Nicky Hofs
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Nicky Hofs (born 17 May 1983) is a Dutch former 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 played as a
midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...
. He spent most of his professional career with Vitesse. After retiring, he began working as a youth and assistant coach within the Vitesse organisation.


Club career


Vitesse

Hofs started playing football at the age of five, for his team Arnhemse Boys in the city of
Arnhem Arnhem ( ; ; Central Dutch dialects, Ernems: ''Èrnem'') is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands, near the German border. It is the capita ...
. It was soon discovered he possessed considerable talent. When he was twelve years old, scouts from both
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 ...
and Vitesse showed interest. After failing his trial at Ajax, Vitesse, his favourite Dutch team, decided to sign him. He first appeared in professional football in the 2001–02 season, playing 13 games for Vitesse and scoring two goals. Halfway through the 2004–05 season he was signed by
Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...
. Hofs left Vitesse having played 69 official league games for the club and scored fifteen goals.


Feyenoord

In his first season for Feyenoord he played 13 league games. In his second season Hofs started off strong, scoring four goals in six matches. However, he suffered a major knee injury, which limited his number of appearances during the 2005–06 season. He left Feyenoord on loan to his former team Vitesse on 1 September 2008, including the option for a permanent transfer.


Return to Vitesse

After one season on loan, in which Hofs made 30 appearances and seven goals, he signed a two-year contract with Vitesse, as he had been transfer listed by Feyenoord. He stayed one more season, playing 31 games and scoring once. Despite an ongoing contract, he left Vitesse in the summer of 2010 due to the club's financial issues which meant that they were unable to pay Hofs' relatively high salary.


AEL Limassol

Hofs signed a two-year contract with Cypriot club
AEL Limassol Athlitiki Enosi Lemesou () is a Cyprus, Cypriot sports club based in the city of Limassol, most famous for its football team. AEL Limassol also maintains a AEL Limassol B.C., men's and AEL Limassol B.C. (women), women's basketball teams, a wom ...
in June 2010. After one season, playing 14 matches without scoring any goals, he could leave the club on a free transfer. In June 2011, he stated that he had not received his salary for four months, and that he would file a lawsuit with
FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...
. This case ended in February 2014, where Hofs alongside fellow former teammate Mike Zonneveld reached a settlement with the club for a "considerable sum", after having taken the case to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...
(CAS).


Third spell with Vitesse

On 3 August 2011, Hofs returned to Vitesse for the third and final time. Although he played 27 matches in his first season, he left on loan to Willem II in January 2013, after only playing six matches in the first half of the season. In June 2013, Hofs announced his retirement from professional football at only 30 years old, as he was physically unable to play at a high level any more.


International career

Hofs has won one cap for the Dutch national team. He was not selected for the Dutch national team for the
2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...
in Germany, but joined the Netherlands U21 for the
2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...
in Portugal. With two goals in the semi-finals and one in the final, he played a vital role in winning the European title. Hofs finished second on the tournaments topscorers list, one goal behind Dutch striker
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar Dirk Jan Klaas Huntelaar (born 12 August 1983), known professionally as Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (), is a Dutch former professional association football, footballer who played as a Striker (association football), striker. Huntelaar played for PSV Ein ...
.


Coaching career

After his playing career, Hofs started as a youth coach at Vitesse. He also made a comeback as a football player for the amateur club MASV, where he simultaneously served as an assistant coach. During the 2018-19 season, he briefly took on the role of caretaker manager for a few weeks. In 2017, he was added to Vitesse's technical staff. Hofs was an assistant coach for the first team for three years under head coaches Henk Fraser,
Edward Sturing Edward Jeroen Sturing (born 13 June 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of Vitesse. Sturing played as a defender and earned three caps for the Netherlands national team. Career St ...
and Leonid Slutsky. From the 2020–21 season, he became head coach of Vitesse U21, formerly Jong Vitesse, where he took over from Joseph Oosting. In September 2020, eight staff members tested positive for
SARS-CoV-2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19, the respiratory illness responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had the Novel coronavirus, provisional nam ...
during the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, including new head coach of the first team,
Thomas Letsch Thomas Letsch (born 26 August 1968) is a German professional Association football, football manager who is manager of Austrian Bundesliga club FC Red Bull Salzburg. Managerial career Letsch was never a professional footballer and started his coa ...
. The outbreak caused a minor reorganisation within Vitesse, with Sturing temporarily taking over the reins as head coach, assisted by Johannes Spors and Hofs.


Honours

Feyenoord *
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 ...
: 2007–08


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hofs, Nicky Living people 1983 births Footballers from Arnhem Dutch men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Netherlands men's international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers SBV Vitesse players Feyenoord players AEL Limassol players Willem II Tilburg players Eredivisie players Cypriot First Division players SBV Vitesse non-playing staff Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus