Million Eljoenai Levinio Manhoef (born 3 January 2002) 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 as a winger for club

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

Club career

Vitesse

Born in

Beemster Beemster () is a former Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. The Beemster is the first polder in the Netherlands land reclamation, reclaimed from a lake, the water extracted by windmi ...

, Manhoef played youth football with VPV Purmersteijn,

AVV Zeeburgia The Amsterdamse Voetbalvereniging Zeeburgia is a football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands. It has been dubbed " royal supplier" as many Dutch professional footballers started at Zeeburgia youth teams. In 2024–25, their first team plays in the ...

and

Amsterdamsche FC Amsterdamsche Football Club, commonly known as AFC is a association football, football club based in Amsterdam. The team compete in the Tweede Divisie, the third level of the Dutch football league system. History 19th century: Foundation AFC ...

before joining Vitesse at age 15. He joined the first team in the

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, making his

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 ...

debut in a 2–1 defeat away at

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 ...

. He scored twice in 20 appearances in the 2021–22 as Vitesse reached the European play-offs but lost to

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known internationally as AZ Alkmaar, or simply and most commonly as AZ () in the Netherlands, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan#The Zaan district, Zaan district. ...

. During the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, Manhoef became one of Vitesse's key players, scoring nine goals in 34 appearances and earning the player-of-the-year award. In the 2023–24, Vitesse faced a financial crisis. With the team at the bottom of the league, Manhoef was linked with a move to England.

Stoke City

Manhoef joined English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

on 1 February 2024 on a three-and-a-half-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He debuted on 10 February 2024 in a 3–1 defeat at

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

. As the team battled relegation towards the end of the 2023–24, Manhoef scored important goals against

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

and

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

. He also scored twice on the final day of the season in a 4–0 win against

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

, helping Stoke finish in 17th place. Manhoef was a regular in the 2024–25 season, making 38 appearances, scoring seven goals as Stoke avoided relegation on the final day.

International career

Manhoef has represented the Netherlands at the youth level.

Personal life

He is the son of retired Surinamese-born

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

and

kickboxer Kickboxing ( ) is a full-contact hybrid martial art and boxing type based on punching and kicking. Kickboxing originated in the 1950s to 1970s. The fight takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouth guards, shorts, and ...

fighter

Melvin Manhoef Melvin Manhoef (born 11 May 1976) is a retired Surinamese people, Surinamese-born Dutch people, Dutch mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and Kickboxing, kickboxer. In kickboxing, he is a former It's Showtime (kickboxing), It's Showtime Middl ...

. Manhoef initially followed in his father's footsteps by taking up kickboxing at a young age before focusing on football. Born in the Netherlands, Manhoef is of Surinamese and Indonesian descent.

Career statistics

Honours

Individual *

Team of the Month: May 2023

References

External links

*
Career stats & Profile
– Voetbal International {{DEFAULTSORT:Manhoef, Million 2002 births Living people People from Beemster Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Dutch people of Indonesian descent Sportspeople of Indonesian descent Men's association football forwards SBV Vitesse players Stoke City F.C. players Eredivisie players English Football League players Footballers from North Holland 21st-century Dutch sportsmen Expatriate men's footballers in England VPV Purmersteijn players