Maceo Rigters (born 22 January 1984) 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 ...
who played as a
striker for
SC Heerenveen
Sportclub Heerenveen (; West Frisian: Sportklub It Hearrenfean) is a Dutch football club from Heerenveen. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top level of football in the Netherlands.
History
Sportclub Heerenveen was founded on 20 July ...
,
Dordrecht
Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...
,
NAC Breda and
Willem II in the Netherlands, for
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
,
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
and
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
in England, and for
Gold Coast United
Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...
in Australia. He is also a former player for the
Netherlands Under-21 team.
Club career
Heerenveen, Dordrecht and NAC Breda
Rigters started his football career at
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 ...
club,
Heerenveen
Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...
where he made his senior debut during the
2002–03 season. He had a short spell at
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 the ...
club
Dordrecht
Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...
in the
2004–05 season. On 1 January 2005, he signed a four-and-half-year contract with Eredivisie club
NAC Breda, where he scored just five goals in 61 appearances.
[ ]
Blackburn Rovers
Rigters was signed by
Blackburn Rovers
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
for an undisclosed fee on 2 July 2007, with the striker signing a four-year contract with the
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
club.
He made his first official appearance for Blackburn Rovers in a
UEFA Intertoto Cup match against Lithuanian club
FK Vėtra
FK Vėtra was a Lithuanian football team from the capital city of Vilnius.
History
The club was founded in 1997 and was initially based in Rūdiškės, a settlement in Trakai district, and moved in 2003 to Vilnius city with the purchase of ...
on 22 July 2007 as a second-half substitute replacing
Benni McCarthy
Benedict Saul "Benni" McCarthy (born 12 November 1977) is a South African coach and former footballer who is a first-team coach at Manchester United. He previously worked as head coach of South African Premier Division team AmaZulu.
A former f ...
in the 65th minute. His first start came on 30 August against Finnish club,
MyPa, in a
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
first round match, and he made his
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 ...
debut on 29 September.
Rigters played only one more league game for the club that season on 11 February 2008, and after struggling to make an impact at the club,
he joined
Championship
In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion.
Championship systems
Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship.
Title match system
In this system ...
club
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
19 March on loan until the end of the
2007–08 season. He made his first appearance for Norwich as a 78th-minute substitute in a 5–1 win over
Colchester United
Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...
. However, in only his second substitute appearance for the club on 29 March, during a home defeat to
Bristol City
Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...
, Rigters lasted just fifteen minutes as he sustained a torn hamstring, and he subsequently returned to Blackburn for treatment.
On 8 August he joined
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...
on loan for the
2008–09 Football League Championship season.
In July 2009 Rigters was told he was free to find himself a new club. He subsequently undertook a trial at
Southend United
Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...
in an attempt to earn himself a contract with the club. However the trial was not successful and he returned to Blackburn Rovers to wait for another trial offer.
He then eventually returned to play for Blackburn on 2 January 2010 when he featured for 18 minutes against
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 ...
in the
FA Cup Third Round in the 3–1 defeat. On 31 August, Rigters returned home to the Netherlands to join
Willem II on a season long loan.
On 1 July 2011, Rigters contract with Rovers ended, and he became a free agent.
Free agent
Following the expiration of his Rovers contract, on 19 August 2011, Rigters joined up with
A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
team
Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...
initially on a 10-day trial. However, on 24 August 2011, the trial was cut short when Rigters could not agree terms to a permanent deal. Rigters had made only one pre-season appearance in a friendly with Phoenix, scoring the consolation goal in a 5–1 loss at home to
2010-11 A-League Champions,
Brisbane Roar
Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat.
Brisba ...
.
[and is now coming back to think over a deal from Aberdeen fc]
Gold Coast United
Rigters had initially traveled to New Zealand in the hope of signing a contract with
Wellington Phoenix
Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the ...
, however despite being offered a contract, Rigters turned it down due to a disagreement on wages. Only days later, on 1 September, it was announced that Rigters had signed a deal with fellow A-League club
Gold Coast United
Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...
, replacing American
Alex Smith
Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 20 ...
whose contract had been terminated, allowing the signing to go forth.
International career
Rigters scored on his debut for the
Netherlands national under-21 team on 5 February 2005 when he came on as a second-half substitute in a 3–0 win over
Russia Under-21s, scoring the third Dutch goal.
On 23 March he scored as the Dutch Under-21s drew 1–1 with
Czech Republic Under-21s.
He was called up by under-21 team coach
Foppe de Haan
Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch association football, football coach. He is known for his long association with Friesland, Frisian club SC Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national football team during 2011 ...
as a last minute addition to the squad for the
2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship on the eve of the tournament which was held in the Netherlands.
Rigters played in all three group stage matches, a 1–0 win against
Israel Under 21s and a 2–1 win over
Portugal Under-21s to secure a semi-final spot and therefore qualify for the
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...
. He won the penalty from which
Ryan Babel
Ryan may refer to:
People and fictional characters
*Ryan (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name)
*Ryan (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places Australia
* Division of Ryan, an elector ...
scored the first Dutch goal and he scored the second Dutch goal of the match and was named
Man of the match
In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...
by
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
.
In the last group match against
Belgium Under-21s, Rigters scored in a 2–2 draw.
In the semi-finals against
England Under-21s, Rigters scored a 90th-minute equaliser with a
bicycle kick
In association football, a bicycle kick, also known as an overhead kick, scissors kick, is an acrobatic strike where a player kicks an airborne ball rearward in midair. It is achieved by throwing the body backward up into the air and, before d ...
to take the match to extra time and eventually a penalty shoot-out, in which Rigters also scored as well, and the Dutch team won the shoot-out 13–12. He was also voted Man of the match for the second time.
[
]
The Dutch went on to retain their 2006 title by beating
Serbia Under-21s 4–1 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 cont ...
. Rigters scored the third goal, his fourth of the tournament, which put him ahead of England's
Leroy Lita
Leroy Halirou Bohari Lita (born 28 December 1984) is an English footballer who plays for Nuneaton Borough. Lita was a product of the Chelsea youth system but never made a first-team appearance for the club; in 2002, he moved to Bristol City and ...
and gave him the Golden Boot as top scorer.
After the tournament he was named in the
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...
Team of the tournament.
[
]
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rigters, Maceo
1984 births
Living people
Dutch footballers
Netherlands under-21 international footballers
FC Dordrecht players
Association football forwards
NAC Breda players
Norwich City F.C. players
Barnsley F.C. players
SC Heerenveen players
Willem II (football club) players
Gold Coast United FC players
Footballers from Amsterdam
Premier League players
Eredivisie players
Eerste Divisie players
English Football League players
A-League Men players
Expatriate footballers in England
Dutch expatriate footballers
Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent