Thibo Baeten (born 4 June 2002) is a Belgian 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for club

Go Ahead Eagles Go Ahead Eagles () are a Dutch professional football club from the city of Deventer. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, having achieved promotion from the second tier Eerste Divisie in the 2020-21 season. The club's h ...

Club career

Baeten began his career at the youth academy of

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

. On 22 August 2020, he made his debut for Brugge's reserve side, Club NXT in the

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 201 ...

against

RWDM47 Racing White Daring de Molenbeek 47, also known as RWD Molenbeek and often referred to as RWDM, is a Belgian professional football club founded in 1951 as Standaard Wetteren. In 2015, Wetteren folded and merged with another club, liberating the ...

. He came on as a 79th minute substitute as NXT lost 2–0. Baeten scored his first professional goal on 13 September 2020 against

Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise , abbreviated to Union SG or USG, unofficially simply called Union, is a Belgian football club originally located in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, in Brussels, although since the 1920s it has been based at the Jo ...

. His first-minute goal gave NXT the lead but the match soon ended 1–1. In the winter of 2021, Baeten expressed his wish to leave Club Brugge, where he had an expiring contract. That winter, Baeten could count on interest from

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisio ...

and from Italy. On 22 January 2021, he signed a contract with Dutch

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 ...

club

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, 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 prov ...

until mid-2024. On 5 March 2021, Baeten scored his first goal for NEC in the 7–0 win over Helmond Sport. On 23 May 2021, Baeten won 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 ...

with NEC by beating

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 ...

2–1 in the final of the play-offs. Unlike his compatriots

Jonathan Okita Jonathan Yula Okita (born 5 October 1996) is a Congolese professional footballer who plays as a winger for Swiss club Zürich. Born in Germany, he represents the DR Congo national team. Club career Okita made his Belgian First Division A debu ...

and Mathias De Wolf, Baeten did not appear in any of the three promotion matches. On 3 August 2021, he joined

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 ...

side

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 ...

on loan with an option to buy. He would join the club's under-19 team. On 10 April 2022, Baeten agreen to join

Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Voetbalclub Antwerpen, or simply Beerschot, is a Belgian professional football club located in Antwerp, that competes in the second-tier First Division B after relegating from the top tier in the 2021–22 season. In 201 ...

on loan for the 2022–23 season, with an option to buy. Following the loan, on 5 July 2023, Beerschot used their option to buy and made the transfer permanent, as Baeten signed a three-year contract with the club, with an option for the fourth year. However, on the next day, Baeten moved to Eredivisie club

, signing a three-year contract.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

Profile
at the

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Baeten, Thibo 2002 births Living people Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Challenger Pro League players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Club NXT players NEC Nijmegen players Torino FC players K Beerschot VA players Go Ahead Eagles players Belgian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy