Wouter Burger (born 16 February 2001) 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

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

defensive 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 ...

for club

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. Burger began his professional career with

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 ...

, making his

Eredivise 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 ...

debut in May 2019. after loan spells with

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

, and

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

he moved on to

Swiss Super League The Swiss Super League (known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a Swiss professional league in the top tier of the Swiss football league system and has been played in its current format since the 2003–04 season ...

side

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

in August 2021. After two seasons at

St. Jakob-Park St. Jakob-Park () is a Swiss sports stadium in Basel. It is the largest football venue in Switzerland and home to FC Basel. "Joggeli", as the venue is nicknamed by the locals, was originally built with a capacity of 33,433 seats. The capacity w ...

, Burger joined English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

in August 2023 for a fee of £4.3 million.

Club career

Feyenoord

Burger started playing football at amateur club ZBVH in the village of

Zuid-Beijerland Zuid-Beijerland is a village in the Dutch province of South Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Hoeksche Waard, and lies about 10 km south of Spijkenisse. The village was originally called Den Hitsert. The current name was first us ...

near

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

. After time at

VV SHO VV SHO, or in the long form Voetbalvereniging Steeds Hooger Oud-Beijerland, is a Dutch football club from Oud-Beijerland. It was established on 18 July 1930 and plays on Saturdays. The first squad competes in 2017-18 Eerste Klasse Saturday. Histo ...

and

, he joined the

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

. On 30 March 2017, Burger signed his first professional contract at the age of 16. Burger made his first-team debut for Feyenoord on 17 August 2018 in the

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

third round qualifiers against

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovakia, Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its association football, football department. The first team currently plays in the Slovak Super Liga, Fortuna Liga after winning the 2010–11 Slovak Fi ...

, coming on for

Tyrell Malacia Tyrell Johannes Chicco Malacia (born 17 August 1999) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as a left-back for Premier League club Manchester United F.C., Manchester United and the Netherlands national football team, N ...

in the 83rd minute. On 29 August 2019, Burger scored his first goal in professional football in a 3–0 away win against

Hapoel Be'er Sheva Hapoel Be'er Sheva Football Club ( he, מועדון הכדורגל הפועל באר שבע, ''Moadon HaKaduregel Hapoel Be'er Sheva'') is an Israeli football club from the city of Be'er Sheva, that competes in the Israeli Premier League. The cl ...

for Feyenoord in the play-off round of the

2019–20 UEFA Europa League The 2019–20 UEFA Europa League was the 49th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 11th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. Sevilla defeated Inter Milan in the fina ...

. In December 2018, he signed another contract extension, keeping him at the club until 2023.

Loan to Excelsior

Burger was sent on loan to his former youth club

in the second half of the 2019–20 season. Burger played in seven

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 ...

games for Excelsior, before the league was suspended due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Loan to Sparta Rotterdam

Ahead of the 2020–21 season, Burger was sent on another loan to a

-based club – this time

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

. Here he made 18 first team appearances in 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 ...

scoring two goals helping Sparta finish in 7th and qualify for the European competition play-offs where Burger played against his parent club Feynoord in a 2–0 defeat.

Basel

On 31 August 2021

club

announced that Burger had signed a four-year contract with them. Burger joined Basel's first team during their 2021–22 season under head coach

Patrick Rahmen Patrick Rahmen (born 3 April 1969) is a Swiss football coach and former player who last worked as head coach for Basel. He played as midfielder or forward. Club career Patrick Rahmen learned his football skill playing with Nordstern Basel and t ...

. He made his domestic league debut for his new club on 12 September being substituted in during the away game as Basel played a 1–1 draw against

Lugano Lugano (, , ; lmo, label=Ticinese dialect, Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Luga ...

. In his first season with the club, Burger played 35 domestic league and Conference League matches without scoring a goal. The team ended the league season as runners-up and in the 2021–22 Conference League they advanced to the round of 16. Burger scored his first goal for the team in the first match of the

2022–23 Swiss Super League The 2022–23 Swiss Super League (referred to as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsoring reasons) is the 126th season of top-tier competitive football in Switzerland and the 20th under its current name and format. With this season, the Swi ...

season. It was the equaliser in the away game at the Schützenwiese on 16 July 2022 as Basel played a 1–1 draw with

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

. It was during the first half of this season in which Burger achieved his best playing performances, especially in the 2022–23 Conference League. This was shown during the first group stage match at home in the

on 8 September in which he scored his first brace, as Basel won 3–1 against Pyunik. Basel advanced as far as the semi-finals, but here they were defeated by

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional football club based in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while the actual club was refounded in August 2002 fo ...

. In the

Super League The Super League (officially known as the Betfred Super League due to sponsorship from Betfred and legally known as Super League Europe), is the top-level of the British rugby league system. At present the league consists of twelve teams, of wh ...

the team suffered a disappointing season and finished in fifth position. Soon after the beginning of the next season Burger decided to move on and the club announced his departure on 25 August. During his time with the club he played a total of 104 games for Basel scoring a total of six goals. 59 of these games were in the

, four in the

Swiss Cup The Swiss Cup (; ; ; ) is a football cup tournament that has been organised annually since 1925–26 by the Swiss Football Association. Since 1999 the winner earns the chance to qualify for the UEFA Europa League or the UEFA Europa Conference L ...

, 27 in the

UEFA Conference League The UEFA Europa Conference League (abbreviated as UECL) is an annual football club competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. Clubs qualify for the competition based on thei ...

and 14 were friendly games. He scored four goals in the domestic league and the above mentioned two during the European games.

Stoke City

On 25 August 2023, Burger signed for

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

club

on a four-year contract for a fee of £4.3 million. He scored on his full debut for Stoke on 29 August 2023 in a 6–1 win against

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

in the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

. He scored the only goal of the game against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

on 14 February 2024. Burger was a key member of the Stoke team in 2023–24, making 41 appearances, scoring four goals as Stoke successfully avoided relegation, finishing in 17th position.

International career

With the Netherlands U17 team, Burger participated in the

2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2018 UEFA European Under-17 Championship (also known as 2018 UEFA Under-17 Euro) was the 17th edition of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship (36th edition if the Under-16 era is also included), the annual international youth football champ ...

in England. The team eventually won the final over

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

after a penalty-shootout. Burger was subsequently included in the UEFA team of the tournament.

Career statistics

Honours

Feyenoord *

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Netherlands U17 *

UEFA European Under-17 Championship The UEFA European Under-17 Championship or simply UEFA Under-17 Championship, is an annual football competition contested by the European men's under-17 national teams of the member associations of UEFA. Spain is the most successful team in this ...

Individual *

Team of the Tournament:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burger, Wouter 2001 births Living people People from Korendijk Footballers from South Holland Dutch men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Feyenoord players Excelsior Rotterdam players Sparta Rotterdam players FC Basel players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Swiss Super League players Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland 21st-century Dutch people Expatriate men's footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Stoke City F.C. players English Football League players