Robert Klaasen (born 6 September 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 ...

who plays as a

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 ...

for

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 t ...

club

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, followin ...

. He most notably played for

Kortrijk Kortrijk ( , ; vls, Kortryk or ''Kortrik''; french: Courtrai ; la, Cortoriacum), sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray ( ), is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. It is the capital and large ...

, De Graafschap and

Roda JC Kerkrade Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

Career

Early years

Klaasen started his football career at the age of six at

Zeeburgia The Amsterdamse Voetbalvereniging Zeeburgia is a football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands. It has been dubbed " royal supplier" as many Dutch professional footballers started at Zeeburgia youth teams. In 2020–2021, the first squad plays in the ...

. He left the club after a year for

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 Gree ...

's youth academy. After playing in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

for five years, he moved to the youth academy of HFC Haarlem. There he played one year in the academy before moving to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names bef ...

in 2006. He then joined AZ from Feyenoord's youth academy in 2007, and signed a two-year senior contract with the club on 19 May 2011. Coming through the AZ academy, Klaasen described himself as a " holding midfielder, with a good shot and vision. I can be compared to

Stijn Schaars Stephanus Johannes "Stijn" Schaars (born 11 January 1984) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Club career Vitesse Born in Gendt, Gelderland, Schaars was first discovered by Dutch coach Theo Bos, who went on to ...

." Ahead of the 2012–13 season, some of the club's talents, including Klaasen, were given the chance to join the first team's pre-season friendlies. He would, however, play the season with the youth team. At the end of the season, Klaasen's contract was terminated.

Kortrijk

Prior to the start of the 2013–14 season, Klaassen trialled with

. He tested for around four weeks before it was announced that he became part of the team, signing a three-year contract on 20 July 2013. Klaasen made his professional debut on 27 July 2013, replacing Gertjan De Mets in the 78th minute of a 1–0 home win over OH Leuven. On 7 December 2013, four months after his last appearance, he scored his first goal in professional football, the 1–1 equalizer in the 87th minute against

Sporting Charleroi Royal Charleroi Sporting Club, often simply known as Charleroi or Sporting Charleroi, is a Belgian football club based in the city of Charleroi, in the province of Hainaut. Charleroi plays in the Belgian Pro League and their current spell at ...

. He made his first start on 22 February 2014, playing the full ninety minutes against Mons.

Sparta Rotterdam

On 8 January 2016, Klaasen moved to Sparta Rotterdam, where he signed a contract until the end of the season with an option to extend for two seasons. He made his debut for the club ten days later, on 18 January, replacing Ryan Sanusi in the 83rd minute of a 5–2 victory over

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 ...

in the

. His first start came in the 2–1 league win at FC Den Bosch on 31 January. On 12 February, Klaasen scored his first goal for Sparta in a 3–0 away win over Achilles '29. Sparta picked up the option in Klaasen's contract on 22 February, extending his contract until 2018. Klaasen made five appearances for Sparta that, scoring once, as the club won the Eerste Divisie and reached promotion to the

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 ...

De Graafschap

On 26 January 2017, Klaasen was sent on a six-month loan until the end of the season to De Graafschap, competing in the Eerste Divisie. He made his debut for the club as a starter in a 3–2 league loss to

Jong FC Utrecht Jong FC Utrecht (U23) is a Dutch football team, based in Utrecht. It is the reserve team of FC Utrecht and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2016–17 Eerste Divisie season. Current squad On loan Staff ...

on 30 January 2017. He signed a permanent deal with the club on 2 May 2017, a one-year contract with an option for an additional season. On 11 May 2018, Klaasen extended his contract with De Graafschap until 2019. Upon signing, technical director Peter Hofstede stated: "Robert has made strides this season. We think he can grow further and want to give him that chance here."

Roda JC Kerkrade

On 7 July 2019, Klaasen joined Eerste Divisie club

on a two-year contract. He made his debut for the club on the first matchday of the season as a starter in the 1–1 home draw against Almere City. Klaasen scored his first goal for Roda JC on 5 December 2020, opening the score from a

free kick A free kick is an action used in several codes of football to restart play with the kicking of a ball into the field of play. Association football In association football, the free kick is a method of restarting the game following an offe ...

in a 1–1 draw away against Jong PSV.

VVV-Venlo

Klaasen moved to

on 10 June 2022, signing a two-year contract. His club debut came on the first matchday of the 2022–23 season in a 3–0 home win over Almere City. On 11 December, he scored his first goal for the club, helping the club to a 2–1 victory against provincial rivals

MVV Maastricht Maatschappelijke Voetbal Vereniging Maastricht (), commonly known as MVV Maastricht (, ) or simply as MVV, is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Maastricht. Founded on 2 April 1902, MVV Maastricht currently compete in the Eerst ...

Personal life

Klaasen is the

son-in-law Son-in-Law (22 April 1911 – 15 May 1941) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and an influential sire, especially for sport horses. The National Horseracing Museum says Son-in-Law is "probably the best and most distinguished stayer this co ...

of , who became chairman of NEC Nijmegen in 2017.

Career statistics

Honours

Sparta Rotterdam *

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Klaasen, Robert Living people 1993 births Association football midfielders Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Dutch expatriate footballers K.V. Kortrijk players Sparta Rotterdam players De Graafschap players Roda JC Kerkrade players VVV-Venlo players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Tweede Divisie players Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium