Donny de Groot (born 16 August 1979) is a Dutch former 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 played as a striker.

Club career

Early career

De Groot started his football career with amateur side UNIO in

Oudewater Oudewater () is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands. History The origin of the town of Oudewater is obscure and no information has been found concerning the first settlement of citizens. It is also difficult to recover the name of Oud ...

, near his native town Gouda. As a youth player, he moved to FC Utrecht, where he made his debut for the main squad on 27 February 2000, in the home game against AZ. During the next two and a half years in Utrecht, De Groot played only five matches for the main squad. During the 2001–02 season, De Groot moved to FC Volendam, where he scored 9 goals in 15 matches. De Groot moved to FC Emmen for the next season. His 30 goals in 31 matches made him top scorer of the 2002–03 Eerste Divisie.

Success and career abroad

He returned to FC Utrecht for the

2003–04 Eredivisie The 2003–04 season of the Dutch Eredivisie began in August 2003 and ended in May 2004. The title was won by Ajax. League standings Results Promotion/relegation play-offs Top scorers See also * 2003–04 Eerste Divisie * 2003 ...

season; he played 23 matches, scoring 5 goals. At the end of the season, De Groot moved to

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

, and during the

2005–06 Eredivisie The 2005–06 season of the Eredivisie began in August 2005 and ended in May 2006. PSV Eindhoven became champion on April 9, 2006. The season was overshadowed by the death of FC Utrecht player David di Tommaso. Promoted teams These teams were p ...

season, he went to Eerste Divisie side De Graafschap. At the end of the season, De Groot moved abroad, signing a two-year deal with

AEK Larnaca AEK Larnaca FC ( el, AEK; for short Αθλητική Έvωση Κίτιον Λάρνακας , translit=''Athletiki Enosi Kition Larnakas'', "Athletic Union Kition of Larnaca") is a Cypriot professional football club based in Larnaca. The club ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...

. De Groot played for the Cypriot side for only one season, and returned to De Graafschap for the

2007–08 Eredivisie The 2007–08 Eredivisie was the 52nd season of the Eredivisie, the top division of association football in the Netherlands. The season began in August 2007 and ended on 18 May 2008, with defending champions PSV retaining their title with 72 poi ...

season. On 30 January 2009, he went to

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

on a free transfer. On 10 March 2009, he made his debut for Newcastle in their 2–0 loss in the AFC Champions League to

Beijing Guoan Beijing Guoan Football Club () is a professional football club that currently participates in the Chinese Super League under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team is based in the Chaoyang District in Beijing and their hom ...

. De Groot fell out of favour under new manager

Branko Čulina Branko Culina (; born 1 October 1957 in Zadar, Socialist Republic of Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a football (soccer) coach and former player. He previously managed Sydney FC and the Newcastle Jets in the A-League. Club career Culina was born i ...

and was given permission to negotiate with other clubs.

Return home

Therefore, he went to back to his home country where he signed with Go Ahead Eagles on a free transfer in January 2010. He immediately made an impact, scoring two goals as a

jet lag Jet lag is a physiological condition that results from alterations to the body's circadian rhythms caused by rapid long-distance trans-meridian (east–west or west–east) travel. For example, someone flying from New York to London, i.e. from ...

ged second-half substitute in a Dutch Cup quarter finals away win over Eredivisie side NAC Breda. He had only finished his long journey from Australia less than 24 hours earlier. In June 2011 it was reported that he would sign a contract at

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

ian side

Willem II Tilburg Willem II (), also known as Willem II Tilburg, is a Dutch football club based in Tilburg, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. The club ...

Honours

Club

FC Utrecht * KNVB Cup: 2003–04 RKC Waalwijk: *

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 t ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Individual

Player of the Year: 2002–03 *

Top scorer: 2002–03

References

External links

Newcastle Jets profile

Donny de Groot Interview

Donny on the spot: Jets sense Dutch of class in de Groot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Groot, Donny De 1979 births Living people Footballers from Gouda, South Holland Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers De Graafschap players RBC Roosendaal players FC Volendam players FC Utrecht players FC Emmen players RKC Waalwijk players Go Ahead Eagles players AEK Larnaca FC players Newcastle Jets FC players Willem II (football club) players Sint-Truidense V.V. players FC Eindhoven players Fortuna Sittard players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Cypriot First Division players A-League Men players Challenger Pro League players Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's soccer players in Australia Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Australia Men's association football forwards