Rick Stuy van den Herik (born 19 June 1993) 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

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 ...

for

SteDoCo Voetbalvereniging Sterk Door Combinatie, more commonly known as VV SteDoCo or simply SteDoCo, is a Dutch football club based in the towns of Hoornaar and Hoogblokland in the Molenlanden, South Holland. It currently plays in the Derde Divisie, the ...

. A former talent of

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 ...

, Stuy van den Herik failed to break through to their first team; something which also did not happen at

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 ...

. In 2014, he made the move to second-tier

FC Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviatio ...

, where he made his professional debut the same year and grew out to become a key player during the following years, even becoming team captain. Stuy van den Herik has represented the Netherlands at under-16 and under-17 level.

Club career

Early career

Born in the German city of

Solingen Solingen (; li, Solich) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located some 25 km east of Düsseldorf along the northern edge of the region called Bergisches Land, south of the Ruhr area, and, with a 2009 population of 161,366, ...

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a States of Germany, state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more tha ...

, Stuy van den Herik grew up in his home country in Sliedrecht. There, he also started his football career at the age of five, where he registered in the youth teams of VV Sliedrecht together with his brother, Kenny. Stuy van den Herik soon caught the eye of larger clubs, and at the age of seven – two years after starting his footballing career –

signed him to their youth academy. There had also been interest from Sparta's 'big brother', Feyenoord, but after a number of trials at the club together with his older brother Kenny, Feyenoord wanted to recruit only Rick. However, they were not interested in signing his brother, Kenny, and Stuy van den Herik eventually chose to sign with Sparta, as they were interested in signing Kenny to the club in addition to Rick. He later stated: "Playing together at one club was of course more convenient for my parents in terms of transport, and moreover, I also liked Sparta more than Feyenoord," in an interview with Jan Volwerk. After some strong years in the youth of Sparta, where Stuy van den Herik was selected for the Netherlands national under-16 and under-17 teams, enthusiasm around him waned. His youth contract expired in 2012 and was not renewed. Therefore, he had to find a new challenge, and signed with

, where he played on an amateur basis in the youth team. His time in

Breda Breda () is a city and municipality in the southern part of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Brabant. The name derived from ''brede Aa'' ('wide Aa' or 'broad Aa') and refers to the confluence of the rivers Mark and Aa. Breda has ...

, however, did not amount to any success, as after two years he still had not made any senior appearances for the first team.

TOP Oss

In 2014, Stuy van den Herik chose to sign with

in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. There, he finally made his first team debut. In the first game of the 2014–15 season, he played his first minutes in professional football against

FC Volendam Football Club Volendam () is a professional Association football, football club based in Volendam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion ...

. He soon became a regular starter for the team, despite the club having four different head coach in his first four years at the club:

Wil Boessen Wil Boessen (born 3 May 1964) is a Dutch retired football player and now manager, who currently is in charge of Eerste Divisie side Helmond Sport. Club career Born in Sittard, Boessen played a large part of his career for local side Fortuna Sit ...

, Reinier Robbemond,

François Gesthuizen Franciscus Johannes Antonius Gesthuizen "François" Gesthuizen (born 18 September 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player, who is currently coaching the NEC U18-team. Playing career Club career Born in Millingen aan de R ...

and

Klaas Wels Klaas Wels (born 2 September 1973) is a Dutch professional football manager. Playing career Wels was a defender. During his active playing career, he represented hometown club RKSV Schijndel since his childhood. He also played two seasons for ...

, respectively. Stuy van den Herik grew out to become a key player for TOP Oss, and was even appointed team captain. He led the club to the promotion play-offs during the 2018–19 season, where his former club,

, proved to be too strong in the semi-finals, however. In May 2020, he signed a three-year contract extension. At that point he had made 217 appearances for the club, in which he had made nine goals and nine assists. On 7 October 2022, Stuy van den Herik, alongside teammate

Lorenzo Piqué Lorenzo Piqué (born 17 September 1990) is a Dutch footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Kozakken Boys. Club career In his youth, Piqué played for Feyenoord, but never made his debut. He played most of his games for the reserve te ...

, reached 300 appearances for TOP Oss. On 27 January 2023, he surpassed 's record to reach a club record of 315 appearances. On 5 March, he

tore Tore is a Scandinavian masculine name. It is derived from the Old Norse name ''Thórir'', which is composed of ''thorr'' which means thunder, and ''arr'' which means warrior. So Thunder Warrior or Thor's Warrior. The most famous person by this nam ...

the anterior cruciate ligament of his knee, ruling him out for at least nine months and effectively ending his season. Less than a month later, the club decided not to extend his expiring contract, ending his tenure with TOP Oss. He made a total of 320 appearances for the club, scoring 22 goals. The injury meant that Piqué, who also left at the end of the 2022–23 season, held the lone record for TOP Oss with his 327 club appearances.

International career

Stuy van den Herik has gained caps for the Netherlands under-16 and under-17 team. He made two appearances for the former, making his debut against Italy.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stuy van den Herik, Rick 1993 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Sparta Rotterdam players NAC Breda players TOP Oss players Eerste Divisie players Sportspeople from Solingen Footballers from Düsseldorf (region) People from Sliedrecht Men's association football defenders Footballers from South Holland