Maurits Schmitz (born 31 March 1993) is a Dutch former professional football player who plays 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 ...

Career

AFC Ajax

Maurits Schmitz joined the youth ranks of

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

in 2002 where he progressed through the various ranks, signing his first professional contract in the summer of 2012. On 8 August 2013 his contract with Ajax was extended for another year, binding him to the club until the summer of 2014. He joined the reserves squad at first, having played for the A1 youth selection the previous season. He made his professional debut in the Dutch

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 ...

on 14 October 2013 against Fortuna Sittard, playing the full 90'-minutes in the 3–0 away loss. In the summer of 2014, Schmitz became the first choice keeper for Ajax Zaterdag (Ajax 3), the newly promoted amateur team of Ajax, competing in the Topklasse, the third tier of professional football in the Netherlands. He made 15 league appearances while keeping two clean sheets. He also made one appearance in the first round of the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

in a 4–0 win against De Valk.

Go Ahead Eagles

On 22 December 2014 it was announced that Schmitz would transfer to

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 ...

side

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 ...

from

Deventer Deventer (; Sallands: ) is a city and municipality in the Salland historical region of the province of Overijssel, Netherlands. In 2020, Deventer had a population of 100,913. The city is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, bu ...

where he would become third choice goalkeeper behind

Mickey van der Hart Mickey van der Hart (born 13 June 1994) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Heerenveen. Club career Ajax Acquired into the Ajax Youth Academy from local amateur side Amsterdamsche FC in 2007, Van der Hart wor ...

, who was serving a loan spell from Ajax, and second choice keeper Erik Cummins. He made no appearances in one season with the club, having been on the bench as second keeper for one match.

SV Spakenburg

In March 2016, Schmitz was released from the Eagles with no extension of his contract, leaving him to search for a new club. That same Month it was announced that Schmitz had signed with Dutch

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie ( en, Second Division) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and b ...

side

SV Spakenburg SV Spakenburg is a Dutch football club based in Bunschoten. It was founded in 1931 and currently competes in the Tweede Divisie. It shares a football rivalry with IJsselmeervogels that is also from Bunschoten-Spakenburg. History The club was fo ...

International career

Maurits Schmitz made his international debut playing for the Netherlands U-15 squad on 11 March 2008, in a friendly match against Belgium U-15, which ended in a 4–2 victory for the Dutch. He played in two more friendly fixtures for the under-15 squad, both against Switzerland U-15 which each ended in 0–2 losses at home only two days apart from each other. On 22 April 2008 Maurits Schmitz made his only appearance for the Netherlands U-16 squad in a friendly match against Northern Ireland U-16, playing the full 90'-minutes in the 2–0 home win. On 24 September 2009 Schmitz made his debut and only appearance for the Netherlands U-17 team. He played the entire match in the friendly encounter against France U-17 which the Dutch won with a 2–1 victory.

Statistics

Club performance

¹ Includes

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and

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 ...

matches. ² Includes

Johan Cruijff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

and Play-off matches.

References

External links

Netherlands U15 stats
at OnsOranje
Netherlands U16 stats
at OnsOranje
Netherlands U17 stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Schmitz, Maurits 1993 births Living people Dutch men's footballers AFC Ajax players AFC Ajax (amateurs) players Go Ahead Eagles players SV Spakenburg players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Derde Divisie players People from Nieuwegein Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Utrecht (province)