Maarten Schops (born 3 April 1976) is a Belgian former

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 played 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 boundari ...

Club career

Schops started out with Belgian club

Lommel Lommel () is a municipality and a city in the Belgian province of Limburg. The Kempen city has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the electoral district and the judicial district Lommel Neerpelt. Besides residential town of Lommel also ha ...

. In 1996, he joined Dutch side

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisi ...

, where he won the KNVB Cup in his first season, scoring 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 ...

. During the second half of the 1997–98 season, he was loaned out to fellow

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 ...

team

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional football club based in Waalwijk, that is currently competing in the Eredivisie. Its name is derived from 'Rooms Katholieke Combinatie' ('Roman Catholic Combination' in Dutch) and was established as a merger ...

, and in the summer of 1998, he made a permanent transfer to the club. In October 2000, Schops was loaned out to

RBC Roosendaal RBC, commonly known under its previous official name RBC Roosendaal, is a football club based in Roosendaal, Netherlands. RBC currently plays in the seventh-tier Tweede Klasse after a bankruptcy in 2011, restarting the club in tenth tier Vijfde ...

for the remainder of the season, as his services were no longer needed at RKC Waalwijk. He subsequently had short periods playing for

FC 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 tot ...

(Eredivisie) and FC Den Bosch (

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 ...

) before leaving the Netherlands for Verbroedering Geel in his home country. In 2005, he moved to Germany, where he played in the lower leagues.

Honours

;Roda JC * KNVB Cup: 1996–97

References

1976 births Living people Belgian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders K.F.C. Lommel S.K. players Roda JC Kerkrade players RKC Waalwijk players RBC Roosendaal players PEC Zwolle players FC Den Bosch players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players Challenger Pro League players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Footballers from Leuven {{Belgium-footy-midfielder-stub