Yaël Liesdek (born 21 October 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Career

Early years

Liesdek played youth football for GeuzenMiddenmeer,

UVV Utrecht UVV Utrecht is a sports club based in Utrecht (city), Utrecht, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1902 in a merger between several clubs that date back to 1893. In 2009, the club removed its former acronym, ''Utrechtse Voetbal Vereniging'' (Utr ...

, Zeeburgia,

Alphense Boys Alphense Boys is a football club based in Alphen aan de Rijn, South Holland, Netherlands. Currently members of the Vierde Divisie, the fifth tier of the Dutch football league system, the club was established in 1930. The club is known for playing ...

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

, Hollandia, and

De Volewijckers ASC De Volewijckers is a Dutch football club that plays in the Vierde Klasse. It is a continuation of ASV–DWV and AVV De Volewijckers. History ASV–DWV ASV-DWV or Door Wilskracht Verkregen was founded on 12 May 1912 in present-day Amsterda ...

Telstar

In 2020, he joined

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 ...

after being scouted by head coach

Andries Jonker Andries Jonker (22 September 1962) is the Netherlands women's national football team manager. Jonker was at the helm of Dutch outfits Willem II, MVV and Volendam and was the assistant manager of VfL Wolfsburg, FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich ...

, who had noticed Liesdek at his former club De Volewijckers. On 30 August 2020, Liesdek made his professional debut during a home match against

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 ...

, which ended in a 2–2 draw. Coming on as a substitute for

Glynor Plet Glynor Orvil Plet (; born 30 January 1987) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of Telstar. Plet is noted for his physical strength, ability in the air, and ball retention ...

in the 85th minute, he stepped onto the field for the first time in his paid football career. In the subsequent game, an away fixture against

Eindhoven Eindhoven ( ; ) is a city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, located in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant, of which it is the largest municipality, and is also locat ...

, he earned his first starting position and provided an assist to

Shayne Pattynama Shayne Elian Jay Pattynama (born 11 August 1998) is a professional footballer who plays as a left-back or left wing-back. Born in the Netherlands, he represents the Indonesia national team. Club career Jong Utrecht He made his Eerste Divisie ...

's equalizer as Telstar went on to win 3–2. He scored his first professional goal on 22 September in a league game against

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 ...

, deciding the game by placing the ball into the bottom corner beyond the reach of the opposing goalkeeper, Alessandro Damen, in the 95th minute. In December 2020, he signed a contract extension with Telstar until 2023. In the second half of the

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 ...

, Liesdek suffered successive injuries which limited his playing time. He ended his first season in professional football with one goal in 21 appearances. After playing regularly for the first half of the 2021–22 season, Liesdek was subbed off in the 76th minute of a 2–1 loss to Volendam on 9 January 2022 with an

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

injury which sidelined him for the rest of the season. In October 2022, he dislocated his shoulder which kept him out for two months. His return was short-lived, as he tore his achilles tendon in a 3–1 defeat to

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

on 31 March 2023, effectively ending his season.

Akademisk Boldklub

On 25 July 2024,

Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division () is a professional association football league for men and the third division in Denmark. It is organised by the Divisionsforeningen on behalf of the Danish Football Association (Danish FA; DBU) as part of the nation-wide Da ...

club

Akademisk Boldklub Akademisk Boldklub Gladsaxe (AB) is a Denmark, Danish professional football (soccer), football club from Gladsaxe north of Copenhagen, currently playing at the 3rd highest level of Danish domestic football in the Danish 2nd Division group 1. The ...

(AB), confirmed that Liesdek had joined the club. He made his debut for the club on 3 August, replacing an injured Hørður Askham shortly after half-time in a 1–1 home draw against

Næstved Næstved () is a town in Næstved Municipality, the municipality of the same name, located in the southern part of the island of Zealand (Denmark), Zealand in Denmark. Næstved has several adult education centers, five Primary education, elemen ...

. He left the club in June 2025, after his contract was terminated by mutual agreement.

Personal life

Liesdek is the youngest son of former footballer who captained the

Colourful 11 Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways Douglas DC-8, DC-8-62. On Wednesday 7 June ...

, an exhibition team of Surinamese players playing professionally in the Netherlands. Fifteen members of the Colourful 11 tragically lost their lives in 1989 as a result of the

Surinam Airways Flight 764 Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways DC-8-62. On Wednesday 7 June 1989, the fl ...

disaster. As Marcel Liesdek was in contract negotiations with his former club

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; ) is a professional football club from the municipality of Sittard-Geleen, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was establi ...

at the time, he was not on the plane.

Career statistics

References

External links

Yaël Liesdek
on

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM. It l ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liesdek, Yael 2001 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Footballers from Amsterdam Men's association football fullbacks UVV players AVV Zeeburgia players Alphense Boys players Roda JC Kerkrade players HVV Hollandia players ASC De Volewijckers players SC Telstar players Akademisk Boldklub players Eerste Divisie players Danish 2nd Division players Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark 21st-century Dutch sportsmen