Istvan Bakx (born 20 January 1986) 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 le ...

. He was a left-footed winger, and could also be used as a striker.

Club career

Bakx was discovered by

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 ...

in 2005, while he was playing for

VV Kloetinge VV Kloetinge is a football club from Kloetinge, Netherlands. History The club was founded in 1931 under the name Unitas. The name was changed to Kloetinge in 1952. Some years later, the club colours were changed from blue and black to green and ...

in the

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie, formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league is divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This is a result of ...

, the highest Dutch amateur league. At the end of the season, Sparta offered Bakx a new contract. But Bakx refused to sign, opting to focus on his school career, and went to

HSV Hoek Hoekse Sportvereniging Hoek, known as HSV Hoek, is a football club based in Hoek, Zeeland, Netherlands, that competes in the Derde Divisie. History The club was founded in 1950. Indian football legend Syed Abdul Rahim has appeared with the clu ...

, another team playing in the Hoofdklasse. Bakx was chosen as ''Player of the Year'' at the end of his season in Hoek. In July 2007, Bakx went to

Belgian second division The Belgian Second Division (known as the Proximus League for sponsorship reasons) was the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian Pro League. It was founded by the Royal Belgian Football Associa ...

side

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 2009 ...

. He promoted with Kortrijk to the highest level of Belgian football. When his manager and discoverer

Hein Vanhaezebrouck Hein Vanhaezebrouck (; born 16 February 1964) is a Belgian football manager who is currently leading K.A.A. Gent, K.A.A. Gent in the Belgian First Division A. He has a reputation of favouring an offensive style of play. Early life Vanhaezebrouc ...

signed for RC Genk after the 2008-09 season, he took Bakx with him.

The Google Striker

Bakx gained some notability in Belgium with his transfer to Kortrijk. Manager Hein Vanhaezebrouck was searching for a left-footed attacker and had typed in those words at search engine

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

. Search results showed a positive report on Bakx, and Vanhaezebrouck contacted Kortrijk's head scout. As these scouting reports were also positive, Bakx' transfer to Kortrijk became a fact. As a result, Belgian media nicknamed Bakx ''the Google striker''. Bakx impressed in Belgium as part of the KV Kortrijk side that chalked up a shock 5-1

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 ...

victory against

AA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

, in which Bakx scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

. Sadly for Bakx and Kortrijk, Gent won the return 4-0, defeating Kortrijk on aggregate.

South Africa

On 26 July 2019,

SV Spakenburg SV Spakenburg is a Dutch football club based in Bunschoten. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Tweede Divisie. It shares a football rivalry with IJsselmeervogels that is also from Bunschoten-Spakenburg. History The club was fo ...

announced that Bakx had joined the club. But however, one month later, he left the club again to join South African club

Ajax Cape Town Cape Town Spurs F.C. (formerly known as Ajax Cape Town) is a South African professional football club based in Parow in the city of Cape Town that plays in the National First Division. Dutch Eredivisie club AFC Ajax was their parent club and m ...

Return to Hoek

In September 2020, Bakx returned to

after leaving the club 13 years earlier.

International career

On 13 March 2008, Bakx was taken up into the pre-selection for Netherlands national under-21 for the 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 ...

References

External links

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Footgoal Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakx, Istvan 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Vlissingen Dutch footballers Association football wingers Association football forwards Sparta Rotterdam players HSV Hoek players K.V. Kortrijk players K.R.C. Genk players FC Den Bosch players Willem II (football club) players AGOVV Apeldoorn players TOP Oss players Go Ahead Eagles players SV Spakenburg players Cape Town Spurs F.C. players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players South African Premier Division players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Dutch expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Netherlands under-21 international footballers VV Kloetinge players Footballers from Zeeland