Tom Soetaers (born 21 July 1980) is a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

former

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 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 ...

and current football coach, mostly being deployed as a left-winger. He is currently in charge of SC Hoegaarden-Outgaarden.

Club career

Soetaers began his career at Belgian side

Anderlecht Anderlecht (, ) is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the south-western part of the region, it is bordered by the City of Brussels, Forest, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, and Saint-Gilles, as well as the ...

where he made just seven appearances for the first team before moving to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to play for

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

. He spent three years at Roda becoming a big part of their team and was signed by league rivals

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 ...

. However Soetaers failed to ever really establish himself at the club and after just over a year he returned to his home country with

K.R.C. 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 cham ...

. On his return to

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 ...

Soetaers managed to rediscover the form he showed at

and helped the side to qualify for 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 ...

for two seasons. He also won the Belgian Cup in 2008–09 with

, beating

K.V. Mechelen Yellow Red Koninklijke Voetbalclub Mechelen (), often simply called KV Mechelen () or KVM, or by their former French name FC Malinois, is a Belgian professional football club based in Mechelen in the Antwerp province. KV Mechelen plays in the ...

in the final. On 21 June 2009, Soetaers signed a two-year contract with K.V. Kortrijk, but after only 6 months he went to KV Mechelen, in a transfer deal that included

Giuseppe Rossini Giuseppe Rossini (born 23 August 1986) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a striker for Olympic Namur in the Belgian Provincial Leagues. Club career Youth career Rossini was born in Bari, Italy, but at age four he moved to La Louvière ...

who went the other way. Soetaers currently has eight caps for

winning his first in 2003 in a match 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 ...

. Currently Soetaers is working for the TV channel 2Be.

Honours

Roda JC *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

: 1999–2000 Genk *

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 ...

: 2009 Belgian Cup Final, 2008–09

References

External links

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Tom Soetaers
at Footballdatabase 1980 births Living people Belgian footballers Belgium youth international footballers Belgium under-21 international footballers Belgium international footballers R.S.C. Anderlecht players Roda JC Kerkrade players AFC Ajax players K.R.C. Genk players K.V. Kortrijk players K.V. Mechelen players Belgian Pro League players Eredivisie players Belgian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands People from Tienen Association football midfielders Footballers from Flemish Brabant {{Belgium-footy-midfielder-stub