Marco Ruitenbeek (born 12 May 1968) 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 le ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Dutch side AZ and Scottish club

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

, as well as

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

and

SV Huizen SV Huizen is an association football club from Huizen, Netherlands. History The club became Dutch national amateur champions in 1974 and in 2003. In 2001, Huizen won the Regional Cup of the now defunct Central soccer district. In 2016 it Huizen ...

Career

Ruitenbeek was born in

Weesp Weesp () is a city, an urban area in the municipality of Amsterdam and a former municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It had a population of in . It lies on the river Vecht and next to the Amsterdam–Rhine Canal in an are ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

. He started his career with AZ, making appearances in both the

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 ...

and

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 ...

, before moving to

in 1997. He spent three years with the club before moving to Scotland and signing for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

side

in June 2000. He made his debut in a 3–0 friendly defeat against

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

in August 2000. Ruitenbeek played in the majority of matches in his first two seasons with the club, however he lost his place after Dunfermline signed

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

goalkeeper

Derek Stillie Derek Daniel Stillie (born 3 December 1973) is a Scottish retired footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for a number of clubs in Scotland and England. After retiring from football, Stillie pursued a career in English law, and contested the 20 ...

, making only 20 appearances in the second half of his career with the Pars. His final match with the side came in a one-all draw with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

. Ruitenbeek played over 90 games for the Pars been 2000 and 2004. After he left Scotland, he moved back to the Netherlands to play for

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie, formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league is divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunday. This is a result of ...

side

, playing with the amateur side for one season, before hanging up his gloves in May 2005.

Career statistics

References

External links

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Dutch Players Abroad
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruitenbeek, Marco 1968 births Living people People from Weesp Dutch men's footballers Footballers from North Holland Men's association football goalkeepers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Scottish Premier League players AZ Alkmaar players Go Ahead Eagles players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players SV Huizen players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland