Roy Johannes Henricus Beerens (; born 22 December 1987) is a Dutch former 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 played as a right winger. Known for his quick dribbling and fast sprints, Beerens emerged as a talent from the PSV youth academy, but made his breakthrough as part of the

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

team between 2007 and 2011. After a four-year spell with AZ, he moved abroad and represented German club Hertha BSC and English club

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

, before returning to the Netherlands where he ended his career as part of Vitesse. Beerens was part of the Netherlands U21 team winning the

2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. Summary For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Neth ...

at home. He made his senior debut for the

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 ...

on 11 August 2010 in a friendly against

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Club career

PSV

Born in

Bladel Bladel () is a municipality and town in the province of North Brabant, Southern Netherlands. In 2019, it had a population of 20,175. Population centres Topography ''Dutch Topographic map of the municipality of Bladel, 2013.'' Notable residen ...

, Netherlands, Beerens progressed through the PSV youth academy. He promoted to the second team, Jong PSV, for the 2005–06 season and regularly practiced with the first team. He was also allowed to join training camp for the

Peace Cup The Peace Cup was an invitational pre-season friendly football tournament for club teams which was held every two years by the Sunmoon Peace Football Foundation. It was usually contested by eight clubs from several continents, though 12 teams pa ...

tournament in South Korea, as part of the pre-season. In the match against Colombian club

Once Caldas Once Caldas S.A., simply known as Once Caldas, is a professional Colombian football team based in Manizales, that currently plays in the Categoría Primera A. They play their home games at the Palogrande stadium. They were the surprise winne ...

, Beerens made his first ever senior start. On 25 March 2006, he made his official debut for PSV in a 3–0 win over Willem II, where he came in for

Arouna Koné Arouna Koné (born 11 November 1983) is an Ivorian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Belgian club VK Weerde. After making a name for himself in the Eredivisie, with Roda JC and PSV, he signed with Sevilla in 2007, where he r ...

. Beerens' first official goal for PSV's first team came on 15 October 2006 in the home match against

Roda JC 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 Divisi ...

NEC (loan)

On 30 December 2006, PSV and

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It provides IT and network soluti ...

agreed on a six-month loan. At NEC, he scored in the derby against Vitesse, among others. He also made his debut for the Netherlands U21 team during this period.

Heerenveen

At the end of the 2006–07 season, PSV wanted to extend Beerens' contract, which ran for one more year. In July 2007, however, Beerens decided to sign a three-year contract with

. In May 2009, Beerens signed a contract extension with Heerenveen until the summer of 2013. At Heerenveen, he grew into a fan favourite, playing almost every match under head coach

Gertjan Verbeek Gertjan Verbeek (; born 1 August 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer who last managed Eerste Divisie side Almere City. Coaching career Netherlands After retiring from his playing career in 1994, Verbeek stayed with SC Heerenveen as ...

. Although he appeared in almost every game in his final seasons, his playing minutes became less and less, as he had lost his starting place to Luciano Narsingh. This caused Beerens to hand in a transfer request; something Heerenveen was willing to cooperate on, due to his proven for the club.

AZ

In August 2011, Beerens moved from Heerenveen to

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and host ...

on a four-year contract, reuniting him with former coach

Hertha BSC

On 11 July 2014, it was announced by German club Hertha BSC that they had signed Roy Beerens on a 3-year deal. He scored his first goal in a 4–2 win against

FC Viktoria Köln FC Viktoria Köln is a Football in Germany, German association football club from the city of Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 3. Liga. History Founded in 1904 as ''FC Germania Kalk'' it is one of the oldest football clubs ...

on 16 August 2014.

Reading

On 16 July 2016, Beerens signed a three-year contract with

for an undisclosed fee. There, he played under head coach Jaap Stam, a fellow Dutchman. He scored his first goal for Reading in a 2–0 EFL Cup win against Plymouth Argyle on 9 August 2016.

Vitesse

On 31 January 2018, Beerens returned 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 ...

, signing a three-and-a-half year deal. After a strong start in 2018, under head coach Henk Fraser, a conflict with his successor, Russian coach Leonid Slutsky followed. Beerens was benched afterwards. On 24 December 2020, he announced his retirement from football.

International career

In 2007, Beerens was called up by Netherlands U21 coach

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch association football, football coach. He is known for his long association with Friesland, Frisian club SC Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national football team during 2011 ...

to be part of his squad for the

held in the Netherlands. Beerens participated in their second first round group match against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

(2–1 win) to secure a semi final spot and to qualify for the 2008 Summer Olympics. In the semi finals 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 ...

(1–1, 13–12 after 32 penalty kicks) Beerens came on as a substitute and scored both penalties he had to take in the series. The Dutch went on to retain their 2006 title by beating

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

4–1 in the final. Beerens also played for the Netherlands at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was first called up for the senior team for a friendly match against the

in August 2010.

Style of play

Beerens has been described as a versatile winger that can play on either the left or right flank. Furthermore he was technically gifted. During his career, he was renowned for his quick pace, and his ability to score goals and create chances for others.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

PSV *

: 2005–06 Heerenveen * KNVB Cup: 2008–09 AZ * KNVB Cup:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beerens, Roy 1987 births Living people People from Bladel Association football wingers Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Olympic footballers of the Netherlands Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics PSV Eindhoven players NEC Nijmegen players SC Heerenveen players AZ Alkmaar players Hertha BSC players Reading F.C. players SBV Vitesse players Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Eredivisie players Bundesliga players English Football League players Footballers from North Brabant