Stijn Wuytens (; born 8 October 1989) is a Belgian 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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Lommel Lommel () is a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality and a List of cities in Belgium, city in the Belgium, Belgian province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg. The Campine, Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral distric ...

in the

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2016 ...

Club career

Wuytens began his career at

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

, before being transferred to the

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, wh ...

-youth division in 2001. Wuytens made his senior debut for PSV in the

2008 Johan Cruyff Shield The thirteenth edition of the Johan Cruyff Shield ( nl, Johan Cruijff Schaal) was held on 23 August 2008 at the Amsterdam Arena. The match, which inaugurated the 2008–09 season in Dutch football, featured the 2007–08 Eredivisie champions PSV E ...

match against

Feyenoord Rotterdam 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 ...

. On 2 February 2009, he was loaned out to

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 ...

until the end of the season, before returning to PSV. On 12 June 2012, it was announced that he would switch to the Belgian team

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen, or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the second-tier First Division B after relegating from the top tier in the 2021–22 season. In 201 ...

for the next season.

AZ

In the winter break of the 2015–16 season, Wuytens transferred to

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and hos ...

. Here he was set up as a central defender by trainer John van den Brom, with Ron Vlaar at his side. The following season, Wuytens made his first goal for AZ, in an away match against

FK Vojvodina Fudbalski klub Vojvodina ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Војводина), commonly known as Vojvodina and colloquially as Voša ( sr-Cyrl, Воша), is a Serbian professional football club based in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, the second la ...

in the Europa League. Wuytens also made his second goal in the Europa League for AZ on 15 September 2016. This time, he scored in a home game against the Irish

Dundalk FC Dundalk Football Club ( ; ga, Cumann Peile Dhún Dealgan) is a professional association football club that competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division, the top tier of football in the Republic of Ireland. The club is based in Dundalk ...

. While scoring, he came into direct contact with Dundalk goalkeeper Gary Rogers. It turned out that Wuytens was unconscious for a moment, swallowed his tongue and suffered a concussion.

Lommel

In June 2020 Wuytens moved to Belgian side

, an ambitious club that

City Football Group City Football Group Limited (CFG) is a holding company that administers association football clubs. The group is owned by three organisations; of which 81% is majority owned by Newton Investment and Development LLC, 18% by the American firm Sil ...

bought in May 2020. He signed a contract with Lommel, keeping him there until June 2025.

Personal life

Stijn Wuytens is the brother of Dries Wuytens who plays professionally for

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amate ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

, and cousin of ex-AZ player Jan Wuytens

Career statistics

Honours

Club

PSV *

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing ...

Willem II *

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 ...

: 2013–14

References

External links

* * https://www.vi.nl/spelers/stijn-wuytens/carriere *
Wuytens Profile

PSV Jeugd Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wuytens, Stijn Living people 1989 births Footballers from Brussels Men's association football defenders Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players PSV Eindhoven players De Graafschap players Beerschot A.C. players Willem II (football club) players AZ Alkmaar players Lommel S.K. players Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players