Zeno Koen Debast (born 24 October 2003) is a Belgian 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 for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

and the Belgium national team. Primarily a

centre-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 ...

, he can also be deployed as a

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. ...

Club career

Anderlecht

Debast is a youth product of

Anderlecht Anderlecht (; ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, B ...

, signing his first contract in October 2019. He made his professional debut on 2 May 2021, in a 2–2

Belgian First Division A 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– ...

draw against

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

. On 11 June 2024, during an interview for ''

Het Laatste Nieuws (''HLN''; ; in English ''The Latest News'') is a Dutch-language newspaper based in Antwerp, Belgium. It was founded by Julius Hoste Sr. on 7 June 1888. It is now part of DPG Media, and is the most popular newspaper in Flanders and Belgium. H ...

'', Debast confirmed that he had agreed personal terms to join Portuguese side

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

from the 2024–25 season.

Sporting CP

On 4 July, Debast signed a five-year contract with

side Sporting CP, for a fee of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

15.5 million, plus €5.5 million in add-ons, and a 15% sell-on clause in favor of Anderlecht. On 7 August, he made his debut for the club, where he committed two errors, that led to

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

Porto Porto (), also known in English language, English as Oporto, is the List of cities in Portugal, second largest city in Portugal, after Lisbon. It is the capital of the Porto District and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto c ...

first and second goals in their 4–3 loss in the

2024 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The 2024 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira was the 46th edition of the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira. It was played between the winners of the 2023–24 Primeira Liga, Sporting CP, and the winners of the 2023–24 Taça de Portugal, Porto, on 3 ...

. This resulted in him losing his starting spot, however, on 17 September with regular starter

Eduardo Quaresma Eduardo Filipe Quaresma Coimbra Simões (born 2 March 2002) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Primeira Liga club Sporting CP. Club career Sporting CP Early career Born in Barreiro, Setúbal District, Qu ...

being sidelined with a knee injury, Debast was entrusted back to the starting eleven, scoring his first goal for the club, and the first goal of his career, by netting a shot from outside the box in Sporting's 2–0 victory over

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

during the inaugural matchday of the newly formatted Champions League league phase.

International career

In September 2022, Debast received his first call-up to the Belgian senior squad for the

2022–23 UEFA Nations League The 2022–23 UEFA Nations League was the third season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The competition was held from June to Se ...

matches against

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

and

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He debuted against the former opponent on 22 September that ended in a 2–1 victory. Debast was also called up to the Belgium squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

on 10 November 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Sporting CP *

: 2024–25 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2024–25

References

External links

Profile
at the Sporting CP website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Debast, Zeno 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Halle, Belgium Footballers from Flemish Brabant Belgian men's footballers Men's association football defenders R.S.C. Anderlecht players Sporting CP footballers Belgian Pro League players Primeira Liga players Belgium men's youth international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's international footballers 2022 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2024 players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal 21st-century Belgian sportsmen