Tom De Sutter (born 3 July 1985) is a Belgian retired

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.

Early career

De Sutter started his football activities at his local team KVV Balegem, where he was discovered by third division side Standaard Wetteren. From there, he moved to Club Brugge where he couldn't manage to get a place in the first team, so he moved back to a team in the third division, KM Torhout 1992 this time. De Sutter only stayed there for one top-scoring season, as he was discovered by

Clubs Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

city rivals,

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 Divisi ...

, after a friendly match in which De Sutter 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 ...

. At Cercle, he managed a breakthrough almost immediately, scoring in his first official match against

Excelsior Mouscron Royal Excelsior Mouscron was a Belgian football club from the municipality of Mouscron, Hainaut. In December 2009 they were declared bankrupt and soon ceased to exist. A new club known as Royal Excel Mouscron was formed in March 2010 and place ...

. On 27 November 2007, De Sutter scored 4 goals in 21 minutes in a

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 ...

game, playing away against KV Mechelen. In the next round, his goal decided the derby against Cercles main rival Club Brugge, one of De Sutter's former youth teams. The stronger and stronger performances by De Sutter didn't go unnoticed during the 2007–08 mid season break. De Sutter raised the interest from RSC Anderlecht and

Trabzonspor Trabzonspor Kulübü is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Trabzon. Formed in 1967 through a merger of several local clubs, the men's football team has won seven Süper Lig championships. Trabzonspor also have a women's football team, ...

, and he was voted ''Best Player of the First Half of the Season'' by Belgian football fans and media. He also made an unexpected third place in the Golden Shoe election of 2007. On 1 February, Cercle Brugge announced that after the

cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay, ...

match at home against Standard Liège, in which De Sutter scored the final 4–1 goal, Cercle received some bids for De Sutter. The highest bid was rumoured to be one of

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7.5 million from

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб «Зенит» ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, acco ...

, although

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Dick Advocaat Dirk Nicolaas Advocaat (; born 27 September 1947) is a Dutch former football player and coach who is currently the head coach of Eerste Divisie side ADO Den Haag. Advocaat was successful as a football player and as a coach, including three stint ...

denied this. Cercle Brugge spokesman Pol Van Den Driessche confirmed in één program ''De Zevende Dag'' that it was not a bid by Zenit, but that it was an

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, whic ...

an team and that it was a bid between €5 and 10 million. However, De Sutter decided to stay with Cercle. At the end of January 2008, national

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

Rene Vandereycken included De Sutter in his team for

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

's unofficial friendly match against

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège (; nl, Standard Luik ; german: Standard Lüttich ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most ...

. One day before the match, he tore one of his knee ligaments, forcing him to six months of absence. He was back for the beginning of season 2008–2009 still playing in Cercle.

Bursaspor

On 13 August 2015, De Sutter signed a three year contract with Turkish club

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In t ...

Knokke

On 4 July 2019, he joined

Knokke Knokke () is a town in the municipality of Knokke-Heist, which is located in the province of West Flanders in Flanders, Belgium. The town itself has 15,708 inhabitants (2007), while the municipality of Knokke-Heist has 33,818 inhabitants (2009). ...

on a 2-year contract. However, he decided to retire at the end of the season.Tom De Sutter stopt: "Zijn laatste transfer is er eentje naar huis"
sporza.be, 2 April 2020

International career

De Sutters performances were also noticed by

Jean-François De Sart Jean-François de Sart (born 18 December 1961 at Waremme) is a former Belgian football player. He is the former coach of the Belgium national under-21 football team and has last worked as Director of football for Standard Liège. While at R.F.C. ...

, the Belgian national under-21 coach, selecting him for the team after his transfer from Cercle. He was part of the squad that qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

Honours

;R.S.C. Anderlecht *

Belgian First Division 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 te ...

: 2009–10, 2011–12,

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* Belgian Supercup: 2010,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

;Club Brugge *

(1): 2014–15 Belgian Cup, 2014–15

References

Tom de Sutter Lokeren ile anlaştı!
fanatik.com.tr, 24 June 2016

External links

Cerclemuseum.be
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:De Sutter, Tom 1985 births Living people Belgian footballers Belgium international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgian expatriate footballers Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players R.S.C. Anderlecht players Club Brugge KV players Bursaspor footballers K.S.C. Lokeren Oost-Vlaanderen players K.V. Oostende players Belgian First Division A players Süper Lig players Expatriate footballers in Turkey Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Association football forwards Footballers from Ghent