Lars Veldwijk

Lars Veldwijk (born 21 August 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Suwon FC in the South Korean K League 2 and for the South Africa national football team.[1]

Lars Veldwijk

Veldwijk with Nottingham Forest
Personal information
Full name	Lars Veldwijk
Date of birth	21 August 1991
Place of birth	Uithoorn, Netherlands
Height	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Club information
Current team	Suwon FC
Number	23
Youth career
	SV Argon
	FC Volendam
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2011	FC Volendam	2	(0)
2011–2013	Utrecht	5	(0)
2012–2013	→ Dordrecht (loan)	31	(14)
2013–2014	Excelsior	38	(30)
2014–2016	Nottingham Forest	12	(0)
2015–2016	→ PEC Zwolle (loan)	33	(14)
2016–2017	Kortrijk	9	(1)
2017	→ Aalesund (loan)	16	(5)
2017–2018	Groningen	18	(4)
2018–2020	Sparta Rotterdam	42	(27)
2020	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors	10	(1)
2020–	Suwon FC	13	(4)
National team^‡
2016–	South Africa	7	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:05, 15 January 2020 (UTC+9) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:16, 29 June 2020 (UTC)

Club career

Excelsior

Veldwijk represented Eerste Divisie side Excelsior in the 2013–14 season, and scored 35 goals in 45 appearances across all competitions.[2]

Nottingham Forest

On 12 June 2014, Veldwijk signed for Nottingham Forest from Excelsior for a fee of £500,000 that could rise to £1 million depending on various clauses.[3] He made his debut on 16 August 2014 against Bolton Wanderers at the Macron Stadium as a 92nd-minute substitute for fellow striker Matty Fryatt.[4] Veldwijk made his first start for Forest on 26 August 2014 in a 2–0 win against Huddersfield Town in the second round of the League Cup.[5] Veldwijk went on loan to PEC Zwolle for the 2015–16 season, during which time he scored 14 goals in 33 league appearances.[6][7] Upon his return to Forest he scored his first and only goal for the club in a 2–1 EFL Cup win against Millwall on 23 August 2016.[8]

Loan to Aalesund

On 31 March 2017, Veldwijk signed for the Norwegian football club Aalesunds FK on loan, with an option to buy when the loan period is over.

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

On 15 January 2020, having previously been in negotiations with an unnamed club in South Africa, Veldwijk signed for South Korea's reigning K League 1 champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.[9][10] He made his official debut for the club in March, during a 2–2 AFC Champions League draw against Sydney FC, but had to wait until May to feature in the league for the first time after football was suspended in South Korea due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After recovering from a minor knee injury, he marked his K League 1 league debut with a 93rd-minute winner against Busan IPark, before making his first start two weeks later.[11][12][13]

Suwon FC

On 17 July 2020, Veldwijk dropped down a division to join K League 2 side Suwon FC on a permanent deal.[14]

International career

Although born in the Netherlands, and having spent his formative years progressive through the Dutch youth system at club level, Veldwijk was eligible to represent South Africa through his paternal lineage.[15] He received his maiden call for the nation's 2018 World Cup qualifier against Senegal in October 2016 before debuting in a 1–1 friendly tie with Mozambique the following month.[16][17] After a spell away from the team, he then returned to the national fold to feature in his first international tournament in 2019, making five substitute appearances as South Africa reached the quarter-finals of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.[18]

Career statistics

Club

As of 11 June 2020[1][19][20]

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FC Volendam	2010–11	Eerste Divisie	2	0	0	0	—		—		2	0
Utrecht	2011–12	Eredivisie	5	0	0	0	—		—		5	0
	2012–13	Eredivisie	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	Total		5	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Dordrecht (loan)	2012–13	Eerste Divisie	31	14	3	3	—		2[lower-alpha 1]	2	36	19
Excelsior	2013–14	Eerste Divisie	38	30	3	1	—		4[lower-alpha 1]	4	45	35
Nottingham Forest	2014–15	Championship	11	0	1	0	2	0	—		14	0
	2015–16	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
	2016–17	Championship	1	0	0	0	2	1	—		3	1
	Total		12	0	1	0	4	1	—		17	1
PEC Zwolle (loan)	2015–16	Eredivisie	33	14	1	0	—		2[lower-alpha 2]	0	36	14
Kortrijk	2016–17	First Division A	9	1	2	0	—		0	0	11	1
Aalesund (loan)	2017	Eliteserien	16	5	3	2	—		—		19	7
Groningen	2017–18	Eredivisie	18	4	2	0	—		0	0	20	4
Sparta Rotterdam	2018–19	Eerste Divisie	36	24	1	0	—		4[lower-alpha 1]	0	41	24
	2019–20	Eredivisie	15	4	1	1	—		0	0	16	5
	Total		51	28	2	1	0	0	4	0	57	31
Career total			215	96	17	7	4	1	12	6	248	112

1. Appearances in the Eerste Divisie promotion play-offs
2. Appearances in the Eredivisie European place play-offs

International

As of matches played on 12 July 2019[21]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
South Africa	2016	1	0
	2017	0	0
	2018	0	0
	2019	6	0
Total		7	0

Honours

Individual

• Eerste Divisie top scorer: 2013–14[22]

References

1. Lars Veldwijk at WorldFootball.net
2. Geertsema, Niiwino (12 July 2017). "Wie is Lars Veldwijk, de nieuwe spits van FC Groningen?". RTV Noord (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 July 2017.
3. "Reds coach says Lars Veldwijk can be a 'real asset' for Nottingham Forest – in time". Nottingham Post. 13 June 2014. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
4. "Bolton 2–2 Nottingham Forest". BBC Sport. 16 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
5. "Huddersfield 0–2 Nott'm Forest". BBC Sport. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
6. "Lars Veldwijk: Nottingham Forest striker seals PEC Zwolle loan move". BBC Sport. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
7. Makhaya, Ernest (12 July 2017). "Bafana Bafana striker Lars Veldwijk signs for Groningen". Goal. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
8. "Millwall 1–2 Nottm Forest". BBC Sport. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
9. "[오피셜] 전북, '남아공 국대' 벨트비크 영입… 이동국과 최전방 호흡 (Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors signed with Lars Veldwijk who is 'South African international' ... He may play with Lee Dong-gook at forward.)". Sportal Korea. 15 January 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
10. Bekker, Liam (30 May 2020). "Bafana star open to PSL switch". Soccer Laduma. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
11. Bekker, Liam (8 May 2020). "SA star sidelined as football returns abroad". Kick Off. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
12. Bekker, Liam (16 May 2020). "Super-sub Veldwijk marks return in style". Kick Off. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
13. Bekker, Liam (30 May 2020). "Bafana star suffers first defeat abroad". Kick Off. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
14. Bekker, Liam (17 July 2020). "Official: Lars Veldwijk on the move again". KickOff. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
15. www.realnet.co.uk. "Lars Veldwijk cleared for Bafana's World Cup qualifier with Senegal". Kick Off. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
16. FIFA.com. "2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ - Matches - South Africa-Senegal - FIFA.com". FIFA.com. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
17. "As it happened: Mozambique v Bafana Bafana". Sport. Retrieved 19 October 2018.
18. Bekker, Liam (27 May 2020). "Veldwijk Opens Up On Bafana Bafana Future". Soccer Laduma. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
19. "Netherlands – L. Veldwijk – Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway.
20. "Lars Veldwijk – Fotmob". Fotmob.
21. Lars Veldwijk at National-Football-Teams.com
22. "Historische statistieken". KeukenKampioenDivisie.nl (in Dutch). Eerste Divisie. Retrieved 15 January 2020.

External links

• Lars Veldwijk Interview