Mattijs Branderhorst (born 31 December 1993) 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 for

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 ...

club

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 ...

as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

Club career

Willem II

Branderhorst came through the youth ranks at

Willem II Willem II may refer to: People * William II, Prince of Orange (1626–1650), stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands * William II of the Netherlands (1792–1849), King of the Netherlands Other uses * Willem II (football club), a Du ...

from his childhood club Theole. On 18 November 2011, he was included in the first-team squad for the first time. In a match against

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, and hosts home matches at the Yanmar Stadion. The club builds on form ...

, 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 midfielder ...

kept him on the bench for the entire game. In the years that followed, Branderhorst became a regular starter in the reserve team of the

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-lar ...

-based side, which featured players such as

Virgil van Dijk Virgil van Dijk (born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Considered one of the best defenders in the world, Van Dijk is known for his strength, lea ...

and

Frenkie de Jong Frenkie de Jong (born 12 May 1997) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona and the Netherlands national team. A versatile midfielder, he is known for his vision, passing, dribbling, technique, alo ...

. Branderhorst was loaned to

MVV Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eer ...

in 2015. There, he made his professional debut on 13 September 2015 as a substitute for the injured

Jo Coppens Jo Coppens (born 21 December 1990) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Sint-Truidense. Career In May 2007, Coppens came third with Belgium at the European U17 Football Championship. In the summer of 2007, he wa ...

against

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 Eerste Divi ...

. He made his debut for Willem II on 15 October 2017 in the home match against

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedes ...

. In the match, he made the start for the injured Timon Wellenreuther.

NEC

On 28 January 2019, Branderhorst was loaned to

for the remainder of the season. On 1 February, he made his debut in the 4–1 home win over

Jong FC Utrecht Jong FC Utrecht (U23) is a Dutch football team, based in Utrecht. It is the reserve team of FC Utrecht and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2016–17 Eerste Divisie season. Current squad On loan Staff ...

. After the loan ended, NEC brought him to

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 ...

on a permanent deal, with him signing a contract for two seasons. The second season he was the undisputed starter in goal and played all matches until the competition was shut down due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

. He started the 2020–21 season as second goalkeeper, behind Norbert Alblas, who had recovered from an injury. He did, however, start the two

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 ...

matches against

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

and

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 ...

. On 26 February 2021, manager Rogier Meijer decided to switch goalkeepers: after a number of unfortunate performances by Alblas, Branderhorst became the starting goalkeeper again. On 23 May, Branderhorst won promotion with NEC to the

, by beating NAC Breda 2–1 in the final of the play-offs. He signed a new two-year contract on 22 June 2021. In his first season with NEC in the Eredivisie, he was the starting goalkeeper after winning the position battle with

Danny Vukovic Daniel Vukovic ( ; born 27 March 1985) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Central Coast Mariners in the A-League and the Australia national team. Vukovic is the holder of several A-League records: he has th ...

. He immediately managed to keep three clean sheets in the first four games. That season, only

Remko Pasveer Remko Jurian Pasveer (born 8 November 1983) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club Ajax and the Netherlands national team. Club career Twente Pasveer started playing football at local SC Enschede. He t ...

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 ...

and

Lars Unnerstall Lars Unnerstall (born 20 July 1990) is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Dutch club FC Twente. Club career Schalke 04 Born in Ibbenbüren, North Rhine-Westphalia, Unnerstall finished his development at FC Schalke 04 ...

from

Twente Twente ( nl, Twente , Tweants dialect: ''Tweante'') is a region in the eastern Netherlands. It encompasses the most urbanised and easternmost part of the province of Overijssel. Twente is most likely named after the Tuihanti or Tvihanti, a G ...

had more clean sheets than Branderhorst. Despite his strong performances through the season, NEC brought back Netherlands international goalkeeper

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 ...

, who they signed from

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

in August 2022, demoting Branderhorst to backup for the 2022–23 season.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Branderhorst, Mattijs Living people 1993 births People from Tiel Association football goalkeepers Dutch footballers Willem II (football club) players MVV Maastricht players NEC Nijmegen players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Footballers from Gelderland