Jens Cools (born 16 October 1990) is a Belgian 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

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 boundarie ...

for Saudi Arabian club

Al-Riyadh Al-Riyadh Saudi Club () is a football team based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that is currently playing in the Saudi Second Division (third level). It was established in 1953 as Ahli Al-Riyadh, then changed to Al-Yamamah and finally to Al-Riyadh. ...

. He gained two caps for the Belgium under-21 team.

Career

Westerlo

In the 2009–10 season, Cools was promoted from the youth academy to the first team of

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 ...

, the club from the municipality where he grew up. He made his professional debut one season later. After having played for six seasons in the first team, Cools' contract expired at the end of the 2015–16 season, as a result of which he left Westerlo on a free transfer. A key player of the club during his time there, Cools managed to make 161 appearances for the club, in which he scored 12 goals.

Waasland-Beveren

On 1 July 2016, Cools moved

Waasland-Beveren Sportkring Beveren is a professional Belgian association football club located in the municipality of Beveren, East Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division B. History The club was founded in 1936 as Red Star and registered to an amate ...

after having been convinced by their manager

Stijn Vreven Stijn Vreven (born 18 July 1973) is a Belgian former professional football and a former manager of AS Trenčín in the Fortuna Liga. Career Vreven's career began when he signed a professional contract with Y.R. K.V. Mechelen, making his first fi ...

. Cools signed a two-year contract. He made 51 appearances for the club during his two seasons there, in which he scored two goals.

Pafos

After two seasons, he chose to accept an offer from Cypriot club

Pafos Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. The current city of Pap ...

. He experienced a strong season there in which he scored six goals in 25 appearances.

Eupen

After playing in Cyprus for one season, Cools expressed a wish to return to his home country. On 16 July 2019,

Eupen Eupen (, ; ; formerly ) is the capital of German-speaking Community of Belgium and is a city and municipality in the Belgian province of Liège, from the German border (Aachen), from the Dutch border (Maastricht) and from the "High Fens" na ...

announced that he had signed a three-year contract with them. In his first season there, he made 27 appearances and scored one goal. In October 2020, he tested positive for

SARS‑CoV‑2 Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2) is a strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019), the respiratory illness responsible for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The virus previously had a p ...

during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Despite being sidelined for some time with the disease, Cools made 26 appearances and scored one goal during the 2020–21 season, as Eupen finished mid-table in a disappointing 12th place.

Al-Riyadh

On 26 July 2022, Cools joined Saudi Arabian club

International career

Cools was called into the Belgian under-21 squad in March 2011. He made his debut for the Belgium under-21s on 24 March, replacing

Luis Pedro Cavanda Luis Pedro Cavanda (born 2 January 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who last played as a right-back for Swiss club Neuchâtel Xamax. Born in Angola, Cavanda represents Belgian internationally. He also holds Congolese citizenship. Car ...

in the 82nd minute of a 1–0 win against

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cools, Jens 1990 births Living people People from Westerlo Association football midfielders Belgian footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgian expatriate footballers K.V.C. Westerlo players S.K. Beveren players Pafos FC players K.A.S. Eupen players Al-Riyadh SC players Belgian First Division A players Belgian First Division B players Serbian First League players Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Saudi Arabia Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Footballers from Antwerp Province