Frenkie de Jong (born 12 May 1997) 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

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

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...

club

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

and the Netherlands national team. A versatile midfielder, he is known for his vision, passing,

dribbling In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

, technique, along with strong defensive abilities and attacking prowess. De Jong has frequently been ranked among the best midfielders in world football. De Jong began his professional career at Willem II in 2015. He transferred to

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 Gree ...

for a fee worth €1 a year later. The fee was symbolic and offset by a sell-on clause. At Ajax he established himself as one of the best young midfielders in Europe, after winning a domestic double and reaching the Champions League

semi-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. De Jong won 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 ...

and KNVB Cup, was Eredivisie player of the season, and was an instrumental part of Ajax's first

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

semi-final appearance in 22 years, in a breakthrough 2018–19 season. During his breakthrough season, De Jong agreed to sign for Barcelona in January 2019, leading him to be signed for the club in July, for a fee worth €75 million. De Jong was selected to the 2019 FIFA FIFPro World11 and was one of three Dutch players to feature in it for the first time in five years. De Jong made his senior international debut for the Netherlands in September 2018. He became a starter in the inaugural

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

, in which Netherlands finished

runners-up A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

. He also represented the side at

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

and the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Club career

Willem II

A product of Willem II, de Jong played through the entire youth system at the club. On 10 May 2015, De Jong made his

debut against ADO Den Haag, two days before his eighteenth birthday. He was substituted in the 68th minute for

Terell Ondaan Terell Ondaan (born 9 September 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for the Guyana national team. Born in the Netherlands, he represents Guyana internationally. Club career Early career Born in Amsterdam, Ondaan played in ...

in a (1–0) home win.

Ajax

At the beginning of the season, on 22 August 2015, Ajax purchased De Jong. He signed a four-year contract, for a symbolic €1 fee which included a 10% sell-on bonus. On 23 August 2015, he was loaned back to Willem II until 31 December 2015. During this time he made one substitute appearance in an Eredivisie match against

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

2016–2019: Development and first-team regular

For the first two years at Ajax, De Jong was in and out of the first team squad. After returning to the club in January 2016, de Jong made 15 appearances in the 2015—16 Eerste Divisie for

Ajax II Ajax was a champion Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, who won 18 consecutive races before he was defeated at the odds of 40/1 on, causing a huge racing sensation. He had wins from 5 furlongs (1,000 metres) to 1½ m ...

. He primarily played in the centre of a three-man midfield and scored two goals. The following year, he was awarded the 2016–17 Eerste Divisie's Talent of the season award for his performances with Ajax II for whom, he made 31 first team appearances and played as a central, and defensive, midfielder. He made his senior debut against Sparta Rotterdam coming on, in the 88th minute, for

Lasse Schöne Lasse Schöne (; born 27 May 1986) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or winger for Eredivisie club NEC and the Denmark national team. He is known for his set piece abilities. Schöne spent his entire professional ...

. In total, he made four senior appearances for Ajax, and scored one goal against Go Ahead Eagles, in the 2016—17 season. He started one game, came off the bench thrice, and was an unused substitute in 13 games. He also made his European debut and made four substitute, and three bench, appearances, in the 2016–17 Europa League. He came off the bench in the 82nd minute against Manchester United in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. It was Ajax's first European final in 21 years. Aged 20, he made 26 appearances for the first team. Primarily he featured as a center-back, in a back four, alongside national teammate

Matthijs de Ligt Matthijs de Ligt (born 12 August 1999) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team. De Ligt made his debut for Ajax's senior team in September 2016 in a cup game again ...

due to the departure of Davinson Sanchez. He also played in a three-man center-midfield. He recorded eight assists in 22 league appearances and received two yellow cards. Towards the end of the season he was injured—tendonitis, syndesmotic ligament tear, hairline crack in calf bone—and missed three months. De Jong made two substitute appearances in the 2017–18 Champions League qualification, as Ajax lost on away goals against

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

(3–3) in the third qualifying

round Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * The contour of a closed curve or surface with no sharp corners, such as an ellipse, circle, rounded rectangle, cant, or sphere * Rounding, the shortening of a number to reduce the number ...

. In the 2018–19 season, he primarily played in the middle of a three-man midfield. De Jong was the Eredivisie player of the month in December (2018) and February (2019)—in which he completed 354 of 390 passes and made 53 ball recoveries. Later that month he received praise from

Rafael Van Der Vaart Rafael Ferdinand van der Vaart (born 11 February 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, and is currently the assistant manager of Danish 2nd Division club Esbjerg fB. Van der Vaart began his c ...

, who said De Jong was among the best players in Europe with the ball at his feet. It is unclear whether during or prior to the beginning of the campaign he rejected an offer from Tottenham Hotspur, saying the "moment wasn't right," and wanted to play a full season in his preferred position at Ajax. De Jong achieved success, and widespread recognition, during the 2018–19 season and led Ajax to their first domestic double (league and cup) since the 2001–02 season. Ajax wrestled with

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 ...

all season for the league, and finished the last five weeks at the top of the

table Table may refer to: * Table (furniture), a piece of furniture with a flat surface and one or more legs * Table (landform), a flat area of land * Table (information), a data arrangement with rows and columns * Table (database), how the table data ...

. He made 51 total appearances and starred in Ajax's first leg (0–1) win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

in the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League semi-final at

Tottenham Hotspur Stadium Tottenham Hotspur Stadium is the home of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur in north London, replacing the club's previous ground, White Hart Lane. With a seating capacity of 62,850, it is the third-largest football stadium in England and the ...

—in which De Jong had the most touches by any player on the pitch (87) and an 86.2 percent pass completion rate. It was the first time Ajax made the tournament semi-final since

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

. The team eliminated Juventus (3–2 on agg.) in the

quarterfinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

and Real Madrid (5–3 on agg.) In the second leg of the semi-final, Ajax lost 2–3 at home and were knocked out on

away goals The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the team that ...

to English club Tottenham Hotspur. De Jong was selected to the 2018–19 UEFA Champions League squad of the season and voted the tournament's midfielder of the season.

Barcelona

On 23 January 2019,

club

announced the signing of de Jong on a five-year contract, effective from 1 July 2019, for an initial fee worth €75 million. De Jong had transfer discussions with

Paris Saint-Germain Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...

and Manchester City and Manchester United before ultimately opting for Barcelona. He made his competitive debut on 16 August 2019, in a 0–1 opening day defeat to Athletic Bilbao. He played a crucial role in the

2021 Copa del Rey final The 2021 Copa del Rey Final was a football match that decided the winner of the 2020–21 Copa del Rey, the 119th edition of Spain's primary football cup (including two seasons where two rival editions were played). The match was played on 17 Apri ...

, a 4–0 win over Athletic Bilbao, scoring in the 63rd minute and assisting two further goals.

International career

De Jong made eight appearances for the Netherlands under-19 team, with his debut coming against Russia on 7 July 2015. He made six appearances and scored one goal for the Netherlands at under-21 level. On 6 September 2018, de Jong replaced

Georginio Wijnaldum Georginio Gregion Emile Wijnaldum (formerly Boateng; born 11 November 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Serie A club Roma, on loan from Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, and the Netherlands national team. A ...

at half-time to make his senior international debut in a friendly (2–1) win against

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

. Fifteen minutes into his debut, he assisted a goal for

Memphis Depay Memphis Depay (; born 13 February 1994), also known simply as Memphis, is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for La Liga club Barcelona and the Netherlands national team. Memphis began his professional career with PSV Ein ...

by retrieving possession high-up the pitch and setting up the forward. He later on scored the winner, and had a 100 percent pass completion rate (21 passes) in the opposition half. He soon became a regular starter for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the

2018–19 UEFA Nations League The 2018–19 UEFA Nations League was the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, an international association football competition involving the men's national teams of the 55 member associations of UEFA. The league phase of the competiti ...

and the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers. He was included in the

and 2022 FIFA World Cup. In the latter, he scored his first goal in the competition, netting in a 2–0 against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

Style of play

Frenkie has described himself as a player "who likes to have the ball a lot, and play possession." A versatile player, De Jong can function as a

regista is a Japanese visual novel publishing company founded by Takumi Nakazawa. The company name comes from an Italian word meaning film director, control tower, producer, and game maker. The company mainly ports adult game to the consumer port PlayS ...

defensive 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 boundari ...

central 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 ...

, holding midfielder,

box-to-box 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 ...

and

centre 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 ...

. He has been lauded for his combination of defensive stability and playmaking ability. He often partnered

at centre-back, at Ajax. As a centre back, he abstained from committing fouls, showed great positional sense, and won possession frequently. In this more defensive role, his performances led to comparison with former German sweeper Franz Beckenbauer and likened his tendency to progress forward in possession, and ability to play-make, from defense to the German legend.De Jong's vision has been praised alongside his ability to

dribble In sports, dribbling is maneuvering a ball by one player while moving in a given direction, avoiding defenders' attempts to intercept the ball. A successful dribble will bring the ball past defenders legally and create opportunities to score. A ...

in narrow spaces, control over possession, and decisive passing. A natural dribbler, De Jong has the highest dribbling success of all players to participate in all competitions, during his last season with Ajax. An extraordinary game-reader, he often makes offensive runs through the middle. His other attributes include a penchant for long cross-field passes, creating space, and absorbing attacking pressure. His close control, accuracy, work rate, and movement has drawn comparisons with Andrés Iniesta and

Johan Cruyff Hendrik Johannes Cruijff (, internationally known as Johan Cruyff; 25 April 1947 – 24 March 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and manager. As a player, he won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973 and 1974. Cruyff was a ...

. At Barcelona, he has primarily played on either side of a three-man central midfield. This has led experts and former players to regard him as a player with "Barça DNA" who was "born to play for Barcelona."

Personal life

De Jong was born in

Gorinchem Gorinchem ( or ), also spelled Gorkum, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of of which is water. It had a population of in . The municipality of Gorinchem al ...

and grew up in

Arkel Arkel is a town in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. A part of the municipality of Molenlanden, it lies about 3 km north of Gorinchem. Arkel is a former municipality; in 1986 it became part of Giessenlanden. In 2017, the village o ...

, a town in the province of South Holland, where he started playing football at a young age. Since he started playing professionally, De Jong has chosen 21 on his shirt as a tribute to his grandfather who was born on 21 April. He met his fiancée Mikky Kiemeney in high school and they have been dating since 2014. The couple became engaged in July 2022.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each De Jong goal.''

Honours

Ajax *

: 2018–19 * KNVB Cup: 2018–19 *

UEFA 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. ...

runner-up: 2016–17 Barcelona *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

: 2020–21 Netherlands *

runner-up: 2018–19 Individual *

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 ...

Talent of the Season: 2016–17 *Eredivisie Player of the Month: December 2018, February 2019 *Eredivisie Player of the Season: 2018–19 *Eredivisie Team of the Season: 2018–19 *

Squad of the Season: 2018–19 * UEFA Champions League Midfielder of the Season: 2018–19 *

Johan Cruyff Trophy The title Dutch Footballer of the Year (Dutch: ''Voetballer van het Jaar'') has been awarded in the Netherlands since 1984. The award is determined by a poll of Dutch professional footballers playing in the First (Eredivisie) and Second (Eerste Divi ...

: 2018–19 *

Finals Young Player of the Tournament:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

*UEFA Nations League Finals Team of the Tournament: 2019 * FIFA FIFPro World11:

* IFFHS Men's World Team: 2019 *

UEFA Team of the Year The UEFA Fan's Team of the Year is a football award given by UEFA through a poll on its official website. This award started in 2001 and allows users of the organization's website to choose their own eleven players and a coach based on their ove ...

* Premi Barça Jugadors (Barça Players Award): 2020–21

References

External links

Profile
at the FC Barcelona website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jong, Frenkie de 1997 births Living people Footballers from Gorinchem Dutch footballers Association football midfielders Willem II (football club) players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players FC Barcelona players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players La Liga players Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Netherlands international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain