Branco van den Boomen (born 21 July 1995) is a 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 plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

club

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

Club career

Ajax

Born in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Oerle Oerle is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant. It is located in the municipality of Veldhoven, about 7 km west of Eindhoven. The village was first mentioned in 1249 Oerle, and is a combination of "open forest" and "sand". Oerle ...

, before moving to nearby Willem II/

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

in 2004. He then joined the famed

Ajax Youth Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

signing his first professional contract, a three-year deal with

on 4 March 2011. Van den Boomen began the 2013–14 season playing for Ajax A1, the under-19 team, playing in the Nike A-Juniors Eredivisie. He also competed in three matches in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

while scoring once against AC Milan U19, which earned him a berth with the club's reserves squad

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

competing in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

, the 2nd tier of professional football in the Netherlands. He made his debut for Jong Ajax on 11 November 2013 in a match against

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

, coming on as a substitute in the 63rd minute for Wang Chengkuai who also made his debut in the same match. The match ended in a 2–1 loss at home for Jong Ajax. Van den Boomen scored his first professional goal in an away match against SC Telstar, scoring in the 3rd minute of the 3–1 loss. In January 2014 it was announced that van den Boomen had officially been promoted to the Jong Ajax squad, and would not return to the club's youth ranks.

FC Eindhoven

On 19 June 2014, it was announced that van den Boomen had signed with

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one bei ...

as a free transfer, returning to his city of birth, signing a three-year contract with the club. He made his first appearance for his new club on 15 August 2014 in a 3–0 home win against

FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch football club based in Emmen, Drenthe. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie title. Founded in 1925, the club entered the professional Eerste Divisie in 1985. I ...

Toulouse

On 7 August 2020, van den Boomen left the Netherlands for the first time in his career and joined French club

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, who had been relegated to

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

after finishing 20th during the

2019–20 Ligue 1 The 2019–20 Ligue 1 season, also known as Ligue 1 Conforama for sponsorship reasons, was a French association football tournament within Ligue 1. It was the 82nd season since its establishment. The season began on 9 August 2019 and ended abruptl ...

season. Toulouse agreed to a €350,000 transfer fee with

. Van den Boomen became the second Dutch player to join Toulouse after

Rob Rensenbrink Rob Rensenbrink (; 3 July 1947 – 24 January 2020) was a Dutch footballer and member of the Netherlands national team that reached two World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978. A creative and prolific left winger or forward, he became a legend in Be ...

. In the 2020–21 season, van den Boomen became one of the key players of the Toulouse midfield also composed of

Stijn Spierings Stijn Spierings (born 12 March 1996) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Toulouse, on loan from Lens. Club career Born in Alkmaar, Spierings began his youth career and professional career with his ...

and Brecht Dejaegere, scoring five goals and making seven assists. The 2021–22 season saw van den Boomen massively improve his numbers, scoring twelve goals and assisting a league-record twenty-one.

Return to Ajax

On 29 May 2023, van den Boomen signed a pre-contract agreement with

club Ajax, where he spent three years in his early career. He signed a four-year deal running from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2027.

Career statistics

Honours

Toulouse *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

: 2021–22 Individual * UNFP Ligue 2 Team of the Year: 2021–22 *

top assist provider: 2017–18 * Ligue 2 Player of the Year: 2021–22 *

top assist provider: 2021–22

References

External links

Netherlands stats
at OnsOranje * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Boomen, Branco van den 1995 births Living people People from Veldhoven Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players Jong Ajax players FC Eindhoven players SC Heerenveen players Willem II (football club) players De Graafschap players Toulouse FC players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France Footballers from North Brabant