Michel Breuer (, born 25 May 1980 in

Gouda Gouda may refer to: * Gouda, South Holland, a city in the Netherlands ** Gouda (pottery), style of pottery manufactured in Gouda ** Gouda cheese, type of cheese originally made in and around Gouda ** Gouda railway station * Gouda, Western Cape, a s ...

) is a retired Dutch footballer who, during his career, played in his home country for Excelsior, SC Heerenveen,

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion fr ...

and

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 compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

. His father, Martin Breuer, played professionally for

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadium is called 'De Vliert', an 8,500 all-seater. R ...

in the 1980s.

Club career

Youth career

Michel Breuer started to play football at his local football club in Haastrecht, at the age of 11. He moved to GCFC Olympia where he stayed for a year before joined the Youth academy of Rotterdam side Excelsior.

SBV Excelsior

Breuer played his professional game for Excelsior on 3 May 1999, against

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

in a 2-1 loss. Following this, Breuer broke into the first team squad week after week. He made over 100 league appearances for Excelsior.

SC Heereveen

Breuer had previously worked at a local secondary school in Heerenveen as a security guard. In summer 2004 he moved to SC Heerenveen. He became captain of the Heerenveen team at the start of the

2008–09 Eredivisie The Eredivisie 2008–09 is the 53rd season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. PSV were the reigning champions. The season began on 29 August 2008 with a game between Vitesse Arnhem and FC Groningen and ended on 10 May 2009. A tota ...

season. In July 2012 Breuer left Heerenveen after eight years and 300 matches in all competitions and signed with NEC from

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 ...

NEC Nijmegen

However, the defender played less than 40 games over the course of two years and he signed on loan for

in 2014.

Sparta Rotterdam

After his contract had expired with NEC in June 2014, he signed a permanent deal to return to Rotterdam for a third time. His no-nonsense, wholehearted playing style won him a cult-hero status with their supporters.Breuer: 'Ik ga niet voor lul lopen'
- Voetbal International This meant he earned himself the captaincy and after one promotion, a cup win and over 550 games in all competitions, Breuer retired from the professional game. However, it was slightly overshadowed by the fact Sparta were relegated back to the Eerste Divisie via the playoffs.

Honours

Club

;SC Heerenveen *

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. Ou ...

: 2009 ;Sparta Rotterdam * Eerste Divisie: 2015-16

References

External links

Voetbal International profile
1980 births Living people Footballers from Gouda, South Holland Association football central defenders Dutch footballers Excelsior Rotterdam players SC Heerenveen players NEC Nijmegen players Sparta Rotterdam players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub