season In January 2015. Following his release by Ajax,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

Duarte returned to former club

, agreeing a three-year contract with the club.

Aris, ASWH and Noordwijk

On 2 June 2019, Duarte agreed to join

Aris Aris or ARIS may refer to: People * Aris (surname) Given name * Aris Alexandrou, Greek writer * Aris Brimanis, ice hockey player * Aris Christofellis, Greek male soprano * Aris Gavelas, Greek sprinter * Aris Konstantinidis, Greek architect * ...

on a three-year contract. On 1 July 2020 in an away match against Panathinaikos, he suffered a serious knee injury. At the end of January 2023, Duarte signed with 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 ...

-side

ASWH ASWH, short for Altijd Sterker Worden Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, is an association football club from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1929. It won section championships in 1949, 1959, 1961, 1970, 1883, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2005, a ...

from

Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht () is a town and municipality in the western Netherlands. It is located on the island of IJsselmonde, and borders with Zwijndrecht, Ridderkerk, and the Noord River (with Alblasserdam and Papendrecht on the other side). T ...

. After a lot of training and having sat just one game on the ASWH bench during an official game, he left ASWH. At the beginning of the subsequent season, Duarte joined

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 ...

-side

VV Noordwijk Voetbalvereniging Noordwijk is a Dutch football club founded in 1933, based in Noordwijk. It currently competes in the Tweede Divisie. History VV Noordwijk was founded on 4 March 1933. 1940s–1960s: Vierde, Derde, and Tweede Klasse During ...

. He left after not getting playing time, noting the inconvenience of training in the evenings.

International career

Duarte was born in the Netherlands and has

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

an origin, therefore, he is eligible by the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

. He has represented the Netherlands at Under-21 level having been called up on 4 September 2011 for the game against Luxembourg in the

UEFA Under 21 Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship, the UEFA Under-21 Championship or simply the Euro Under-21, is a biennial football competition contested by the European men's under-21 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Since 1992, the comp ...

. Duarte went on to start on the bench before being substituted on in the 76th minute to make his international debut, the game ended in a 4–0 win for the Netherlands. In May 2013, Duarte was called up for the Dutch senior team for two friendlies, against China and Indonesia, however he stayed on the bench for both matches as an unused substitute.

Personal life

Despite his last name, place of birth and country of descent; Duarte is not related to fellow footballer

Laros Duarte Laros Michael D'Encarnação Duarte (born 28 February 1997) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hungarian club Puskás Akadémia. Born in the Netherlands, he plays for the Cape Verde national team. Club career Duarte m ...

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Ajax *

: 2013–14 *

Eusébio Cup The Eusébio Cup is a pre-season friendly Association football, football match hosted by Portuguese club S.L. Benfica since 2008. It has been played mostly at their home stadium, Estádio da Luz, with the two exceptions being the 2015 and 2018 ...

: 2014

References

External links

*
Voetbal International profile

Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Duarte, Lerin 1990 births Living people Dutch sportspeople of Cape Verdean descent Dutch men's footballers Footballers from Rotterdam Men's association football midfielders Sparta Rotterdam players Heracles Almelo players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players SC Heerenveen players NAC Breda players Aris Thessaloniki F.C. players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Super League Greece players Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Greece 21st-century Dutch sportsmen