Mark van der Maarel (born 12 August 1989) 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

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He played for

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

, where he has spent his entire professional career. Born in

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both banks of ...

, he is of Indonesian descent through his mother, who is from

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

Club career

Born in

, Van der Maarel played for

Argon Argon is a chemical element with the symbol Ar and atomic number 18. It is in group 18 of the periodic table and is a noble gas. Argon is the third-most abundant gas in Earth's atmosphere, at 0.934% (9340 ppmv). It is more than twice as abu ...

in his youth, and after a spell in the

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

youth, he joined

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 ...

in May 2008. He made his debut on 22 August 2009 in a friendly against non-league side

USV Elinkwijk Utrechtse Sportvereniging Elinkwijk, known as USV Elinkwijk is a Dutch football club, based in Utrecht. It played professional football during the years 1955–1970. Marco van Basten was a player of the club during his youth years. History The ...

. His first league match was on 20 September at

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

, where he replaced the injured

Sander Keller Sander Keller (born 18 September 1979) is a Dutch football coach and former footballer. He played as a defender for Utrecht, RBC Roosendaal, Neuchâtel Xamax and Almere City. He is currently an assistant coach at Utrecht. Playing career Born i ...

after 67 minutes. Due to injuries to regular right back and team captain

Tim Cornelisse Tim Cornelisse (born 3 April 1978) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a right back. He currently works as a youth coach with Vitesse, where he manages the under-21 side together with Nicky Hofs. Club career Cornelisse star ...

, he kept his place in the first team and made an impressive contribution to the best start to a season ever for Utrecht. In the 1–0 win against champions AZ he was voted Man of the Match. In the 2017–18 season, Van der Maarel was named FC Utrecht Player of the Year by the club's supporters and thereby won the ''

David di Tommaso David di Elias Alemu Tommaso (6 October 1979 – 29 November 2005) was a French professional footballer who played as a central defender. Early life Di Tommaso was born in Échirolles, Isère. His father Pascal Di Tommaso and uncle Louis Di To ...

Trophy''. The fans rewarded him for his perseverance and the fact that during the season he broke the iconic boundary of 200

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 ...

matches for Utrecht. In addition, the defender managed to score four goals. On 22 February 2021, Van der Maarel signed a two-year contract extension, keeping him part of Utrecht until 2023. At that point, he had made 307 official appearances for the club, making him sixth on the all-time list of most games played for Utrecht.

International career

On 5 October, Van der Maarel was called up for Netherlands U21, for the European U21 Championship group 4 qualifiers at Finland and Poland. Here he also benefited from injury problems by his replacing

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

defender

Kelvin Leerdam Kelvin Leerdam (; born 24 June 1990) is a Surinamese professional footballer who plays as a right-back for LA Galaxy and the Suriname national team. Club career Early career Leerdam was born in Paramaribo, the capital and largest city of Suri ...

.Pot haalt Utrechter Van der Maarel bij Jong Oranje
(Dutch)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maarel, Mark Van Der 1989 births Living people Dutch people of Indonesian descent Sportspeople of Indonesian descent Men's association football fullbacks Footballers from Arnhem Dutch men's footballers SV Argon players HFC Haarlem players FC Utrecht players Jong FC Utrecht players Eredivisie players