Steve Goossen (born 12 November 1968) 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 defender.

Career

Goossen was born in

Goirle Goirle () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Part of the suburban area of the city of Tilburg, it shares with it its phone area code and public transport syst ...

North Brabant North Brabant ( ; ), also unofficially called Brabant, Dutch Brabant or Hollandic Brabant, is a province in the south of the Netherlands. It borders the provinces of South Holland and Gelderland to the north, Limburg to the east, Zeeland to ...

, but spent a large part of his childhood in Suriname. Goossen eventually left for Belgian club Lierse, where he made his breakthrough as a senior player. At the age of 21, the centre back made his debut in professional football for Lierse. Within a year, Goossen had become a starter. He played for the Belgian club for seven seasons. Before the start of the 1996–97 season, Goossen signed with

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 ...

club Vitesse. Goossen eventually made 71 appearances for Vitesse, alternating as left back and central defender. Due to the arrival of

Pieter Collen Pieter Collen (born 20 June 1980) is a Belgian former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. He made two appearances for the Belgium national team. Club career Collen started his professional career in his hometown with Gent. He ...

, Vitesse decided not to renew his contract in 1999, and he eventually left for

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

. After Sparta's relegation in the 2001–02 season, Goossen decided to retire from professional football, citing a lack of motivation. He played one more season at amateur level for Deltasport in the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

References

External links

Voetbal International profile
1968 births Living people Footballers from Goirle Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Lierse S.K. players SBV Vitesse players Sparta Rotterdam players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Vierde Divisie players Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 20th-century Dutch sportsmen {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub