Niels Oude Kamphuis (; born 14 November 1977) is a retired Dutch

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 ...

. He is best remembered for his time at

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

. He operated mostly as a defensive

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Oude Kamphuis was originally a midfielder, but could also double up as a defender. He started his career at

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

, where he spent five years, before leaving for German side, FC Schalke 04. After Schalke, Oude Kamphuis joined Borussia Mönchengladbach, another German-based side. He ended his playing football career at

, because of long term injuries.

Club career

FC Twente

Oude Kamphuis was born in

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service. Popu ...

. As a teenager, he joined

, the Dutch club to which he would return twelve years later. At Twente, he earned 126 caps over the course of the five seasons he was there. In that time, he scored seven goals from defence.

Schalke 04

Oude Kamphuis spent his first season with German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

team, FC Schalke 04, during their 1999–2000 campaign. With the Gelsenkirchen club, he earned over 120 appearances, securing eight goals over the course of, again, five years.

Borussia Mönchengladbach

On 30 May 2005, Niels joined fellow Bundesliga side, Borussia Mönchengladbach. He signed on a free transfer with the club. Niels' transfer was met with excitement at Borussia Mönchengladbach, especially within the board. Director of sport, Peter Pander said that Mönchengladbach had "a strong, versatile and internationally-experienced player". He added "I am sure we will be stronger with him."

Return to Twente

After requesting that, for family reasons, he return to his native Netherlands, Borussia Mönchengladbach allowed the Dutchman permanent leave. Oude Kamphuis then re-signed for Twente on 16 August 2006, having spent five years as a youth there. The rules of football stated that Twente were not required to pay a fee for Niels, as he was a free agent.

International career

He played once for the

Netherlands national football team The Netherlands national football team ( nl, Nederlands voetbalelftal or simply ''Het Nederlands elftal'') has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The men's national team is controlled by the Royal ...

in a friendly against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in 2001.

Honours

Schalke 04 * UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2004

References

External links

Profile at VI.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oude Kamphuis, Niels 1977 births Living people Sportspeople from Hengelo Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers FC Twente players FC Schalke 04 players Borussia Mönchengladbach players Bundesliga players Eredivisie players Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Men's association football midfielders Footballers from Overijssel Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany