Thomas Buffel (, born 19 February 1981) 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 le ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

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 ...

. He represented the Belgium national team at international level.

Club career

Early career

Buffel began his career with Belgian sides Daring Ruddervoorde and

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 ...

before making a move to the Netherlands. Buffel played for the Dutch team

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 ...

in the 1999–2000 season, before moving to their feeder team

Excelsior Rotterdam Excelsior Rotterdam, commonly known as Excelsior, is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football from the 2022–23 season following promotion. The club was found ...

from 2000 to 2002. He returned to Feyenoord for the

2002–03 Eredivisie The Dutch Eredivisie in the 2002–03 season was contested by 18 teams. PSV won the championship. League standings Results Promotion/relegation play-offs Top scorers See also * 2002–03 Eerste Divisie * 2002–03 KNVB Cup ...

season. He reportedly fell out with then-manager

Ruud Gullit Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all t ...

in the next season "after refusing to sign a new contract".

Rangers

Buffel moved to the Scottish side Rangers in January 2005 in a £2.3 million, four-and-a-half-year deal. He made his debut in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

rivals

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in what was to be a 2–1 defeat. However, the season did not end badly for him as he was to play a key role in the 2005 Scottish League Cup Final, where Rangers defeated

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

5–1. He also featured in the Rangers team for the latter part of the season where he would help them to their 51st league title making it a double for his first season with the club. Buffel scored five goals in 18 appearances in all competitions. Buffel featured in the Champions League and helped Rangers reach the last 16 of the tournament, where they lost to

Villarreal Villarreal ( ca-valencia , Vila-real) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's ...

3–3 on aggregate and were knocked out on away goals rule. Across all competitions, he scored seven goals in 38 appearances during the 2005–2006 season mostly playing in the

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

. In the 2007 January

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

, German club

Hannover 96 Hannoverscher Sportverein von 1896, commonly referred to as Hannover 96 (), Hannover, HSV or simply 96, is a German professional football club based in the city of Hanover, Lower Saxony. They played in the Bundesliga for a total of 30 years betwe ...

expressed an interest in him, with Rangers manager

Walter Smith Walter Ferguson Smith (24 February 1948 – 26 October 2021) was a Scottish association football player, manager and director, primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Glasgow club Rangers. A defender, Smith's playing car ...

saying Buffel was free to leave. However, the deal fell through when Buffel was unable to agree personal terms with the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

side. It was announced on 9 February 2007 that Buffel would undergo surgery on a long-term knee injury and would not take any further part in the 2006–07 season. He returned to action on 26 September as a substitute in a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

tie against East Fife. He would go on to make just five appearances in all competitions in his final season at Rangers.

Cercle Brugge

Buffel's Rangers career came to an end when he joined former club

on 1 July 2008.

Genk

In the 2009 summer transfer window Buffel made a last-minute transfer to

KRC Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four champ ...

as part of a deal between Genk and Cercle Brugge with

Jelle Vossen Jelle Vossen (born 22 March 1989) is a Belgian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker for Belgian First Division A club S.V. Zulte Waregem, Zulte Waregem. Club career RC ...

(on loan) and

Hans Cornelis Hans Cornelis (born 13 October 1982) is a Belgian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Belgian Division 2 club Lokeren-Temse. Playing career Cornelis was part of a last minute transfer deal in the late even ...

moving the opposite way. In the 2010–11 season he won the Belgian league title with Genk. His contract was not renewed at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Zulte Waregem

In June 2018, it was announced Buffel would continue his career at Zulte Waregem. Buffel retired at the end of the 2018–19 season.

International career

Buffel made his debut for Belgium against

Andorra , image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg , symbol_type = Coat of arms , national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...

in October 2002 in what was to be a 1–0 victory. He has since then gained 35 caps and scored 7 goals. In recent times he has been out of the picture as a player of the Belgium national football team.

Coaching career

Buffel began his coaching career in September 2019, when he was appointed assistant manager to

Jacky Mathijssen Jacky Mathijssen () (born 20 July 1963 in Dilsen-Stokkem) is a Belgian former football (soccer), football player and manager who is currently managing the Belgium national under-21 football team, Belgium U21 squad. Managerial statistics ''As of 1 ...

at the Belgium national U-19 team. In March 2020, Buffel and Mathijssen was promoted to the U-21 national team. On 3 February 2021, Buffel was also hired as an assistant manager for former club

under newly appointed manager

Yves Vanderhaeghe Yves Vanderhaeghe (; born 30 January 1970) is a Belgian football manager and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. In February 2022 he became the manager of K.V. Oostende for a second time. Known for his tackling, hard-working ap ...

, next to his job at the national team. However, on 5 October 2021, Buffel decided to leave the position, as he was going to start his Pro License course and he therefore no longer could combine his two jobs.

Personal life

Buffel was married to Stephanie De Buysser, with whom he had twin sons born in November 2013. They married in June 2016, when De Buysser was already suffering from colon cancer. On 26 January 2017, De Buysser died.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Belgium's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Buffel goal.''

Honours

Rangers *

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

: 2004–05 *

: 2004–05 Genk *

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 team ...

: 2010–11 *

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 ...

: 2012–13 Belgian Cup, 2012–13 *

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 champion ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buffel, Thomas 1981 births Living people Flemish sportspeople Footballers from Bruges Belgian footballers Belgium men's international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Excelsior Rotterdam players Feyenoord players Rangers F.C. players K.R.C. Genk players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Scottish Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Scotland