Teun Koopmeiners (; born 28 February 1998) 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

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 club

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

and the Netherlands national team. Having represented the Netherlands at various youth levels, Koopmeiners was called up to the senior team's preliminary

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

squad in August 2020. He was later part of their squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Club career

AZ

Koopmeiners grew up in

Castricum Castricum () is a municipality and a town in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. Castricum is a seaside town in the province of North Holland. It draws in a fair share of tourists who mainly come to visit the beach and nearby dune ...

North Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a ...

, and took his first steps in football as a youth player for the local club, Vitesse '22. In 2009, he joined the AZ youth academy at under-12 level. He eventually progressed through the ranks, and as part of the club's reserve team,

Jong AZ Jong AZ is a Dutch association football team, based in Zaandam in the Zaanstreek The Zaan () is a small river in the province of North Holland in the northwestern Netherlands and the name of a district through which it runs. The river was origina ...

, he became champion of the Dutch third division in the 2016–17 season, reaching promotion to the

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 the ...

. On 18 August 2017, Koopmeiners made his professional debut for Jong AZ in a 3–1 away win over

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadium is called 'De Vliert', an 8,500 all-seater. R ...

. He made his first team-debut on 1 October, coming on as a substitute for

Alireza Jahanbakhsh Alireza Jahanbakhsh Jirandeh ( fa, علیرضا جهانبخش جیرنده, ; born 11 August 1993) is an Iranian professional footballer who plays as a winger and attacking midfielder for Eredivisie club Feyenoord and the Iran national team. He ...

for the final 30 minutes of a 4–0 home loss to

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional 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 before settling on being called after its ...

. At the end of the 2017–18 season, AZ ended in third place, and thereby qualified for

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. In his first professional season, he made 26 league appearances in which he scored one goal. On 1 March 2020, Koopmeiners played a 70-metre pass to set up

Oussama Idrissi Oussama Idrissi ( ar, أسامة ادريسي; born 26 February 1996) is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for La Liga club Sevilla and the Morocco national team. Born in the Netherlands to Moroccan parents, he has represented th ...

for AZ's second goal in a 2–0 win against

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 Greek ...

which put his side level on points with Ajax. During the 2019–20 AZ Alkmaar season Koopmeiners scored 16 goals in all competitions in 42 appearances, helping his side finish second in 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 ...

on goal difference behind the Champions

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

. He scored his first goal of the

2020–21 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 ...

season against

Viktoria Plzen Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victoria ...

on 26 August 2020 in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifier 3–1 victory. On 14 January 2021, Koopmeiners scored two goals, including an audacious backheel flick, to help his side clinch an 3–1 away victory against

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 ...

Atalanta

On 30 August 2021, Koopmeiners signed for

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

for a reported fee of €12 million. He made his debut on 11 September in the home match against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

, as a late substitute for

Matteo Pessina Matteo Pessina (born 21 April 1997) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder. He is captain of club Monza, on loan from Atalanta. He also plays for the Italy national team. Coming through the youth system, Pessina start ...

. On 1 September 2022, Koopmeiners scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

in a 3–1 Serie A victory over

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

International career

Koopmeiners made four appearances for the Netherlands national under-17 team, as well as two appearances for the national under-18 team. As part of the under-19s, he played at the

2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship The 2017 UEFA European Under-19 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-19 Euro 2017) was the 16th edition of the UEFA European Under-19 Championship (66th edition if the Under-18 and Junior eras are included), the annual international youth footbal ...

, reaching the semi-finals and only losing to

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 ...

. At under-19 level, Koopmeiners made 13 appearances. After five appearances for the Netherlands Under-20 team, he made his debut for the national under-21 team on 22 March 2018 in a 4–1 loss in

Doetinchem Doetinchem (; Low Saxon: ) is a city and municipality in the east of the Netherlands. It is situated along the Oude IJssel (Old IJssel) river in a part of the province of Gelderland called the Achterhoek. The municipality had a population of in ...

to the Belgium U21. On 19 August 2020, Koopmeiners was called up to the senior Netherlands national team by caretaker manager

Dwight Lodeweges Dwight Lodeweges (born 26 October 1957) is a Canadian–born Dutch football coach and former professional player. He is currently one of the assistant managers of the Netherlands national team. In 2020 - after Ronald Koeman left to join FC Ba ...

in the preliminary squad for the

fixtures against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. In October, he made his debut in a friendly match against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Style of play

Koopmeiners can play as a

defensive 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 ...

central 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 ...

. He can also play 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 ...

. He is known for his leadership qualities, and captained

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 ho ...

despite his young age.

Personal life

His younger brother Peer is also a professional footballer; Peer still plays for AZ.Koopmeiners grapt over broertje: 'Door jou heb ik straks een voorletter op m'n rug!'
- Voetbal International

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Netherlands score listed first, score column indicates score after each Koopmeiners goal.''

References

External links

Profile
at the Atalanta B.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koopmeiners, Teun Living people 1998 births Footballers from North Holland Association football midfielders Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Serie A players AZ Alkmaar players Jong AZ players Atalanta B.C. players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy