Arnold Kruiswijk (; born 2 November 1984) is a former 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 le ...

who played as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Born in

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

, Kruiswijk started his career at local side

. In the 10 September 2006 match against

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to th ...

, Kruiswijk scored the fastest own goal ever in the Eredivisie, misplacing a back pass to the keeper that ended up in the goal after 9 seconds. After the 2007–08 season, Kruiswijk moved to the Belgian club

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

. In January 2010, Kruiswijk went on loan to Dutch side

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

until the end of the season. On 21 May 2010 he signed a four-year contract for

SC Heerenveen Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands. History Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...

, where he was reunited with his former

-coach

Ron Jans Ron Jans (, born 29 September 1958) is a Dutch football coach and former player, he currently is the head coach of Twente. Coaching career FC Groningen Born in Zwolle, Overijssel, Ron Jans joined FC Groningen on 2002, and was the longest-serv ...

. In 2014, he moved to Vitesse. On 1 July 2014, preceding his release from Heerenveen, Kruiswijk joined fellow Eredivisie side Vitesse. Kruiswijk entered the Dutch history books for a second time on 29 January 2017, when he played 25,128 minutes without scoring a goal for his club thus surpassing the record held by

John Veldman John Fitzgerald Veldman (born 24 February 1968) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a defender. Veldman spent his entire career in the Eredivisie, playing 297 matches from 1986 to 2001. He began his professional career at PSV Eindhoven, ...

. Soon after, on 10 March 2017 in an Eredivisie home fixture against

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

, he scored his first goal in 362 career appearances. He played as Vitesse won the final of the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

2–0 against

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and ho ...

on 30 April 2017 to help the club, 3-time runners up, to the title for the first time in its 125-year history. He retired in March 2019 due to injury.

International career

In 2006, Kruiswijk was part of the Netherlands U21 squad that won the

2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. A year later at the

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. Summary For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Nethe ...

held in the Netherlands he was again part of the squad that successfully defended their title and that qualified for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

by reaching the semi-finals at the tournament.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Vitesse *

: 2016–17

References

External links

* *
Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje 1984 births Living people Footballers from Groningen (city) Men's association football defenders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers FC Groningen players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Roda JC Kerkrade players SC Heerenveen players SBV Vitesse players Eredivisie players Belgian Pro League players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub