Sjoerd Ars (; born 15 April 1984) 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 ...

who played as a striker.

Career

Youth career

Ars played in the youth of DVC'26 from the town of

Didam Didam (locally, Diem) is a town in the Netherlands in the eastern part of Netherlands in the region of "De Achterhoek", province of Gelderland. It is located in the municipality of Montferland about 18 km east of Arnhem, which is the capital ...

, and was later picked up by Dutch giants,

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

. He never broke through to the first team, and chose to play professionally for

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 ...

Dutch second division

After one season in

Doetinchem Doetinchem (; Low Saxon: ) is a city and municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It is situated along the Oude IJssel (Old IJssel) river in a part of the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek. The municipality had a population of i ...

, he decided to sign with

FC Omniworld Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, and hosts home matches at the Yanmar Stadion. The club builds on forme ...

, a club that became a licensed pro-club that year. In his first season in

Almere Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer. Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprises ...

, Ars scored 17 goals. He later played four successful seasons for Go Ahead Eagles and

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

FC Zwolle

In 2010, Ars signed a contract at

FC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a tot ...

. He started the season well by scoring 11 goals in his first 10 league matches. He finished the season with 28 goals, scored in 33 matches.

Levski Sofia

His great season with

was enough to be signed by Bulgarian side

PFC Levski Sofia Levski Sofia ( bg, Левски София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 b ...

. Ars arrived in Sofia on 23 June 2011 and signed a three-year contract the next day. On 28 July 2011, in his official debut for Levski, he came on as a substitute and scored the

winning goal Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * '' Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Foot Pole, 2022 ...

for the 2–1 win over

FC Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a Slovak professional football club based in Trnava. Historically, it is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won the Czechoslovak First League five times and the Czechoslovak Cup on four occasions, and ...

. Ars also netted a goal to open the scoring in the return leg, while Levski were eventually eliminated after losing the

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

to decide the match (the aggregate score at the end of extra time was 3–3). On 6 November 2011, he scored a brace in the 3–2 home win over

Loko Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...

in an

A Group The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

match.

Tianjin Teda

In February 2012, Ars went to

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side

Tianjin Teda Tianjin Jinmen Tiger Football Club is a professional Chinese football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in Tianjin, and their home stadium is ...

on loan. Tianjin Teda also had an option to make the move permanent in the end of the 2012 league season. He made his official debut for Tianjin on 25 February, in a 2–1 CFA Super Cup defeat against

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

. After spells in Turkey, Ars returned to the Netherlands to join

NEC Nijmegen NEC Nijmegen (''Nijmegen Eendracht Combinatie''), commonly known as NEC (), is a professional Dutch association football club based in Nijmegen. The club currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, following promotion f ...

. He topped 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 th ...

top goalscorers charts at the end of the club's title winning 2014–15 season and moved on to NAC. In summer 2016, Ars left

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 ...

for Hungarian side

Szombathelyi Haladás Szombathelyi Haladás (), is a Hungarian football club based in Szombathely. ''Haladás'' is the Hungarian word for ''progress''. The club, which was founded in 1919, plays its home games at Rohonci úti Stadion which has a capacity of 9,500 ...

.Ars verruilt NAC Breda voor Hongaars avontuur
- Voetbal International He played for

De Treffers De Treffers is an amateur football club from Groesbeek, Netherlands. The club plays in the Tweede Divisie, the highest amateur league of Dutch football. History It was founded in 1919, and its first chairman was Jan Piepenbreier. De Treffers ...

in the Dutch

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie ( en, Second Division) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and ...

in the 2018–19 season before retiring in December 2018.

Career statistics

Honours

NEC *

: 2014–15

References

External links

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but le ...

Sjoerd Ars

Profile at Levskisofia.info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ars, Sjoerd 1984 births Living people People from Oude IJsselstreek Association football forwards Dutch footballers Dutch expatriate footballers De Graafschap players Almere City FC players Go Ahead Eagles players RBC Roosendaal players PEC Zwolle players PFC Levski Sofia players Tianjin Jinmen Tiger F.C. players Konyaspor footballers Karşıyaka S.K. footballers NEC Nijmegen players NAC Breda players Szombathelyi Haladás footballers Fortuna Sittard players De Treffers players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Tweede Divisie players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Nemzeti Bajnokság I players TFF First League players Chinese Super League players Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Hungary Expatriate footballers in China Expatriate footballers in Turkey Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in China Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Footballers from Gelderland