Calvin Stengs (; born 18 December 1998) 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 ...

who plays as a winger for

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, on loan from

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

club

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

, and the Netherlands national team. A product of the AZ academy, Stengs broke into the first team during the 2017–18 season. He signed for Nice in France in 2021. At international level, Stengs represents the Netherlands, having made his debut for the senior team in November 2019.

Club career

AZ

Born in

Nieuw-Vennep Nieuw-Vennep is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It's located near the capital city Amsterdam as well as Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. It has a population of 31,415 (2021), and is a part of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, which ran ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

, Stengs joined AZ's youth academy at the age of 12, having formerly played for local side SV DIOS and HFC Haarlem. He was promoted to the AZ reserves for the 2016–17 season playing in the third division. He made his professional debut for the first team on 14 December 2016, starting as a

right winger 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 ...

in a

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 ...

match against lower league

ASWH ASWH, short for Altijd Sterker Worden Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, is an association football club from Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, Netherlands. The club was founded in 1929. The club won section championships in 1949, 1959, 1961, 1970, 1883, 1999, 2001, 2002, ...

, which his team won 2–0. That season, he made 22 league appearances for Jong AZ, scoring six goals and making eight assists. His strong performances for the reserves were noticed by first team head coach

John van den Brom Joseph Anthonius ''John ''van den Brom (born 4 October 1966) is a Dutch former professional footballer and the current manager of Ekstraklasa side Lech Poznań. As a player, he played for Vitesse, Ajax, De Graafschap and Istanbulspor. After h ...

, and on 5 March 2017, Stengs made his league debut for AZ in a 1–1 home draw against

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

in the

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 ...

. Stengs was promoted to the AZ first team ahead of the 2017–18 season, and he made his first start for the club on 12 August in a 3–2 away loss against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, w ...

. In the seventh minute of the match he twisted his knee and tore his anterior cruciate ligament, cutting his first professional season short. Stengs returned to first team action in November 2018 and reconquered his position in the AZ starting eleven, 15 months after his injury. On 16 January 2019, he scored his first goal for AZ in a 3–0 home win over FC Utrecht. Stengs ended the 2018–19 season with three goals and four assists in 21 appearances. On 25 July 2019, Stengs made his debut in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

in a 0–0 home draw against Allsvenskan club

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

. He made his first European goal in the return match in Sweden, netting in the 56th minute as AZ won 3–0 and advanced in the competition. He continued as a starter under head coaches

Arne Slot Arend Martijn Slot (; born 17 September 1978) is a Dutch professional Association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of Feyenoord. Playing career Slot played as midfielder for PEC Zwolle, NAC Breda and Sparta Rotter ...

and Pascal Jansen.

Nice

On 14 July 2021, Stengs signed for

club

on a five-year contract for a

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

fee reported to be €10 million plus bonuses. On 28 August 2021, he made his debut for the club in a 4–0 league win over

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

. He came on as a 36th-minute substitute for injured compatriot

Justin Kluivert Justin Dean Kluivert (born 5 May 1999) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Midfielder#Winger, winger for La Liga club Valencia CF, Valencia, on loan from Serie A club A.S. Roma, Roma. He also represents the Net ...

. On 25 September, he scored his first goal in a 3–0 win over bottom of the league Saint-Étienne.

Loan to Antwerp

On 30 August 2022, Stengs joined

club

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 4 September, starting in a 3–0 league victory over

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. The ...

. In his following appearance, a 2–1 home win against

Seraing Seraing (; wa, Serè) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium. The municipality consists of the following districts: Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, Ougrée, and Seraing. With Liège, Herstal, Sai ...

on 16 September, he recorded his first assist as his corner-kick was headed in by

Toby Alderweireld Toby Albertine Maurits Alderweireld (; born 2 March 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for Belgian Pro League club Royal Antwerp. Alderweireld began his professional career at Dutch club Ajax, whe ...

. He scored his first goal for Antwerp on 10 November, contributing to a 2–2 draw in the

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

against

Beveren Beveren () is a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders which comprises the towns of Beveren, Doel, Haasdonk, Kallo, Kieldrecht, Melsele, Verrebroek and Vrasene. The port of the Waasland (Dutch: ''Waaslandhaven'') is in Beveren ...

, which Antwerp would go on to win after a penalty-shootout. His first league goal came on 27 December in a 3–3 away draw against

, completing a comeback in the 88th minute. On 29 January 2023, Stengs was sent off for the second time in his professional career in a league game against Anderlecht after a punching motion towards Amadou Diawara. On 30 April 2023, Stengs won the

with Antwerp. Just over a month later, on 4 June, he won the league title with the club on the final match-day after a dramatic 2–2 draw against

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

, handing Antwerp their first league title in 66 years. Stengs was suspended for the game.

International career

Born in the Netherlands, Stengs is of Surinamese descent. Stengs made his international debut for the Netherlands under-21 team on 24 March 2019 in a friendly against the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. On 19 November 2019, Stengs made his debut for the Netherlands national team in the

UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2019 to November 2020 to determine the 24 UEFA member men's national teams that advanced to the UEFA Euro 2020 final tournament, played across Europ ...

match against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

, giving two assists in a 5–0 victory.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Nice *

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 ...

runner-up: 2021–22 Antwerp *

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 ...

: 2022–23 Belgian Cup, 2022–23

References

External links

*
Calvin Stengs
at

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but le ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stengs, Calvin 1998 births Living people Footballers from North Holland Men's association football midfielders Dutch footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Tweede Divisie players Ligue 1 players Belgian Pro League players AZ Alkmaar players Jong AZ players OGC Nice players Royal Antwerp F.C. players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium