Mitchell Clement Dijks (; born 9 February 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 lea ...

who plays as a

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

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; ) is a professional football club from the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was establi ...

Career

Ajax

Born in Purmerend, Dijks was recruited into the youth ranks of then AFC Ajax partner club

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024 ...

in 2009. While playing for the Ajax A1 youth squad in 2011–12, Dijks helped his side to win the Nike Eredivisie league title, as well finishing as runners-up to

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football ...

in the NextGen Series (the Champions League equivalent for under-20 teams) after losing on penalties (5–3) following a 1–1 deadlock after extra time. Dijks made his first team debut on 5 August 2012 against PSV in the

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 ...

in which he played 76 minutes in before being subbed off for

Dico Koppers Dico Koppers (born 31 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left back for Sportlust '46 in the Derde Divisie. Club career Ajax Koppers began his footballing career in Utrecht, playing for the local amateur side SCH'4 ...

and he also received a yellow card. Ajax lost the match 4–2. He then made his league debut with Ajax on 19 August 2012 against

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

, playing 79 minutes before being replaced by

Joël Veltman Joël Ivo Veltman (born 15 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a right-back or centre-back for club Brighton & Hove Albion. A product of the Ajax youth academy, Veltman made 246 appearances for the Amsterdam club bef ...

. The match ended 6–1 in favor of Ajax. Dijks made a total of 6 league appearances playing in the

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 ...

position. playing in a

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

match as well, all while helping Ajax to win the

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 ...

title in his debut season, making it the team's 32nd Dutch league title overall.

Heerenveen (loan)

For the

2013–14 Eredivisie The 2013–14 Eredivisie was the 58th season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. It began on 2 August 2013 with the first match of the season and ended on 18 May 2014 with the returns of the finals of the European competition and rele ...

season, Dijks signed on loan with fellow Dutch top-tier club

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian language, West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch professional association football, football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherla ...

. On 3 August 2013, in the season opener against AZ, he was sent off in his first match for his new club. He was ejected following a reckless tackle in the 71st minute of the match, which ended a 4–2 victory at the

Abe Lenstra Stadion Abe Lenstra Stadion () is a association football, football stadium, located in Heerenveen, Netherlands. It is currently used mostly as a home ground for Eredivisie club SC Heerenveen, Heerenveen. The current capacity is 27,224. Naming The stad ...

Willem II

On 28 August 2014, it was announced that Dijks had signed a two-year contract with

side Willem II.

Return to Ajax

On 26 June 2015, Ajax announced they had re-signed Dijks from Willem II. As part of the deal Ajax youngsters Richairo Zivkovic,

Ruben Ligeon Ruben Ewald Ligeon (born 24 May 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who last played as a right back for Derde Divisie club Ajax Amateurs. Before moving to Slovakia where he featured for Slovan Bratislava and AS Trenčín, he played for Aj ...

and Lesly de Sa will head the other way on loan. On 30 January 2017, Dijks looked to join Norwich City FC on an initial loan deal.

Norwich City (loan)

In January 2017, having lost his position in the starting lineup to

Daley Sinkgraven Daley Sinkgraven (born 4 July 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Fortuna Sittard. Club career Heerenveen Sinkgraven started playing football with MVV Alcides from his hometown Meppel. He ended up in the ...

under newly appointed manager

Peter Bosz Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player. He is currently the head coach of Dutch Eredivisie club PSV Eindhoven. He had previously ...

, Dijks initially turned down a transfer option to play in the

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

. He instead agreed upon a loan spell with the Canaries, which would last until the season ended. He scored his first professional goal on 7 February 2017 in a 2–2 away draw against Wigan Athletic with a powerful header in the 73rd minute.

Jong Ajax

Upon his return from Norwich City, Dijks originally trained with the first team, before it was decided that he would spend the rest of the season playing for

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax (; ), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2, is a Dutch association football team. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. Jong Ajax is the only reserve team to have won a title in Dutch professional foot ...

, the reserves team competing in the Dutch

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 ...

, the second tier of professional football in the Netherlands. Jong Ajax would go on to win the second division title that season with Dijks making 3 appearances in total.

Bologna

On 29 April 2018, it was announced that Dijks had signed a contract with

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

team

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

on a free transfer. He scored his first goal for the club on 12 August 2018 in a

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

match against

Padova Padua ( ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Veneto, northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Padua. The city lies on the banks of the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice and southeast of Vicenza, and has a population of ...

. He made his Serie A debut the following week in the home match against

SPAL Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly referred to by the acronym SPAL (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. During the 2024–25 season the team played in Serie C, the third tier of the Italian foot ...

, and scored his first goal for the team on 8 April 2019, marking the final score in a 3–0 win over

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona. History The name came from t ...

. In the following season, after only five appearances, Dijks suffered an injury to the second toe of his right foot that would keep him sidelined for 5–6 months. On 31 August 2022, his contract with Bologna was terminated by mutual consent.

Fortuna Sittard

On 18 July 2023, Dijks joined

on a one-year contract.

International career

Youth

Dijks has represented the Netherlands at under-18, under-19, and the under-21 level. He was selected in the final Dutch under-19 squad for the

elite stage In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

of the 2012 Euro U19 qualification. He started and played in the team's first match of the elite stage against Norway U19 and lasted the full 90 while he gained a yellow card in the 54th minute as the Dutch won 2–1. He then played in the Netherlands last match of qualifiers against France U19 coming on a substitute in the 20th minute for Mats van Huijgevoort. The match ended in disaster for Dijks and the Dutch as they lost 6–0 and thus lost out European U19 qualification. On 15 August 2012, Dijks made his debut for the Dutch under-21 team in a friendly against Italy U21, coming on as a 46th-minute substitute for Johan Kappelhof as the Dutch lost 3–0.

Senior

Dijks received his first call up to the senior Netherlands team in March 2016 for friendlies 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 ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Career statistics

Honours

Ajax U19 * U19 Eredivisie: 2011–12 * NextGen Series Runner-up: 2011–12 Ajax *

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

Voetbal International profile

Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Dijks, Mitchell 1993 births Living people Footballers from Purmerend Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players SC Heerenveen players Willem II Tilburg players Norwich City F.C. players Bologna FC 1909 players SBV Vitesse players Fortuna Sittard players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players English Football League players Serie A players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Italy 21st-century Dutch sportsmen