Stein Huysegems (; born 16 June 1982) is a Belgian 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 forward.

Career

He started his career at Belgian club Lierse SK, and has also played for the Dutch

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 ...

powerhouses like AZ,

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 ...

and

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 ...

. On 16 January 2009, Huysegems signed a contract at

Genk Genk () is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. It is one of the most important industrial towns in Flanders, located on the Albert Canal, ...

lasting until 30 June 2013. In September 2010, he went out on loan until the end of the season to the Dutch

club

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 ...

, but his deal was terminated on 22 March 2011. Before the start of the 2011–12 season of the

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...

, he was deemed surplus to requirements at Genk and his contract was terminated by mutual consent. Some weeks later, he signed an achievement based one-year contract with Lierse on 3 September 2011. As the contract between Genk and Huysegems had not been terminated before 30 June 2011, the

Royal Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, the ...

ruled that he was not allowed to play for his new team before 2012, causing him to be sidelined for almost 5 months, earning only a basic wage without bonuses. On 14 September 2012 he was signed by Wellington Phoenix of New Zealand playing in the A-League. Huysegems scored on his Wellington Phoenix debut on 6 October 2012 in a 2–0 home win over Sydney FC in the opening game of the season. He increased his tally to three goals after four games – scoring away to

Adelaide United Adelaide United Football Club is a professional soccer club based in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. The club participates in the A-League Men under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was founded in 2003 to fil ...

and at home against the

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

. Huysegems lost his form somewhat during the middle of the season, but rediscovered it later on. He broke his goal scoring drought on 17 March 2013, the second-to-last game of the season, with a header that saw the Phoenix beat Perth Glory 2–1. Huysegems scored his fifth goal for the Phoenix in his last match of the season vs.

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...

from a well-controlled chested volley. In the

2013–14 A-League The 2013–14 A-League was the 37th season of top-flight soccer in Australia, and the ninth of the A-League since its establishment in 2004. The season began on 11 October 2013, with Western Sydney Wanderers as the defending A-League Premiers ...

season, Huysegems finished the season with 10 goals in 26 games for the Phoenix, including a double in a match-winning performance away to

Western Sydney Wanderers Western Sydney Wanderers Football Club (colloquially known as Western Sydney, or simply as Wanderers) is an Australian professional soccer club based in the Western Sydney region of Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier ...

. He finished the season tied with

Alessandro Del Piero Alessandro Del Piero (; born 9 November 1974) is an Italian former professional footballer who mainly played as a deep-lying forward, although he was capable of playing in several offensive positions. Since 2015, he has worked as a pundit ...

of Sydney FC on the goal scoring table, 6 goals behind golden boot winner

Adam Taggart Adam Jake Taggart (born 2 June 1993) is an Australian footballer who plays for Perth Glory in the A-League Men competition. Taggart has also represented the Australia national U20 team, Australia national U23 team and Australia national team ...

of the

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

. Huysegems was released by the Wellington Phoenix on 13 April 2014 after the club would not offer a two-year deal to Huysegems, stating they would only offer him a one-year deal, which both parties couldn't agree to, so Huysegems and the Phoenix both parted ways. In November 2014, Huysegems signed with Belgian Second Division club

Dessel Dessel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises only the town of Dessel proper. In 2021, Dessel had a total population of 9,659 inhabitants. The total area is 27.03 km². Nuclear industries ...

, and two years later joined amateur club FC Berlaar-Heikant, where he retired in April 2019.

International

Huysegems has represented the Belgium national football team 16 times.

Retirement

After retiring from professional football, Huysegems has worked as a

mail carrier A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

Honours

Lierse *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champio ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

Genk *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (french: link=no, Coupe de Belgique; nl, Beker van België []; german: link=no, Belgischer Fußballpokal) is the main Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in Belgium, run by the Belgia ...

: 2009 Belgian Cup Final, 2008–09

References

External links

*
Stein Huysegems returns to Lierse
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huysegems, Stein 1982 births Living people Belgian footballers People from Herselt Footballers from Antwerp Province Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgium international footballers Eredivisie players Belgian First Division A players Belgian First Division B players A-League Men players Lierse S.K. players AZ Alkmaar players Feyenoord players FC Twente players K.R.C. Genk players Roda JC Kerkrade players Wellington Phoenix FC players K.F.C. Dessel Sport players Belgian expatriate footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate association footballers in New Zealand Association football forwards