Nick Venema (born 9 April 1999) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for club

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; ; or ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Nord (French department), Nord Departments of France, department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced ...

Club career

Utrecht

Venema played for several clubs in his youth, including hometown club SV Austerlitz, VW Woudenberg, and

Roda '46 Roda '46 (self-styled as RODA '46) is a Dutch football club from Leusden. It was founded on 15 September 1946. The club has Saturday and Sunday football teams. Its Saturday football team plays in 2018–19 in the Eerste Klasse, while its Sunday tea ...

, before joining the

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

youth academy. He made his professional debut 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 ...

for the reserve team

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 Out on loan Techni ...

on 5 August 2016 in a game 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 Eredivisi ...

. He made 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 for

on 12 February 2017 in a game against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Richairo Živković Richairo Juliano Živković (/Rišairo Žulijano Živković; born 5 September 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Thai League 1 club Bangkok United F.C., Bangkok United. Born in t ...

. He scored his first goal for the senior squad on 29 October 2017 in a 2–2 home draw against

. The goal came in the 78th minute, seven minutes after Venema has been subbed on for

Cyriel Dessers Cyriel Kolawole Dessers (born 8 December 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a forward for Super League Greece club AEK Athens. Born in Belgium, he plays for the Nigeria national team. Dessers has spent the majority of his club c ...

. His goal was the equalizer, and the last goal of the game.

Loan to Almere City

On 28 August 2019 he joined

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Netherlands. Founded in 2001, the club currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, following relegation from the Eredivisie in 2024–25 Eredivisie, 20 ...

on a season-long loan.

Loan to NAC Breda

On 27 August 2020 he joined

on a season-long loan. He made 32 appearances during the season in which he scored five goals, as NAC missed out on promotion to the Eredivisie in the finals of the play-offs.

Return to Utrecht

Venema returned to Utrecht ahead of the 2021–22 season, where he once again became part of the reserve team Jong FC Utrecht. There, he took on a new role as the experienced striker under head coach

Darije Kalezić Darije Kalezić (born 1 November 1969) is a Bosnian/Dutch professional football Manager (association football), manager and former player. Playing career Kalezić was born in Pfäffikon, Zurich, Pfäffikon, Switzerland. He started his career sti ...

VVV-Venlo

On 24 December 2021, Venema was loaned to

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch association football, football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

for the rest of the season. On 22 June 2022, the deal was made permanent and Venema signed a three-year deal with the club.

Valenciennes

On 15 August 2023, VVV-Venlo announced Venema's transfer to French club

International career

Venema debuted for the Netherlands U17 team on 7 February 2016 in a friendly against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

. He played 70 minutes of that match, and the game ended 1–1. His U19 debut came on 30 August 2017 in a 2–1 friendly loss to

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He only played 18 minutes of that match. His first and second international goals came in the same game, a friendly against

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The game ended 9–0 in favor of the Netherlands, with Venema scoring the 8th and 9th goals, in the 80th and 90th minute respectively. He only played 18 minutes of that game as well.

Career statistics

References

External links

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Nick Venema
at FCUtrecht.nl {{DEFAULTSORT:Venema, Nick 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Zeist Footballers from Utrecht (province) Men's association football forwards Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Ligue 2 players Championnat National 3 players Jong FC Utrecht players FC Utrecht players Almere City FC players NAC Breda players VVV-Venlo players Valenciennes FC players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Dutch sportsmen