Nigel Cello Lonwijk (born 27 October 2002) 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 defender for club

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Club career

After playing youth football for

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

, Lonwijk signed for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

in January 2020, initially joining their under-18 side. Lonwijk joined the club's under-23 team for the 2020–21 season and appeared on the first-team bench 4 times, but failed to make his debut. On 31 August 2021, Lonwijk signed a new contract with the club, lasting until summer 2023 with the option for an additional year, and also joined

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 ...

club

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

on loan. He made his debut for the club on 12 September 2021 as a substitute in a 3–1 Eredivisie defeat to

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

. On 29 July 2022, Lonwijk signed for

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

on loan for the 2022–23 season. Following a successful spell in with Plymouth, which saw them become champion of League One, he went on another loan, this time to

Grasshopper Club Zürich Grasshopper Club Zürich, commonly referred to as simply GC, GCZ, or Grasshoppers, is a multisports club based in Zürich, Switzerland. The oldest and best known department of the club is its football team. With 27 titles, Grasshopper holds the ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He is joined by fellow Wolves loanee

Theo Corbeanu Theodor Alexander Corbeanu (born May 17, 2002) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for 2. Bundesliga side Arminia Bielefeld, on loan from Wolverhampton Wanderers, and the Canada national team. Early life Born in H ...

in the

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

. However, he suffered a

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupeds, ...

injury during pre-season preparation, which sidelined him until October He finally gave his debut on 28 October 2023 in a 1–3 away defeat to

FC St. Gallen Fussballclub St. Gallen 1879, commonly known as St. Gallen, is a Swiss professional football club based in the city of St. Gallen, Canton of St. Gallen. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the Swiss Super League. History Founde ...

, playing the entire second half at right-back, during which he once again injured his hamstring. As this injury would keep him out of action for a longer time, his loan was cut short on 16 November 2023.

International career

Lonwijk was born in the Netherlands to a Surinamese father and Dutch mother. He has represented the Netherlands at under-16 level.

Style of play

Lonwijk is right-footed and plays as a

centre-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 ...

. In January 2020, Wolves' head of academy

Scott Sellars Scott Sellars (born 27 November 1965) is an ex English football coach and former professional footballer who is ex Technical Director at Wolverhampton Wanderers. As a player, he was a winger who made more than 500 appearances, notably playing ...

stated Lonwijk is "very good physically, a good defender one-on-one, and has strong technical ability".

Personal life

Born in

Goirle Goirle () is a municipality and town in the southern Netherlands, in the province of North Brabant. Part of the suburban area of the city of Tilburg, it shares with it its phone area code and public transport system. The municipality also includes ...

, Lonwijk grew up in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

. He is the younger brother of Justin Lonwijk, who plays for Belgian club

RSC Anderlecht ; french: Les Mauves et Blancs) , short name = R.S.C.A. , founded = , ground = Constant Vanden Stock Stadium , capacity = 22,500 , owntitle = Chairman , owner = Wouter Vandenhaute , manager = Brian Riemer ...

, whilst his younger sister Jayden plays tennis.

Honours

Plymouth Argyle *

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

runner-up:

References

External links

Under-16 national team profile
at Onsoranje.nl (in Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Lonwijk, Nigel 2002 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent People from Goirle Footballers from North Brabant Men's association football defenders PSV Eindhoven players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Fortuna Sittard players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Grasshopper Club Zürich players Eredivisie players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland