Martijn Franciscus Reuser (born 1 February 1975) 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 top-flight football in both the Netherlands and England 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 ...

. He made one appearance for the Netherlands national team.

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 ...

, Reuser began his career at Dutch club

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 ...

and, having joined at youth level, made the step up to play in the first team. He was a skilful, goal-scoring

who looked capable of being a permanent fixture in the Dutch national setup. His career was looking very promising, but he suffered a serious knee injury, which appeared to end his Ajax career. He moved to another Dutch side, Vitesse. It was here that Reuser made his one and only international appearance against

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

in a friendly. He did not really hit it off at Vitesse and was re-signed by Ajax. He made only one appearance for the first team and he was loaned to English club

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

in the 1999–2000 season after being scouted by Romeo Zondervan. Having scored a late winner on his début against Fulham and a memorable goal to seal off Ipswich's play-off win against

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

, Ipswich signed him on a permanent basis. During his four-year stay at

Portman Road Portman Road is a association football, football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C., Ipswich Town since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one E ...

he established a reputation as a free-kick taker. He was troubled by injury problems during his Ipswich Town career. Despite this, he managed to score six goals in his first full season with the club, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous attacking midfielders in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

, helping Ipswich to an impressive fifth-place finish in the 2000–01 season and a return for the club to UEFA Cup football. After that, however, the injuries really set in. Ipswich were relegated the following season and he also fell out with new manager

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the E ...

. Reuser left Ipswich and joined Willem II for the 2004–05 season. He was less troubled by injury in the Netherlands, but he missed two months of the season with Achilles tendon problems. He was still the club's top scorer as the team finished 11th in the table. The following season was more difficult for Willem II. Reuser spent a lot of the season on the sidelines, and the side finished 16th in the table, which meant play-offs again for Reuser. He saved his side, with a hat-trick in their semi-final against

FC 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 ...

. Reuser signed for another Dutch side

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 ...

for the 2006–07 season. He played for

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 ...

in the 2009–10 season. In January 2012, Reuser was linked with a return to former club Ipswich Town.

Coaching career

Reuser started his coaching career in the 2012–13 season, where he worked as an assistant coach for

's U19 squad. During 2013, Reuser also did an internship at

. In the 2013–14 season, Reuser was in charge of NAC's U12 squad. Ahead of the 2014–15 season, Reuser was in charge of NAC's U15s. Beside that, he was also appointed assistant manager of the Dutch U15 national team. Beside his job for the Dutch U15 national team, Reuser joined

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 ...

in June 2015 as assistant coach for their U17s. In the summer 2016, Reuser took charge of ADO's U16s. After leaving ADO in June 2018, Reuser worked in several roles for the Dutch youth national teams.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ajax *

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 ...

: 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1997–98 *

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 footbal ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

* Intercontinental Cup:

*UEFA Champions League: 1995 Ipswich Town *

Football League First Division play-offs The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-of ...

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reuser, Martijn 1975 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers AFC Ajax players SBV Vitesse players Ipswich Town F.C. players Willem II Tilburg players RKC Waalwijk players NAC Breda players Eredivisie players English Football League players Premier League players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England