Wouter Artz (born 14 March 1985) is a Dutch

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and a former player. He is the academy director with the Belgian club

Deinze Deinze () is a city and a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It comprises the city of Deinze, and the towns of Astene, Bachte-Maria-Leerne, Gottem, Grammene, Hansbeke, Landegem, Meigem, Merendree, Nevele, Petegem-aan-de-Lei ...

Club career

Artz started playing football at local amateur side VEP. When he reached the age of 10, he started playing at the youth academy of

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 ...

. Artz was capped several times as youth international. In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 season, Wouter Artz played for

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 ...

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 ...

, where he in his last season became champions with his team.

Cercle Brugge

In 2006, he moved to

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. They compete in the Belgian Pro League, the top flight of Belgian football. Their matricule number is 12. The club plays home games at the 29 ...

, a team playing in the

Belgian First division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

. In his first season with the

Bruges Bruges ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders, in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is in the northwest of the country, and is the sixth most populous city in the country. The area of the whole city amoun ...

side, Artz was tormented by injuries and as a consequence, he did not play a single match that season. In the beginning of his second season, Artz was again not given many match minutes, much to the surprise of the supporters. Artz had to wait until the last match day to make his first appearance. Artz started the match against

Charleroi SC Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League. Their current ...

. His contract with Cercle ended in 2009 and was not renewed, he only made 2 more first team appearances in the 2008-09 season. On 11 July 2009

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of the Dutch football league system, following promotion from the Eerste Divisie in the 2024 ...

signed the former

defender on a free transfer for a year with an option for another year, only for him to return to Belgium to play for

Dender The Dender () or Dendre () is a long river in Belgium, the right tributary of the river Scheldt. The confluence of the two rivers is in the Belgian town of Dendermonde. The Western or Little Dender is long and begins in Barry near Leuze-en-Hain ...

. He retired in 2013 due to persistent injuries.''Ik heb serieus in de put gezeten na het stoppen met voetbal''
- FR12

References

External links

- Voetbal International
Wouter Artz player info at the official Cercle Brugge site
1985 births Living people Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Feyenoord players Excelsior Rotterdam players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players FC Volendam players F.C.V. Dender E.H. players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch football managers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. managers Dutch expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Footballers from Woerden {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub