Stijn De Smet

Stijn De Smet (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstɛi̯n də ˈsmɛt], born 27 March 1985) is a Belgian retired professional football player.

Stijn De Smet
Personal information
Full name Stijn Camiel De Smet
Date of birth (1985-03-27) 27 March 1985
Place of birth Bruges, Belgium
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Attacking Midfielder
Forward
Youth career
KSV Jabbeke
Cercle Brugge
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2009 Cercle Brugge 151 (30)
2009–2013 Gent 43 (7)
2011–2012 → Westerlo (loan) 18 (0)
2012–2013 → Waasland-Beveren (loan) 13 (4)
2013–2018 Kortrijk 54 (17)
2018–2019 Roeselare 23 (1)
2019–2020 SKV Zwevezele
National team
2004 Belgium U19 3 (0)
2004–2008 Belgium U21 18 (3)
2008 Belgium 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

De Smet usually plays as an attacking midfielder or forward. He was discovered by Cercle Brugge (as well as their rivals Club Brugge) at the age of 12 while playing for his local team, KSV Jabbeke.

De Smet's big breakthrough came in the 2004–05 season, being in the starting line-up 19 times. The season before, De Smet had only appeared in six matches in total. He played for Cercle Brugge, where he was regarded as the most promising youth prospect and the best youth player at the team since Thomas Buffel. In December 2006, Stijn De Smet was invited for a trial at Blackburn Rovers, the partner team of Cercle. Sadly for De Smet, a knee injury caught in the match at Anderlecht forced him to stay in Belgium. On 17 July 2009 the 24-year-old forward left Cercle Brugge to sign a five-year deal for Gent. With this team, he won the Belgian Cup in 2010.

On 25 July 2011, De Smet signed a season-long loan deal with Westerlo.

At the end of the 2018/19 season it was announced, that De Smet was done with professional football and would continue his career with amateur club SKV Zwevezele.[1] De Smet announced his retirement in December 2019.[2]

International

Since the 2004–05 season, De Smet is being selected for the matches of the Belgian national under-21 team. He was also part of the squad that qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

De Smet was selected for Belgium for the first time for an unofficial friendly against Standard Liège, as a replacement for the injured Thomas Chatelle. De Smet played the last 10 minutes of the match. He was selected again for the friendly against Morocco, and was part of the starting XI.

Honours
Gent

References
  1. Stijn De Smet kapt met profvoetbal en trekt naar KSKV Zwevezele, kw.be, 1 May 2019
  2. STIJN DE SMET STOPT MET VOETBALLEN, kvk.be, 9 December 2020

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