Ricky van Haaren (; born 21 June 1991) is a Dutch former

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

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 ...

Club career

Youth career

Van Haaren started his youth career at

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

. In the season 2005–06 he was invited to join the Feyenoord Academy. At Varkenoord, the youngster quickly embellished from a reserve player into a youth international. On 28 November 2007, Van Haaren signed a three-year contract with Feyenoord. Feyenoord's technical director

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 ...

explained: "Firstly we want to prevent him from joining another club. But we also want to reward him because we think he's doing very well. You often see changing performances at this age, but Ricky had a very consistent season last year." Before even playing a single minute for Feyenoord's first team, Van Haaren renewed his contract till 2012 on 16 February 2010. New technical director

Leo Beenhakker Leo Beenhakker (; 2 August 1942 – 10 April 2025) was a Dutch football player and coach. Nicknamed "Don Leo" for his role in Spanish football, he had an extensive and successful career both at club and international level. After his amateur pl ...

claimed to have ''big plans'' with the young midfielder. One week after renewing his contract, Van Haaren trained with the first team squad for the first time.

Feyenoord (2010–2012)

Van Haaren made his official debut for Feyenoord's first team on 2 May 2010. He replaced Schenkeveld in the 61st minute in 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 ...

home match against

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, ) is a town and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the m ...

(6–2). Van Haaren was the fourth player of Feyenoord U19 to make his first team debut this season, after

Stefan de Vrij Stefan de Vrij (; born 5 February 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Inter Milan and the Netherlands national team. De Vrij began his career at his local club VV Spirit, and debuted as a professiona ...

Luc Castaignos Luc Castaignos (born 27 September 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Early career The roots of Castaignos' family are located in the département of Landes, one hundred kilometers south of Bordeaux i ...

and Bart Schenkeveld.

VVV-Venlo (2012–2013)

In June 2012 Van Haaren left Feyenoord on a free transfer to sign a two-year contract with

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 ...

ADO Den Haag (2013–2015)

After the relegation of VVV-Venlo, Van Haaren signed with

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

to continue playing in the

. He scored twice on his debut in a 4–2 defeat away to Feyenoord.

FC Dordrecht (2014–2015)

On 5 August 2014, Van Haaren was sent on loan to

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

until the end of the season.

Dinamo București (2015)

In June 2015, van Haaren signed a contract for two seasons with

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

. In the middle of August 2015, the

coach,

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a defender, who is currently the head coach of Belgian Pro League club Standard Liège. Playing career Corvinul Hunedoara Rednic, ni ...

said it would be best if the player left the club, as he did not show him anything of value so far. He blamed the short summer preseason preparation time for the mistakes in the current squad selection, while also saying that for foreign players, it is imperative that they show they have something "extra" to the normal Romanian players if they are to stay. In December 2015, van Haaren ended his contract with Dinamo, after playing in only eight games in

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

, four of them as a starter.

Quick Boys (2020–2022)

On 11 August 2020, he joined third-tier Dutch club

Quick Boys Quick Boys (Katwijkse Voetbal Vereniging Quick Boys) is an amateur football club from Katwijk aan Zee, Netherlands. The club, established on 1 February 1920, is the second most successful amateur football club in the Netherlands, behind IJsselme ...

Statistics

:''Statistics accurate as of last match played on 11 December 2015.''

Personal life

His younger brother

Danny van Haaren Danny van Haaren (born 21 September 1997) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a midfielder for SteDoCo. Club career He made his Eerste Divisie debut for Telstar on 17 August 2018 in a game against RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch pro ...

is also a footballer.