Lars Veldwijk

Lars Veldwijk (born 21 August 1991) is a professional soccer player who plays as a striker. Born in the Netherlands, he represents the South Africa national team. He is currently a free agent.

Lars Veldwijk
Veldwijk with Nottingham Forest
Personal information
Full name Lars Veldwijk
Date of birth (1991-08-21) 21 August 1991
Place of birth Uithoorn, Netherlands
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Striker
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)
2020–2023 Suwon FC 110 (40)
International career‡
2016– South Africa 7 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23 April 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 12:54, 16 May 2023 (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.[1]

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.[2] 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.[3] 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.[4]

Loan to PEC Zwolle

Veldwijk went on loan to PEC Zwolle for the 2015–16 season, during which time he scored 14 goals in 33 league appearances.[5][6] 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.[7]

KV Kortrijk

In the middle of 2016, Veldwijk joined Belgian side KV Kortrijk and only made 9 appearances and scored just 1 goal for the club, he would go on loan to Aalesund in Norway.

Loan to Aalesund

In 2017,Veldwijk joined Norwegian club Aalesund on a season long loan during the January transfer window with an option to buy, he would go on to impress in the Eliteserien by being involved in 8 goals in 16 appearances.

FC Groningen

Veldwijk joined Dutch side FC Groningen from Kortrijk and started well in his first season back in Dutch football since 2016 but got into trouble when he refused to come on as a late substitute in an Eredivisie league match against ADO Den Haag which led to the club and the player parting ways.

Sparta Rotterdam

On January 2018, despite interest from clubs in the Eredivisie, as well from foreign clubs like reigning Scottish Premiership champions Celtic F.C, clubs in Russia, Belgium and Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia Veldwijk signed for then Eerste Divisie side Sparta Rotterdam as a Free Agent and in his first season with the club he almost single handedly promoted them back into the Eredivisie for the following season while being involved in 27 goals,scoring 24 goals and providing 3 assists, his highest goal contribution to date, it attracted top Dutch clubs and even won him a return to the national team after 2 years away from Bafana Bafana

Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

On 15 January 2020, having previously been in negotiations with an unnamed club in South Africa,as well as Eredivisie sides also showing interest in him. Veldwijk signed for South Korea's reigning K League 1 champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors.[8][9] 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.[10][11][12]

Suwon FC

On 17 July 2020, Veldwijk dropped down a division to join K League 2 side Suwon FC on a permanent deal. He signed with Suwon FC for a contract that runs out until 31 December 2022.[13]

During the 2021 K League 1 he managed to score 18 goals in 32 appearances and having 6 assists.

On 30 September 2023, Suwon FC terminated contract with Veldwijk after being arrested by the police and having his driver's license revoked when he was driving drunk in South Korea.[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 match played on 14 May 2023[19][20][21]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
FC Volendam 2010–11 Eerste Divisie 2000———20
Utrecht 2011–12 Eredivisie 5000———50
2012–13 Eredivisie 0000———00
Total 500000000000
Dordrecht (loan) 2012–13 Eerste Divisie 311433——2[lower-alpha 1]23619
Excelsior 2013–14 Eerste Divisie 383031——4[lower-alpha 1]44535
Nottingham Forest 2014–15 Championship 1101020——140
2015–16 Championship 000000——00
2016–17 Championship 100021——31
Total 12010410000171
PEC Zwolle (loan) 2015–16 Eredivisie 331410——2[lower-alpha 2]03614
Kortrijk 2016–17 First Division A 9120——00111
Aalesund (loan) 2017 Eliteserien 16532———197
Groningen 2017–18 Eredivisie 18420——00204
Sparta Rotterdam 2018–19 Eerste Divisie 362410——4[lower-alpha 1]04124
2019–20 Eredivisie 15411——00165
Total 5128210000405729
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors 2020 K League 1 10100—1[lower-alpha 3]0—111
Suwon FC 2020 K League 2 175———1[lower-alpha 4]0185
2021 K League 1 371800———3718
2022 34800———348
2023 229229
Total 110400000001011140
Career total 3351371774110136370165
  1. Appearances in the Eerste Divisie promotion play-offs
  2. Appearances in the Eredivisie European place play-offs
  3. Appearances in the AFC Champions League
  4. Appearances in the K League 2 promotion play-offs

International
As of matches played on 12 July 2019[22]
National teamYearAppsGoals
South Africa 201610
201700
201800
201960
Total70

Honours

Individual

References
  1. Geertsema, Niiwino (12 July 2017). "Wie is Lars Veldwijk, de nieuwe spits van FC Groningen?". RTV Noord (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  2. "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.
  3. "Bolton 2–2 Nottingham Forest". BBC Sport. 16 August 2014. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  4. "Huddersfield 0–2 Nott'm Forest". BBC Sport. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  5. "Lars Veldwijk: Nottingham Forest striker seals PEC Zwolle loan move". BBC Sport. 30 June 2015. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  6. Makhaya, Ernest (12 July 2017). "Bafana Bafana striker Lars Veldwijk signs for Groningen". Goal. Retrieved 13 July 2017.
  7. "Millwall 1–2 Nottm Forest". BBC Sport. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  8. "[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.
  9. Bekker, Liam (30 May 2020). "Bafana star open to PSL switch". Soccer Laduma. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  10. Bekker, Liam (8 May 2020). "SA star sidelined as football returns abroad". Kick Off. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  11. Bekker, Liam (16 May 2020). "Super-sub Veldwijk marks return in style". Kick Off. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  12. Bekker, Liam (30 May 2020). "Bafana star suffers first defeat abroad". Kick Off. Retrieved 2 June 2020.
  13. Bekker, Liam (17 July 2020). "Official: Lars Veldwijk on the move again". KickOff. Retrieved 20 July 2020.
  14. Kim, Hee-jun (27 September 2023). "Official: [공식발표] 수원FC, '음주운전' 라스와 계약 해지". Footballist. Retrieved 30 September 2023.
  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. Archived from the original on 19 August 2016. 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. Lars Veldwijk at WorldFootball.net
  20. "Netherlands – L. Veldwijk – Profile with news, career statistics and history". Soccerway.
  21. "Lars Veldwijk – Fotmob". Fotmob.
  22. Lars Veldwijk at National-Football-Teams.com
  23. "Historische statistieken". KeukenKampioenDivisie.nl (in Dutch). Eerste Divisie. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  24. "[Goal Live] 주민규·홍정호 등 K리그1 베스트11 선정…울산 4명으로 최다".
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