Wouter Burger (born 16 February 2001) 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 central or

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for German club

TSG Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V. (), commonly known as TSG Hoffenheim (), are a German professional football club based in Sinsheim. Originally founded in 1899 as a gymnastics club, Hoffenheim came into being in their modern fo ...

. Burger began his professional career with

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 ...

, making his

Eredivise 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 ...

debut in May 2019. after loan spells 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 ...

, and

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 moved on to

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

side

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

in August 2021. After two seasons at

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

, Burger joined English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

in August 2023 for a fee of £4.3 million. In July 2025 he was transferred to Hoffenheim for an undisclosed fee.

Club career

Feyenoord

Burger started playing football at amateur club ZBVH in the village of

Zuid-Beijerland Zuid-Beijerland is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Hoeksche Waard, and lies about 10 km south of Oud-Beijerland. The village was originally called Den Hitsert. The current name was first u ...

near

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

. After time at

VV SHO VV SHO, or in the long form Voetbalvereniging Steeds Hooger Oud-Beijerland, is a Dutch football club from Oud-Beijerland. It was established on 18 July 1930 and plays on Saturdays. The first squad competes in 2017-18 Eerste Klasse Saturday. Hist ...

and

, he joined the

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

. On 30 March 2017, Burger signed his first professional contract at the age of 16. Burger made his first-team debut for Feyenoord on 17 August 2018 in the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic Sta ...

third round qualifiers against

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its football department. The first team currently plays in the Slovak First Football League after winning the 2010–11 Slovak First League. The club plays its hom ...

, coming on for Tyrell Malacia in the 83rd minute. On 29 August 2019, Burger scored his first goal in professional football in a 3–0 away win against

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club (, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli professional association football, football club from the city of Beersheba, Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The club was estab ...

for Feyenoord in the play-off round of the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club association football, football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla FC, Sevill ...

. In December 2018, he signed another contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2023.

Loan to Excelsior

Burger was sent on loan to his former youth club

in the second half of the 2019–20 season. Burger played in seven

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 ...

games for Excelsior, before the league was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Loan to Sparta Rotterdam

Ahead of the 2020–21 season, Burger was sent on another loan to a

-based club – this time

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

. Here he made 18 first team appearances in 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 ...

scoring two goals helping Sparta finish in 7th and qualify for the European competition play-offs where Burger played against his parent club Feynoord in a 2–0 defeat.

Basel

On 31 August 2021

club

announced that Burger had signed a four-year contract with them. Burger joined Basel's first team during their 2021–22 season under head coach

Patrick Rahmen Patrick Rahmen (born 3 April 1969) is a Swiss football coach and former player. He played as midfielder or forward. He was most recently the head coach of Young Boys in the Swiss Super League. Club career Patrick Rahmen learned his football s ...

. He made his domestic league debut for his new club on 12 September being substituted in during the away game as Basel played a 1–1 draw against

Lugano Lugano ( , , ; ) is a city and municipality within the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland. It is the largest city in both Ticino and the Italian-speaking region of southern Switzerland. Lugano has a population () of , and an u ...

. In his first season with the club, Burger played 35 domestic league and Conference League matches without scoring a goal. The team ended the league season as runners-up and in the 2021–22 Conference League they advanced to the round of 16. Burger scored his first goal for the team in the first match of the

2022–23 Swiss Super League The 2022–23 Swiss Super League (referred to as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsoring reasons) was the 126th season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland and the 20th under its current name and format. With this season, the ...

season. It was the equaliser in the away game at the Schützenwiese on 16 July 2022 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

. It was during the first half of this season in which Burger achieved his best playing performances, especially in the 2022–23 Conference League. This was shown during the first group stage match at home in the

on 8 September in which he scored his first brace, as Basel won 3–1 against Pyunik. Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, but here they were defeated by

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

. In the

Super League Super League (also known as the Betfred Super League for sponsorship reasons, and legally Super League Europe Ltd.) is a professional rugby league competition, and the highest level of the British rugby league system, which consists of twelve t ...

the team suffered a disappointing season and finished in fifth position. Soon after the beginning of the next season Burger decided to move on and the club announced his departure on 25 August. During his time with the club he played a total of 104 games for Basel scoring a total of six goals. 59 of these games were in the

, four in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup competition that has been organised annually since 1925–26 season by the Swiss Football Association. The Swiss Cup final is usually the most important game of the year with a high attendance. The co ...

, 27 in the

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Conference League (UECL), usually known simply as the Conference League, is an annual football competition organised since 2021 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It is the thir ...

and 14 were friendly games. He scored four goals in the domestic league and the above mentioned two during the European games.

Stoke City

On 25 August 2023, Burger signed for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

club

on a four-year contract for a fee of £4.3 million. He scored on his full debut for Stoke on 29 August 2023 in a 6–1 win against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

in the

EFL Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

. He scored the only goal of the game against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

on 14 February 2024. Burger was a key member of the Stoke team in 2023–24, making 41 appearances, scoring four goals as Stoke successfully avoided relegation, finishing in 17th position. Stoke rejected a bid for Burger from Danish club

FC Midtjylland Football Club Midtjylland (, "Central Jutland") is a Danish professional football club based in Herning and Ikast. The club is the result of a merger between Ikast FS and Herning Fremad. Midtjylland competes in the Danish Superliga, which they ...

in January 2025. Burger was again a regular for Stoke in 2024–25, playing 45 times under three managers as they avoided relegation on the final day.

TSG Hoffenheim

In July 2025, Burger joined German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

side

for an undisclosed fee.

International career

With the Netherlands U17 team, Burger participated in the

2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as 2018 UEFA Under-17 Euro) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (36th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth association foo ...

in England. The team eventually won the final over

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

after a penalty-shootout. Burger was subsequently included in the UEFA team of the tournament.

Career statistics

Honours

Feyenoord *

Johan Cruyff 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 ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Netherlands U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-17, is an annual Association football, football competition contested by the men's under-17 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain national under-17 football team, ...

Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Wouter 2001 births Living people People from Korendijk Footballers from South Holland Dutch men's footballers 21st-century Dutch sportsmen Dutch expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Feyenoord players Excelsior Rotterdam players Sparta Rotterdam players FC Basel players Stoke City F.C. players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Swiss Super League players English Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany