Leroy Martin Giovanni George (born 21 April 1987) is a Dutch

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 winger. Aside from the Netherlands, he has played in Turkey, Australia, Azerbaijan, and the United Arab Emirates. His natural position is as a right forward or

right winger 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 ...

, but he has also proven to be useful on the

left wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

, as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

and as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

while at

FC Utrecht Football Club Utrecht () is a Dutch professional football club based in Utrecht. The club competes in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, and plays its home matches at the Stadion Galgenwaard. The club was formed in 1970 as a merge ...

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

and the Victory.

Club career

Youth career

Being born in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

and growing up in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

, George started his youth career at the local clubs DWS, Fortius and ZSGOWMS before being noticed by FC Utrecht.

FC Utrecht

He made his debut for the senior side on 13 April 2007, in an away-match against

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 ...

, ending 1–1. He replaced

Etienne Shew-Atjon Etienne Shew-Atjon (born 24 November 1974) is a Dutch former professional footballer and current video analyst for Feyenoord. During his eleven years with Utrecht, they won the KNVB Cup, twice. Career Early career Shew-Atjon joined the Feyenoord ...

in the beginning of the second half, and scored a debut goal in the 68th minute, sealing the draw. He played two more matches this season. The following year, George had established himself into the

starting lineup In sports, a starting lineup is an official list of the set of players who will participate in the event when the game begins. The players in the starting lineup are commonly referred to as ''starters'', whereas the others are ''substitutes'' o ...

; he only missed one match because of a suspension, and scored seven times that season. At the end of the season, it was announced that he had signed a contract extension with Utrecht, keeping him in the '' Domstad'' until mid-2011, despite of some problems with his agent. The forward started the 2008–09 season well, but because of growing problems with his physical shape, he lost his place in the starting eleven after a couple of weeks. After showing an unmotivated behavior, he was sent back to the reserve squad by manager Willem van Hanegem. A week later his behavior had improved, and he was forgiven and put back on the first team, and since then he played a majority of the games. After the 2008–09 season, he lost track and almost never played anymore. In the 2009–10 season he only played eight matches, and after the season was over, he was told that he was not needed anymore at the club, and thus put on the transfer list.

NEC

On 20 July 2010, it was published that George had signed a one-year deal with

The club put an option in his contract to extend his contract with two more seasons if he lives up to the expectations of the club. In the second round of the 2010–11 Eredivisie season, George was awarded as the best player of the round, after having two assists in an away-match against Willem II. The match ended in a 3–5 victory for NEC.

Qarabağ

On 6 June 2013, George signed a two-year contract with

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

side Qarabağ. George made his debut for Qarabağ away to

Metalurg Skopje FK Metalurg ( mk, ФК Металург) is a football club from Skopje, North Macedonia. They are currently not playing in any of the four highest tiers of Macedonian football. History The club was founded in 1964. Metalurg has entered the Mace ...

in 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 ...

first qualifying round match on 2 July 2013, coming on as an 84th-minute substitute for fellow debutante

Nikoloz Gelashvili Nikoloz Gelashvili ( ka, ნიკოლოზ გელაშვილი; born 5 August 1985) is a Georgian footballer who plays for FC Dila Gori. Career Gelashvili joined Zestaponi in January 2008. Flamurtari In June 2014 Gelashvili left ...

. George already scored twice for Qarabağ in the Europa League – one against Metalurg Skopje (11 July 2013, second leg) and another against Piast Gliwice (25 July 2013, second leg) on away match. George left Qarabağ at the end of his contract in June 2015.

Göztepe

On 8 July 2015, George signed a two-year contract with

Göztepe S.K. Göztepe Spor Kulübü (, Göztepe Sports Club), also known as Göztepe, is a Turkish sports club based in the Göztepe and Güzelyalı neighborhoods of İzmir. The "AŞ" refers to ''incorporated company'', as besides football, the club also ...

Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory announced that George had signed a one-year deal with the club on 16 September 2017. He played a key role in the Victory's championship winning season, scoring 9 goals, and registering a league high 14 assists. His successful season saw him crowned as the 2017-18 Victory Medallist with 53 votes.

Baniyas

In July 2018, George signed with UAE First Division League club

Baniyas Baniyas ( ar, بَانِيَاس ') is a Mediterranean coastal city in Tartous Governorate, northwestern Syria, located south of Latakia (ancient Laodicea) and north of Tartous (ancient Tortosa). It is known for its citrus fruit orchards an ...

Fortuna Sittard

On 26 January 2021, Fortuna Sittard announced that they had signed George for the remainder of the season. George made his debut two days after signing against RKC Waalwijk coming off the bench in a 2–1 win.

De Treffers

On 27 August 2021, he joined

De Treffers De Treffers is an amateur football club from Groesbeek, Netherlands. The club plays in the Tweede Divisie, the highest amateur league of Dutch football. History It was founded in 1919, and its first chairman was Jan Piepenbreier. De Treffers h ...

in the Dutch third tier.

International career

George was called up for the Netherlands under-21 team various times in 2007 and 2008 by national team coach, Foppe de Haan, but only managed to play once. Having been born in Paramaribo in Suriname, George was eligible to play for the Surinamese national team. He was called up for the Parbo Bier Cup in 2009 with a mixed team of Surinamese and Dutch-Surinamese players.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

;Qarabağ *

(2): 2013–14, 2014–15 *

Azerbaijan Cup The Azerbaijan Cup is a major association football competition in Azerbaijan. In its original form, it started in 1936, when Azerbaijan was a republic of the Soviet Union and it was not disputed by Azerbaijani teams in the Soviet league pyramid. ...

(1): 2014–15 ;Melbourne Victory * A-League Championship: 2017–18

Individual

* Pacific Metal Group Balls of Steel Trophy

Club career

Youth career

FC Utrecht

NEC

Qarabağ

Göztepe

Melbourne Victory

Baniyas

Fortuna Sittard

De Treffers

International career

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Individual

References

External links