Thomas Ouwejan (; born 30 September 1996) is a Dutch 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 plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for club

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

Career

AZ

Ouwejan joined the AZ youth academy from childhood club De Foresters in 2007. On 10 December 2015, he made his first appearance for the club, starting in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

match against

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

. He was replaced in the 75th minute for Pantelis Hatzidiakos, another debuting player. Three days later, Ouwejan also made his Eredivisie debut in a game against

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

. That season, he also came to 16 appearances and two goals for the reserve team,

Jong AZ Jong AZ is a Dutch association football team, based in Wijdewormer in the Zaanstreek. It is the reserve team of AZ, based in Alkmaar, and plays in the Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Net ...

. In addition, he appeared once in the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

and three times in the Eredivisie; with AZ finishing fourth and qualifying for the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. The following season, he played once for the reserve team and 16 times for the first team in all competitions. In the following play-off games for participation in the Europa League preliminary round, AZ reached the final, but eventually lost to

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion ...

on penalties. In the 2017–18 season, Ouwejan became a regular starter and appeared in six matches in the KNVB Cup and 31 matches in the Eredivisie. AZ reached the final of the cup that year, in which they lost to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Netherlands, Dutch professional association football, football club based in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football league system, Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the ...

. In the Eredivisie, AZ took third place. He continued as a starter during the 2018–19 season, scoring two goals in 31 league appearances and one goal – his first in European tournaments – in the third qualifying round of the Europa League against Ukrainian side

Mariupol Mariupol is a city in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine. It is situated on the northern coast (Pryazovia) of the Sea of Azov, at the mouth of the Kalmius, Kalmius River. Prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it was the tenth-largest city in the coun ...

. At the start of the 2019–20 season, new head coach

Arne Slot Arend Martijn "Arne" Slot (; born 17 September 1978) is a Dutch professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who is the head coach of club Liverpool F.C., Liverpool. He is regarded as one of t ...

preferred the newly emerged youngster

Owen Wijndal Owen Wijndal (born 28 November 1999) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays as a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left-back for club AFC Ajax, Ajax. He also plays for the Netherlands national football team, ...

at left back, which meant that Ouwejan mostly appeared 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 ...

, and found himself increasingly out of the starting lineup. He finished the season with 10 appearances in the Eredivisie and six in the Europa League.

Loan to Udinese

Ouwejan joined Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

on a season-loan from AZ for the 2020–21 season, with an option to buy. He made his debut for the side on 27 September 2020 in a 1–0 loss to

Verona Verona ( ; ; or ) is a city on the Adige, River Adige in Veneto, Italy, with 255,131 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region, and is the largest city Comune, municipality in the region and in Northeast Italy, nor ...

Schalke 04

On 1 June 2021, Ouwejan agreed to join

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

on loan for the 2021–22 season with an option to make the move permanent. On 12 May 2022, Schalke exercised this option.

NEC

On 14 August 2024, Ouwejan signed a three-year contract with Eredivisie club

International career

Ouwejan gained five caps for the Netherlands under-17 team and took part with the under-19 team in the

2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2015 UEFA European Under-19 Championship was the 14th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (64th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual European youth football competition contested by the men's under-19 ...

. He was used in all three of Netherlands' games in the tournament, which was eliminated after the group stage. He then gained eight caps for at under-20 level, and made his debut for the Netherlands U21 team on 15 November 2016 in the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifier against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

Doetinchem Doetinchem (; Dutch Low Saxon, Low Saxon: ) is a city and Municipalities in the Netherlands, municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It is situated along the IJssel, Oude IJssel (Old IJssel) river in a part of the Provinces of the Netherland ...

Career statistics

Honours

Schalke 04 * 2. Bundesliga: 2021–22

References

External links

*
Netherlands profile
at Ons Oranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouwejan, Thomas 1996 births Living people Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Eredivisie players Serie A players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players AZ Alkmaar players Jong AZ players Udinese Calcio players FC Schalke 04 players NEC Nijmegen players Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Dutch expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Alkmaar Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy 21st-century Dutch sportsmen