Micky van de Ven (; born 19 April 2001) 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 lea ...

who plays either as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

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 ...

for club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and the Netherlands national team.

Club career

Early career

Van de Ven began his career with

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

, and made his first team debut against

Jong PSV Jong PSV is a Dutch football team based in Eindhoven. It is the reserve team of PSV Eindhoven and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2013–14 season. History Until 2013, Jong PSV played in the Beloften Eredivisie, a league exclusively fo ...

in 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 ...

, going on to make 19 appearances during the 2019–20 season. He assumed the captaincy during his first full season and scored twice in 26 appearances as Volendam reached the promotion play-offs. Van de Ven transferred to German club

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

in 2021 for a fee of £3.15 million and played all but one of the team's

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

matches during the 2022–23 season, scoring his only goal in a 2–0 win against

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, often known simply as Borussia Dortmund () or by its initialism BVB (), or just Dortmund by International fans, is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is ...

. Van de Ven recorded the highest top speed of any defender in the Bundesliga that season, at 22.3 mph.

Tottenham Hotspur

On 8 August 2023, it was announced that Van de Ven had signed a six-year deal with

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 ...

club

. The transfer was reported to be in the region of €50m, equalling the club's record fee for a centre-back in Cristian Romero the year before. Van de Ven debuted on 13 August during the first matchday of the

2023–24 Premier League The 2023–24 Premier League was the 32nd season of the Premier League and the 125th season of English football overall. The season began on 11 August 2023, and concluded on 19 May 2024. Manchester City, the defending champions, won their f ...

season, starting in an away match against

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. On 7 October 2023, he scored his first goal in English football in Tottenham's 1–0 win at

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

. On 6 November 2023, Van de Ven was substituted with a hamstring injury during a game against Chelsea. He returned from injury in a 2–2 draw with

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

on 14 January 2024. Later that month, during a match against

on 31 January, he was recorded as the Premier League's fastest player at since data collection began in 2020–21. On 10 May 2024, Van de Ven was awarded Tottenham's Player of the Season award at the Official Supporters' Clubs award night ceremony, having started 28 of the club's 38 games up until that point. Van de Ven suffered several injuries during the

2024–25 Premier League The 2024–25 Premier League was the 33rd season of the Premier League and the 126th season of English football overall. Manchester City entered the season as four-time defending champions, but were dethroned by Liverpool, who emerged as P ...

season. On 30 October 2024, during a

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

match against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, he was injured and would not return until 8 December in a match against Chelsea, playing 79 minutes before being substituted. His next appearance for the club would not come until 30 January 2025, with a 45-minute appearance in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

against

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional association football, football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Alls ...

. Van de Ven started the

2025 UEFA Europa League final The 2025 UEFA Europa League final was the final match of the 2024–25 UEFA Europa League, the 54th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 16th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Eu ...

and delivered a crucial goal line clearance to help secure a 1–0 victory over

, securing his first major career honour and Tottenham Hotspur's first trophy in 17 years.

International career

In October 2022, Van de Ven was included in the preliminary

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 ...

squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

. He captained the under-21 team at the Under-21 Euro 2023. In August 2023, he received his first official call-up to the Netherlands senior national team by head coach

Ronald Koeman Ronald Koeman (; born 21 March 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the manager of the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Koeman scor ...

, for two

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

matches against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

and the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

. On 13 October 2023, Van de Ven debuted for the Dutch senior squad in a UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying match against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, replacing

Nathan Aké Nathan Benjamin Aké (; born 18 February 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for club Manchester City and the Netherlands national team. Club career Chelsea Early life and career Nathan Benjamin ...

in the 80th minute. On 29 May 2024, Van de Ven was named in the Netherlands' squad for

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

. He scored his first goal for the Netherlands on 10 June 2025 during an 8–0 win against

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

2026 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification will decide the 45 teams that will join hosts Canada men's national soccer team, Canada, Mexico national football team, Mexico, and the United States men's national soccer team, United States at the 2026 FIFA ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Netherlands score listed first, score column indicates score after each Van de Ven goal.''

Honours

Tottenham Hotspur *

: 2024–25

References

External links

Profile
at the Tottenham Hotspur F.C. website
Profile
at the Royal Dutch Football Association website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ven, Micky van de 2001 births Living people Sportspeople from Wormerland Footballers from North Holland Dutch men's footballers Men's association football defenders FC Volendam players VfL Wolfsburg players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Tweede Divisie players Eerste Divisie players Bundesliga players Premier League players UEFA Europa League–winning players Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers UEFA Euro 2024 players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century Dutch sportsmen