Leander Dendoncker (born 15 April 1995) 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 either a defender or

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

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

and the Belgium national team. He joined Anderlecht in 2009 and made his professional debut in July 2013, going on to play 171 games for the club and score 11 goals. He won two

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

s and a

Belgian First Division A 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 ...

title. In 2018, he signed for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on loan before transferring for €15 million. He made 159 appearances and scored 12 goals, then moved to fellow

team Aston Villa for an undisclosed fee. Dendoncker made his senior international debut for Belgium in June 2015 and was part of their squad that finished third at the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, also featuring 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 World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

Club career

Anderlecht

Dendoncker transferred from

K.S.V. Roeselare Koninklijke Sport Vereniging Roeselare, abbreviated to KSV Roeselare (),''V.'' in isolation: ., also known in French as KSV Roulers, was a Belgian football club from the city of Roeselare in West Flanders. Its matricule was 134. It last played ...

R.S.C. Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer , ...

in 2009, choosing that club ahead of

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

and

K.R.C. Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four cham ...

. After performances for the youth team in the

NextGen Series The NextGen Series was a European football club cup competition for under-19 footballers. It was designed to provide players with the opportunity to match themselves against other elite European footballers of their agegroup in a competitive envi ...

and a training camp in Turkey, he was incorporated into the first team in January 2013. He models his game on that of the Spanish midfielder

Sergio Busquets Sergio Busquets Burgos (, ; born 16 July 1988) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Barcelona, where he is captain. He is considered to be a deep-lying playmaker capable of directing gameplay ...

. He made his professional debut on 21 July in the

2013 Belgian Super Cup The 2013 Belgian Super Cup was a football match that was played on 21 July 2013, between 2012–13 Belgian Pro League winners Anderlecht and 2012–13 Belgian Cup winners Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian provi ...

, replacing

Dennis Praet Dennis Praet (born 14 May 1994) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for Premier League club Leicester City, and the Belgium national team. Early life Praet was born in Leuven, Flemish Brabant. Club career You ...

for the final nine minutes of the 1–0 win over Genk at the

Constant Vanden Stock Stadium The Constant Vanden Stock Stadium (french: Stade Constant Vanden Stock, nl, Constant Vanden Stockstadion), also known as the Lotto Park for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in the municipality of Anderlecht in Brussels, Belgium. It is ...

. On 26 September, he extended his contract until 2016. However, it was not until 1 August 2014 that he debuted in the

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 ...

, on the first day of the season away to

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, an ...

. After scoring his first professional goal on 18 January 2015 in a 3–0 win at

Lierse S.K. Koninklijke Lierse Sportkring (), often simply known as Lierse, was a Belgian professional football club from the city of Lier in the Antwerp province. Lierse have won four championship titles and two Belgian Cups. Lierse was one of the six Be ...

, Dendoncker was praised by former Anderlecht player

Paul Van Himst Paul Van Himst (born 2 October 1943) is a Belgian former football player and a football manager who played as a forward, most notably for R.S.C. Anderlecht. Career Van Himst was nicknamed ''Polle Gazon'' (''Polle'' is Paul in Brussels dialect, ...

, who said that there was no better player at his position in the club. He played six matches in the

2014–15 Belgian Cup The 2014–15 Belgian Cup is the 60th season of Belgian's annual football cup competition. The competition began on 26 July 2014 and ended with the final on 22 March 2015. The winners of the competition will qualify for the 2015–16 UEFA Europa L ...

, which his team lost 2–1 in the final to Brugge. Anderlecht won the

2016–17 Belgian First Division A The 2016–17 season of the Belgian First Division A was the 114th season of top-tier football in Belgium and the first following the structural changes in the Belgian football pyramid, reducing the number of professional teams to 24. It began o ...

. Dendoncker scored five goals along the way, including two on 18 December in a 4–0 home win over

K.A.S. Eupen K.A.S. Eupen (short for Königliche Allgemeine Sportvereinigung Eupen, English: ''Royal General Sports Association Eupen'', simply referred to as Eupen) is a Belgian professional association football club located in Eupen, Province of Liège, whi ...

. He also played all 16 games in their European campaign that season, which ended with elimination by eventual winners

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the quarter-finals of the

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. It ...

. In the first leg of that tie on 13 April 2017, he scored a late equaliser in a 1–1 draw.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 9 August 2018, Dendoncker moved to newly promoted English

club

on an initial season-long loan with an obligation on Wolves to make the player a permanent Wolves signing in summer 2019. He made his debut on 28 August in the second round of the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

away to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

(2–0 victory), with coach

Nuno Espírito Santo Nuno Herlander Simões Espírito Santo (born 25 January 1974), often referred to as simply Nuno, is a Portuguese football manager and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the manager of Saudi Professional League club Al- ...

making nine changes from the previous game. In late September,

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

rejected the obligatory purchase clause in Dendoncker's Wolves contract and made his deal permanent for €15 million. He finally made a league appearance on 5 December in a 2–1 win against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, playing the final nine minutes in place of goalscorer

Raúl Jiménez Raúl Alonso Jiménez Rodríguez (; born 5 May 1991) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a forward for club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Mexico national team. Jiménez began his career in Club América's youth system before ...

, and scored his first Premier League goal on his sixth appearance in the competition, in a 1–3 win at Everton on 2 February 2019. Dendoncker committed a foul in the Wolves penalty area with just 180 seconds remaining of their April 2019

FA Cup semi-final The FA Cup semi-finals are played to determine which teams will contest the FA Cup Final. They are the penultimate phase of the FA Cup, the oldest football tournament in the world. Location The semi-finals have always been contested at neutr ...

with

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

while leading 2–1, thereby conceded the penalty that enabled the opponents to draw the game and then win in extra time. On 4 May he scored the only goal of a home win over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, which enabled Wolves to make the Europa League as a result of Watford losing the cup final. Dendoncker became a permanent Wolves signing on 1 July 2019, his original loan agreement having included an obligation on the club to sign him permanently at the end of the original season-long loan period. Following the introduction of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) by the Premier League for the 2019–20 season, he was the first Wolves player to have a 'goal' ruled out using VAR in a league match during Wolves' opening fixture away to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on 11 August. On 14 December 2020, it was announced by Wolverhampton Wanderers that Dendoncker had extended his contract with the club until 2023, with an option of a further twelve months available to the club. He made his 100th competitive appearance for the club in an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

4th Round tie away to non-league

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came pr ...

the following 22 January, a game Wolves won 1–0. He scored his first goal of the 2020–21 season at home to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

in a 3–2 loss on 5 April 2021. He scored his first goal in the 2021–22 Premier League season in 2–0 win away to

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

on 13 February 2022.

Aston Villa

On 1 September 2022, Dendoncker moved to fellow

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

-based Premier League club

for an undisclosed fee. Dendoncker made his Aston Villa debut on 16 September 2022, as a substitute in a 1–0 home victory over

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

International career

Dendoncker was first called up for the

Belgium national football team The Belgium national football teamfrench: Équipe nationale belge de footballgerman: Belgische Fußballnationalmannschaft officially represents Belgium in men's international football since their maiden match in 1904. The squad is under the ...

on 22 May 2015 by manager

Marc Wilmots Marc Robert Wilmots (born 22 February 1969) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who recently managed the Iran national team and is now active at Raja CA. During his club career as attacking midfielder, he won trophies w ...

, along with his Anderlecht teammate

Youri Tielemans Youri Marion A. Tielemans (born 7 May 1997) is a Belgian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for club Leicester City F.C., Leicester City and the Belgium national football team, Belgium national team. Tielema ...

. He made his debut on 7 June in a friendly game away to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, replacing

Jason Denayer Jason Grégory Marianne Denayer (born 28 June 1995) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Emirati club Shabab Al-Ahli and the Belgium national team. He made his professional debut while on loan at Celtic, being na ...

for the final five minutes of a 4–3 win. On 4 June 2018, manager

Roberto Martínez Roberto Martínez Montoliu (born 13 July 1973) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, currently as head coach of the Portugal national team. Martínez played as a defensive midfielder and began his career at Real Zaragoza ...

named Dendoncker in Belgium's 23-man squad for the

in Russia. He made his tournament debut on 29 June in a 1–0 win over England at the

Kaliningrad Stadium Kaliningrad Stadium (russian: Стадион Калининград, ''Stadion Kaliningrad''), also called Arena Baltika, is a football stadium on Oktyabrsky Island, Kaliningrad, Russia, which hosted four games of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It w ...

, with both teams fielding unfamiliar teams having already advanced to the last 16. Dendoncker was called up by Martínez for

in May 2021. After starting the first two games, he was replaced for the rest of the tournament for the quarter-finalists once

Axel Witsel Axel Laurent Angel Lambert Witsel (born 12 January 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Belgian national team. Witsel broke into Belgium's first team as a right-winger, and can also pla ...

recovered from injury. On 8 June 2022, Dendoncker scored his first international goal in a 6–1 home win over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in the Nations League.

Personal life

Dendoncker was born in

Passendale Passendale () or Passchendaele (; obsolete spelling, retained in English; vls, Passchendoale) is a rural Belgian village in the Zonnebeke municipality of West Flanders province. It is close to the town of Ypres, situated on the hill ridge separ ...

West Flanders ) , settlement_type = Province of Belgium , image_flag = Flag of West Flanders.svg , flag_size = , image_shield = Wapen van West-Vlaanderen.svg , shield_size = , image_map ...

, to

pig farming Pig farming or pork farming or hog farming is the raising and breeding of domestic pigs as livestock, and is a branch of animal husbandry. Pigs are farmed principally for food (e.g. pork: bacon, ham, gammon) and skins. Pigs are amenable t ...

parents. He is the middle of three footballing sons: younger brother

Lars Lars is a common male name in Scandinavian countries. Origin ''Lars'' means "from the city of Laurentum". Lars is derived from the Latin name Laurentius, which means "from Laurentum" or "crowned with laurel". A homonymous Etruscan name was borne ...

was on the books of

Club Brugge KV (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

before moving to

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

in 2020, while older Andres played local football and became an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

for his siblings. Dendoncker moved to Brussels to play for Anderlecht while in their under-15 team and suffered from homesickness while adjusting to the difference between a largely white rural setting and a diverse urban environment.
He attended the Sint-Guido-Instituut school in

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

at the time that it was being filmed for the fly-on-the-wall documentary ''De School van Lukaku'' (Lukaku's School) focusing on his teammate

Romelu Lukaku Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli (; born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Inter Milan, on loan from club Chelsea, and the Belgium national team. Lukaku began his senior club career playing for Ander ...

. Dendoncker speaks three languages fluently; English, French and Dutch. He has noted that he speaks in

West Flemish West Flemish (''West-Vlams'' or ''West-Vloams'' or ''Vlaemsch'' (in French-Flanders), nl, West-Vlaams, french: link=no, flamand occidental) is a collection of Dutch dialects spoken in western Belgium and the neighbouring areas of France and t ...

to his family, but the

Brabantian dialect Brabantian or Brabantish, also Brabantic or Brabantine ( nl, Brabants, Standard Dutch pronunciation: , ), is a dialect group of the Dutch language. It is named after the historical Duchy of Brabant, which corresponded mainly to the Dutch provi ...

when doing interviews for Anderlecht.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Belgium score listed first, score column indicates score after each Dendoncker goal.''

Honours

Anderlecht *

: 2016–17 *

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

Belgium *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

third place:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Aston Villa F.C. website * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dendoncker, Leander 1995 births Living people Belgian footballers R.S.C. Anderlecht players Belgian Pro League players Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgium international footballers Footballers from West Flanders Flemish sportspeople Association football midfielders K.S.V. Roeselare players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Premier League players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England