Thomas Overtoom (; born 20 November 1990) 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

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 ...

for club

Rijnsburgse Boys Rijnsburgse Boys is a football club based in Rijnsburg, Netherlands. The team compete in the Tweede Divisie, the third level of the Dutch football league system. History The club was established on 24 March 1930. It currently plays in the Twe ...

Career

Ajax

Overtoom grew up in the neighbourhood of

Watergraafsmeer The Watergraafsmeer () is a polder in North Holland, Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many '' buitenplaatsen'' in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains. It is among t ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, and started his football career in 1998 for SV de Meer, before moving to SV Diemen the following year. He only stayed their for another year, before joining the youth academy of

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

. During his years in the academy, he was chosen multiple times as the best player, such as at the

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

Danone Nations Cup The Danone Nations Cup is a football tournament for children between the ages of 10 and 15. It is organized since 2000 on the initiative of Danone.

in France. In July 2009, Overtoom was sent on a one-season loan to

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English language, English) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the Provinces of the Nether ...

, who were then competing in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

. During his time at Haarlem, Overtoom made 13 appearances for the first team, including his professional debut on 11 September 2009, in a 4–1 home loss to

Helmond Sport Helmond Sport () is a Dutch professional football club based in Helmond, North Brabant. Founded in 1967 following the acquisition of the professional license of , the club achieved promotion to the top-tier Eredivisie in 1982. After two seasons ...

. However, on 22 January 2010, he requested to return to Ajax before Haarlem faced bankruptcy. Towards the end of January 2011, Overtoom was included in the matchday squad for the away game against

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 Eredivisi ...

. He had been assigned the jersey number 52 for the 2010–11 season. Despite being part of the first team's match selection once, he failed to make an appearance. In 2011, Ajax made the decision not to extend his expiring contract, and he departed the club as a free agent.

Sparta Rotterdam

On 21 June 2011, Overtoom signed a two-year contract with Eerste Divisie club

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 ...

. He scored two goals in 15 appearances during his only

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

at the club, before deciding to terminate his contract by mutual consent.

Veendam

On 1 August 2012, he signed a two-year contract with

Veendam Veendam () is a town and municipality with a population of 27,752 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Veendam was established in 1648 as a peat colony by Adriaan Geerts Wildervanck. Holland America Line has named fo ...

. Due to the bankruptcy of the club in March 2013, as it later turned out, he would score the last professional goal in the club's history during the match against

FC Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

on 15 March 2013, which they won 2–1. After that, he maintained his fitness at

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, attracting interest from various domestic and foreign clubs.

Volendam

In June 2013, Overtoom joined

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

on a two-year deal. He made his debut for the club on 3 August 2013, the first matchday of the

, starting and providing an assist in a 3–2 away victory against Almere City, in which Robert Mühren scored a hat-trick. In his first season, he was named Player of the Year. However, in his second year at the club, he played less than half of the matches due to a hip injury. On 1 July 2015, he became a free agent as he chose not to renew his contract with Volendam.

Excelsior

In July 2015, Overtoom signed a one-year contract with

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

, with an option for an additional season. After making only four appearances during six months at the club, he was sent on loan to Emmen in January 2016.

Almere City and NEC

In July 2016, he signed a two-year contract with Almere City. In the summer of 2018, he followed his coach Jack de Gier to

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 ...

, where he signed a three-year contract. On 17 August, he made his debut for the club in a home game against Cambuur. On 4 November, he scored his first goal for NEC in a 3–1 home victory against

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 ...

. On 12 June 2020, his contract, which still had one year remaining, was terminated by NEC by mutual consent.

Telstar

On 19 November 2020, Overtoom signed with

Telstar Telstar refers to a series of communications satellites. The first two, Telstar 1 and Telstar 2, were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched atop of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962, successfully relayed the first televisi ...

as a free agent following a successful trial period. He made his debut on 4 December, coming on as a late substitute in a 2–1 home defeat to Cambuur. Overtoom became a regular in the side and played a key role during the 2022–23 season, making 32 appearances—30 of them starts—as Telstar finished ninth, their best league finish since 2018 and second-best since 2005. On 29 May 2024, he signed a one-year contract extension through June 2025. Over five seasons with the club, Overtoom made 116 appearances. In the 2024–25 season, he was part of the squad that earned promotion to the

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 ...

via the play-offs, defeating Willem II over two legs in the final.

Rijnsburgse Boys

On 16 May 2025, Overtoom joined

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie (; ) 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 between 1962 and 19 ...

side

ahead of the 2025–26 season.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Overtoom, Tom 1990 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers HFC Haarlem players AFC Ajax players Sparta Rotterdam players SC Veendam players FC Volendam players Excelsior Rotterdam players FC Emmen players Almere City FC players NEC Nijmegen players SC Telstar players Rijnsburgse Boys players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Tweede Divisie players 21st-century Dutch sportsmen