Marcel Benjamin Peeper (born 9 September 1965) is a Dutch former

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 either 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 ...

left 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. ...

. During his career, marred by a serious injury whilst on international duty, he played professionally in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany, making nearly 400 official appearances.

Club career

Born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, Peeper started in the youth program of local club

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

, and played for

HFC Haarlem HFC Haarlem was a Dutch football club from the city of Haarlem, established in 1889 and dissolved in 2010. The club won the Eredivisie in 1946 and reached five Cup finals, winning in 1902 and 1912. Haarlem reached the second round of the 1982� ...

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 ...

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

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

in his country. He also competed abroad, with K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen (Belgium) and

Wuppertaler SV Wuppertaler SV is a Football in Germany, German association football club located in Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. The city was founded in the year of 1880 by the union of a number of smaller towns including Elberfeld, Barmen, Vohwinkel, Cr ...

(Germany). Peeper 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 ...

in the 1985–86 season, appearing in 24 games for Haarlem and going scoreless in the process. With Lokeren, after three years in the

Belgian Second Division The Belgian Second Division was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 1909 and folded in 2016, when it was replace ...

with K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen, he helped them to the 12th position in the 1996–97 edition of the Pro League. The 1990 injury, suffered while on international duty, was a career breaker. Peeper worked hard to get back into shape but was forced to acknowledge, years later, that he was never the same again. He was never recalled by the Dutch team, and Twente tried to get him medically disqualified from playing again, losing money when he made the move to Lokeren.

International career

Peeper won one

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

for

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 ...

, playing in a 28 March 1990 friendly with the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. His match lasted 18 minutes, as he was stretchered off after being injured by Sergei Gorlukovich and breaking his leg.

Personal life

Peeper is one quarter

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

References

External links

Stats at Voetbal International
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peeper, Marcel 1965 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Eredivisie players HFC Haarlem players FC Twente players Sparta Rotterdam players FC Groningen players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players Wuppertaler SV players Netherlands men's international footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany 20th-century Dutch sportsmen