Melvin de Leeuw (born April 25, 1988) is a Dutch 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 plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for Chiangmai United.

Career

Career in Netherlands

Born in

Bergen op Zoom Bergen op Zoom (; called ''Berrege'' in the local dialect) is a municipality and a city located in the south of the Netherlands. Etymology The city was built on a place where two types of soil meet: sandy soil and marine clay. The sandy soil p ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, De Leeuw grew up supporting

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

and idolised

Dennis Bergkamp Dennis Nicolaas Maria Bergkamp (; born 10 May 1969) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. Originally a wide midfielder, Bergkamp was moved to main striker and then to second striker, where he remained throughout his playing ...

, which implies that made De Leeuw play as a striker today. De Leeuw started his football career at

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 Kl ...

, having played at youth level for RKSV Halsteren and

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

before moving to RBC Roosendaal. On November 4, 2007, he made his debut in professional football, in a

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

match against

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 ...

, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for

Saša Stojanović Saša "Caki" Stojanović (; born 21 January 1983) is Serbian football coach and a former player. He is an assistant coach with Radnički Niš. Career Stojanović played in his own country for Radnički Niš, from where he was scouted by Dutch ...

in a 2–0 defeat. On 7 March 2008, De Leeuw received a red card after being booked twice, in a 2–1 win over Emmen. In the 2008–09 season, De Leeuw was featured in the starting line-up for the first ten matches and scored his first goal, in a 2–1 loss against

SC Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2020–21 Ee ...

and two weeks later, on 7 November 2008, he scored, again, in a 2–2 draw against

. During the season, he added three more goals and made twenty five appearances. In the 2009–10 season, De Leeuw would only score three goals in thirty-two appearances in all competitions. During the 2010–11 season, his form improved, scoring ten goals in thirty-two appearances in all competitions, including a brace and providing an assist, in a 3–2 win over

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 last game of the season. Shortly after the match, the club suffered a huge setback by declaring themselves bankrupt meaning they would not play in the Eerste Divisie. De Leeuw played four seasons for RBC Roosendaal, before joining

in summer 2011 on a two-year contract. During his time at RBC Roosendaal, De Leeuw recalled helping the club survive relegation, quoting: In the 2011–12 season, De Leeuw made his debut for Cambuur, in a 4–2 win over

AGOVV Apeldoorn AGOVV () is a Dutch association football club based in Apeldoorn. It was established on 25 February 1913. The club played in professional football from 1954 to 1971 and from 2003 to 2013. AGOVV's male first squad plays in 2022–23 in the Tweede ...

, in the opening game of the season and he scored his first goal, on 11 September 2011, in a 4–1 win over

Volendam Volendam () is a fishing town in the municipality of Edam-Volendam, province of North Holland, Netherlands. As of 1 January 2021, it has a population of 22,715. It is twinned with Coventry, England. History Originally, Volendam was the location o ...

. On 9 December 2011, he scored twice, in a 5–1 win over

Veendam Veendam () is a town and municipality with a population of 27,752 in the province of Groningen in the northeast of the Netherlands. Veendam was established in 1648 as a peat colony by Adriaan Geerts Wildervanck. A Holland America Line cruise ship ...

. In his first season at Cambuur, De Leeuw scored eleven goals in thirty-four appearances in all competitions, becoming the club's second top-scorer behind

Erik Bakker Erik Bakker (born 21 March 1990) is a Dutch former professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. Club career Bakker was born in Hoogeveen. He formerly played for FC Zwolle but left them for Cambuur in 2011. On 27 December 2019, Bakker joi ...

. At the end of the 2012–13 season, it was announced that De Leeuw would be leaving the club on a free transfer.

Ross County

On 19 June 2013, De Leeuw signed for

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

side Ross County, penning a two-year deal. Two months after joining Ross County, De Leeuw said he had settled in Scotland and he thought that the Scottish Football playing style was more physical than in The Netherlands, but wasn't just ''"a bit kick and rush."'' De Leeuw also later said he had no regrets joining Ross County, saying it had been a great experience for him. De Leeuw made his debut for the club, coming on as substitute in the 46th minute for Branislav Mićić, in a 3–1 loss against

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

. He scored his first goal for the club with an 89th-minute header to equalise against Hearts. Two minutes later, De Leeuw crossed the ball for Richard Brittain to score to win the game for Ross County. After the match, Manager

Derek Adams Derek Watt Adams (born 25 June 1975) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is currently manager of Morecambe. Adams played professionally for six clubs, including Aberdeen and Motherwell, where he made over 300 league appearances ...

praised De Leeuw's performance. He then scored in the next game, a 3–1 defeat against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. After scoring six goals, De Leeuw, then scored two goals in two games, both 1-1 draws, first against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and then

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

. In the last game of the season, with Ross County's place in the Scottish Premiership secure for another season, De Leeuw scored the winning goal, as they beat

3–2, to finish in seventh place. The win also boosted the club's earnings, as they received £200,000 in SPFL prize money. During the season, De Leeuw created controversy after claiming the club preferred to use their own home-grown players instead of foreign players in the first team. In his first season at Ross County, he finished the season as the top scorer, scoring nine goals in thirty-five appearances in all competitions. Ahead of the 2014–15 season, De Leeuw was linked with a move away from Ross County, although the club said there had been no bids made for him. In the second round of the Scottish League Cup, De Leeuw scored his first goal of the season, from an opener, in a 2–1 win over

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

. However, on 28 October 2014, Ross County manager Jim McIntyre announced that De Leeuw's contract had been terminated after he asked to be released for personal reasons, with a return to his home country expected.

Army United

After leaving Ross County, de Leeuw returned to Netherlands, where went on trial at

. However, his trial at NAC Breda came to an end after the club opted against giving a new contract. After talks with PSV Eindhoven failed to materialise and lead to the offer of a contract, de Leeuw looked further afield for a club. On 23 January 2015, de Leeuw signed a contract with Army United in

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

Since playing in the Army United in the

, De Leeuw expressed surprised with the playing style in the league, claiming it's easy to adapt.

Chiang Mai United

Leeuw finished the first leg of the 2022/23 season with Chiang Mai United as equal 19th highest goal scorer for the league with 5 goals.

Career statistics

References

External links

RBC Roosendaal profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leeuw, Melvin de 1988 births Living people Sportspeople from Bergen op Zoom Dutch men's footballers Men's association football forwards RBC Roosendaal players SC Cambuur players Ross County F.C. players

Melvin de Leeuw Melvin de Leeuw (born April 25, 1988) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward for Chiangmai United. Career Career in Netherlands Born in Bergen op Zoom, Netherlands, De Leeuw grew up supporting Ajax and idolised Dennis Bergkam ...

Eerste Divisie players Scottish Professional Football League players

Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Expatriate men's footballers in Laos

Footballers from North Brabant