Teun Floris de Nooijer (born 22 March 1976) is a

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player from the Netherlands, who twice became Olympic champion with the Dutch national squad, in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

and in

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

, and was on the team in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. He currently plays for Dutch side

HC Bloemendaal Hockey Club Bloemendaal (), commonly known as Bloemendaal, is a Dutch professional field hockey club based in Bloemendaal, North Holland. It was established on 26 April 1895, and is one of the oldest field hockey clubs in the Netherlands. Originall ...

and in

Hockey India League Hockey India League is a professional field hockey league in India. It is organized by Hockey India, the governing body for the sport in India. It is considered one of the major sports leagues of the country. It was founded in 2013 as a part ...

for

Uttar Pradesh Wizards The Uttar Pradesh Wizards was an Indian professional field hockey team based in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh that played in the Hockey India League. It was owned by Sahara India. Franchise details Ownership The team was owned by Sahara Adventure Sp ...

Career

Dutch Hockey Sides (1994-Present)

Born in

Egmond aan den Hoef Egmond aan den Hoef () is a village in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Bergen, and lies about west of Alkmaar. Until 2001, Egmond aan den Hoef was part of the municipality of Egmond. The village was fir ...

, he made his debut on 4 June 1994 in a friendly match against New Zealand. Since then the midfielder played over three hundred international matches for the Dutch. On 4 April 2007 he earned his 350th cap for the Netherlands national field hockey team, when the team defeated Belgium (7–3) in a friendly in

Boxtel Boxtel () is a Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality and a town in the southern Netherlands. The name derives from Buchestelle and is presumably a combination of 'stelle' (Dutch for stable, safe place) and (deer) deer, buck.2019. Etymolog ...

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 ...

. De Nooijer started playing hockey at the age of nine, with his brothers in the backyard of their house. He joined HC Alkmaar at the age of eleven, and was selected for the Dutch under-16 team 2 years later. At fifteen, De Nooijer made his debut in the senior men's league with HC Alkmaar, and two years later, he first played in the Netherlands' elite league with

. After two seasons wearing the number 11 shirt, De Nooijer switched to the number 14, made famous by

Johan Cruijff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016), internationally known as Johan Cruyff (), was a Dutch professional football player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest players in history and as the greatest Dutch footballe ...

, and has worn it for club and country ever since.Teun de Nooijer

Euro Hockey League The Euro Hockey League is an annual field hockey cup competition organized by the EHF for the very top field hockey clubs in Europe. The competition was launched at the start of the 2007-08 field hockey season when it merged and replaced the men ...

. The number was later bestowed on the signature stick he helped to create, the Dita Giga #14 De Nooijer played for

Alkmaar Alkmaar () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, located in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland. Alkmaar is well known fo ...

before moving to

. After the 1998 Hockey World Cup he played for a couple of months in Germany, at Harvestehuder THC. In the final of the 1998 Hockey World Cup in

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

he scored the golden goal in the final against Spain. De Nooijer was named ''

World Hockey Player of the Year The FIH Awards are awarded annually by the International Hockey Federation to the male and female field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in s ...

'' in 2003, 2005 and 2006De Nooijer claims record third WorldHockey award
''worldhockey.org'', 16 September 2006 by the

International Hockey Federation The International Hockey Federation, commonly known by the acronym FIH, is the international governing body of field hockey and indoor field hockey. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland. FIH is responsible for field hockey's major int ...

(FIH). De Nooijer created history when he won the award, which was presented by

Jacques Rogge Jacques Jean Marie, Count Rogge (, ; 2 May 1942 – 29 August 2021) was a Belgian sports administrator, former athlete, and physician, who served as the eighth president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2001 to 2013. In 201 ...

for a record third time. Jamie Dwyer, however, equaled this record when he won the award for the third time in 2009, and surpassed it when he won the award again in 2010. The only other man to have won the award more than once is de Nooijer's former teammate

Stephan Veen Stephan Patrick Veen (born 27 July 1970, in Groningen) is a retired field hockey forward and midfielder from The Netherlands, who twice became olympic champion with the Dutch national squad: in 1996 and in 2000 2000 was designated ...

(1998, 2000). Earlier in 2006, de Nooijer was the decisive factor in the

Champions Trophy The ICC Champions Trophy, formerly known as the ICC Knock Out Trophy, is an international One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) contested by international men's teams. Inaugurat ...

final as the Netherlands claimed a record-equalling eighth crown and de Nooijer's sixth. He claimed his 400th cap for the Netherlands on 15 August 2009 against the 5–3 victory against India

]" target="_blank" class="mw-redirect" title="">
"EHL Hockey", 17 August 2009

Uttar Pradesh Wizards (2012-Present)

De Nooijer become the Highest Paid Player for Hockey India League, When he was signed by UP Wizards. Since then he was playing for them.

Personal life

De Nooijer is married to Philippa Suxdorf, herself a former German international hockey player with 154 caps under her belt. They have 3 daughters, seven-year-old Philine, five-year-old Lilly, and two-year-old Nana.

Coaching career

He currently is the coach of the women's team of HC Bloemendaal.

References

External links