Ralf Seuntjens (; born 17 April 1989) 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 le ...

who plays as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for club

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

Club career

Seuntjens formerly played for RBC Roosendaal,

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadium is called 'De Vliert', an 8,500 all-seater. R ...

and

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fir ...

. In April 2016, he was crowned the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

top goalscorer of the 2015–16 season with 28 goals. On 11 March 2021, it was announced that Seuntjens had signed a two-year contract with an option for an additional year with

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 Eerste Divi ...

, starting from the 2021–22 season. On 25 March 2022, Seuntjens joined

FC Imabari FC Imabari (''FC今治'') is a Japanese football club based in Imabari, Ehime Prefecture. They play in the J3 League. History The club was founded in 1976 and were promoted to the Shikoku Football League in 2001. From 2009 to 2011 they were owne ...

in the Japanese third-tier

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan. The third-tier nationwide league is a relatively recent development in Japanese football with a first attempt ...

. He was diagnosed with

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma Non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), also known as non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, is a group of blood cancers that includes all types of lymphomas except Hodgkin lymphomas. Symptoms include enlarged lymph nodes, fever, night sweats, weight loss, and tiredness. ...

in May 2022, and therefore ruled out for a substantial time. He made his return to the pitch after beating cancer on 17 June 2023, coming on as a substitute shortly before full-time in a league match against

Tegevajaro Miyazaki is a Japanese Association football, football club based in Miyazaki, Miyazaki, Miyazaki, the capital city of Miyazaki Prefecture. They play in the J3 League. History Born in 1965 as ''Kadokawa Club'', the club have twice changed their name; f ...

. On 24 December 2023, it was announced that Seuntjens would be returning to De Graafschap, effective 1 January 2024, after signing a six-month contract.

Personal life

His younger brother

Mats Seuntjens Mats Seuntjens (; born 17 April 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club FC Utrecht. Club career Seuntjens played as a youth for BSV Boeimeer, and at the age of 18 joined the NAC Breda youth academ ...

is also a professional footballer. On 12 May 2022, a

neoplasm A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tissue, and persists ...

was discovered after a medical examination on Seuntjens' shoulder. On 17 June, he wrote on

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

that a diagnosis had been made, and that he was to undergo treatment. The diagnosis was later revealed to be

. In January 2023, he was declared cancer-free.

Honours

VVV-Venlo *

: 2016–17 Individual *

top scorer: 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Seuntjens, Ralf 1989 births Living people Footballers from Breda Men's association football forwards Dutch men's footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players J3 League players RBC Roosendaal players FC Den Bosch players SC Telstar players VVV-Venlo players De Graafschap players NAC Breda players FC Imabari players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Japan