Thijs Dallinga (born 3 August 2000) 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

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 Toulouse and the Netherlands national team. Dallinga emerged as a talent of Emmen and signed with

Groningen Groningen (; gos, Grunn or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen province in the Netherlands. The ''capital of the north'', Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of the northern part of t ...

in 2018. His breakthrough came after moving to Excelsior as a free agent in 2021, scoring an unprecedented 36 goals in 43 appearances in the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie season and subsequent playoffs, to help the club win promotion to the Eredivisie. A Dutch youth international, Dallinga has gained caps for both the Netherlands under-19 and Netherlands under-21 team.

Club career

Emmen

Dallinga was born in

and grew up in the towns of

Siddeburen Siddeburen (; Gronings: ''Sibboeren'' or ''Siddeboeren'') is a village in the Dutch province of Groningen. It is located in the municipality of Midden-Groningen, about 10 km southwest of Delfzijl. Siddeburen was a separate municipality unti ...

and

Hellum Hellum (Gronings: Helm) is a village in the municipality of Midden-Groningen, the Netherlands. History The village was first mentioned in 1282 as de Hellum. The etymology is unclear. Hellum is a road village which developed in the 12th century ...

. He played youth football for VV Siddeburen and VV Hoogezand, until he joined the youth academy of

FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch football club based in Emmen, Drenthe. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie title. Founded in 1925, the club entered the professional Eerste Divisie in 1985. I ...

in 2012. He progressed through the youth teams of Emmen before making his professional debut on 27 November 2017 in a 2–1 victory over

MVV 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 Eers ...

in the Eerste Divisie, coming on as a substitute in the 83rd minute for

Cas Peters Cas Peters (born 13 May 1993) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward or winger for German club Alemannia Aachen. He formerly played for FC Twente, Go Ahead Eagles, FC Emmen, Nacional, De Graafschap, TOP Oss and FSV Frankfurt. ...

. On 9 April 2018, he scored his first senior goal in a league match against Telstar. In his debut season, Emmen managed to win promotion to the Eredivisie via the play-offs, in which Dallinga did not make an appearance.

Groningen

On 28 June 2018, Dallinga signed a three-year contract with

, and would initially join their reserve team competing in the

Derde Divisie The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

. After the reserve team withdrew from competition, Dallinga was one of the few players that would stay with the club. He was subsequently promoted to the first team. On 12 December 2020, Dallinga made his debut for Groningen in the Eredivisie, coming off the bench in the 74th minute for

Jørgen Strand Larsen Jørgen Strand Larsen (born 6 February 2000) is a Norwegian professional footballer who plays as a forward or right winger for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, on loan from La Liga club Celta Vigo, and the Norway national team. ...

in a 2–0 victory against RKC Waalwijk. After the 2020–21 season, Dallinga chose to not extend his expiring contract in order for him to gain more experience elsewhere.

Excelsior

In May 2021, Dallinga signed for Excelsior on a free transfer, penning a contract for two seasons. He immediately became a starter in manager

Marinus Dijkhuizen Marinus Dijkhuizen (born 4 January 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who manages Excelsior. As a player, he had notable spells in his native Netherlands with Excelsior, SC Cambuur and TOP Oss. He retired in 2009 a ...

's team. On 6 August 2021, He made his debut in the 1–0 home loss to

TOP Oss TOP Oss (), is a professional association football club based in the town of Oss, North Brabant, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of the Dutch football league system. Founded in 1928 as T.O.P., a Dutch abbreviati ...

. On 13 August, he scored his first goal for Excelsior in a 2–1 away win over Roda JC Kerkrade. Three weeks later, on 3 September, Dallinga impressed by scoring four goals in the 5–0 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 ...

. On 25 September, he scored a brace against

Jong PSV Jong PSV is a Dutch football team based in Eindhoven. It is the reserve team of PSV Eindhoven and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2013–14 season. History Until 2013, Jong PSV played in the Beloften Eredivisie, a league exclusively for ...

in a 3–0 win, bringing his tally to nine goals in eight league games. In the first 19 games for the club, he scored 24 goals and was on pace to break the goal record in the Eerste Divisie. Dallinga would also prove decisive in the playoffs for promotion after Excelsior qualified by finishing sixth in the league table. He scored four goals in their six matches en route to Eredivisie promotion, including a crucial 3–3 equaliser in injury time of the final playoff tie against

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

on 29 May 2022. This happened after having missed a penalty kick earlier in the game. With 36 goals from Dallinga that season, Excelsior achieved promotion after a penalty shoot-out.

Toulouse

On 1 July 2022, Dallinga signed with Toulouse in France. He made his competitive debut on the opening day of the

2022–23 Ligue 1 The 2022–23 Ligue 1, also known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is the 85th season of the Ligue 1, France's premier football competition. It began on 5 August 2022 and will conclude on 4 June 2023. As the 2022 FIFA World Cup began ...

, immediately scoring his first goal for the club after being assisted by compatriot

Branco van den Boomen Branco van den Boomen (born 21 July 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club Ajax. Club career Ajax Born in Eindhoven, van den Boomen began his football career in the youth ranks of RKVVO in Oerle ...

in a 1–1 home draw against Nice. On 29 April 2023, Dallinga won the Coupe de France with Toulouse. Dallinga was the top scorer of the

2022–23 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 ...

edition of the competition with six goals, including two goals he scored in the final against FC Nantes. Dallinga was praised for his brace as the Coupe de France was Toulouse's first major trophy since its establishment in 1970. on 26 October He scored against Liverpool at Anfield to make it 1-1 but Toulouse lost the match 5-1

International career

In 2018, Dallinga was called up by Netherlands under-19 coach Maarten Stekelenburg for three friendly matches. He made his debut on 14 November 2018 in a 4–0 win over Armenia. On 20 November 2018, he scored the winning goal in the 2–1 victory over Portugal just eight minutes after coming off the bench. On 22 October 2021, Dallinga received his first call up for the Netherlands under-21s but would only go on to make his debut on 23 September 2022 in a 2–1 victory over Belgium at Den Dreef in a friendly. On 13 November 2023, Dallinga received his first call up for the Netherlands national team, for the

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament is an upcoming Association football, football competition that will be played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that will join the automatically qualified ...

matches against the Republic of Ireland national team and Gibraltar national team.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Toulouse * Coupe de France:

Individual * Eerste Divisie top scorer: 2021–22

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dallinga, Thijs 2000 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Footballers from Groningen (city) Men's association football forwards FC Emmen players Jong Groningen players FC Groningen players Excelsior Rotterdam players Toulouse FC players Eerste Divisie players Derde Divisie players Ligue 1 players Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France 21st-century Dutch people