Zinho Vanheusden (born 29 July 1999) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

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 ...

club

Standard Liege Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Heraldic flag, Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology) ...

, on loan from

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Football in Italy, Italian professional Association football, football ...

, and the Belgium national team.

Club career

Inter Milan

In mid-2015, Vanheusden joined Inter Milan's youth academy after 7 seasons in the Standard Liège youth system. He was promoted to

the first team The First Team were the first players known to have played the sport of basketball, having been taught the game in 1891 by James Naismith, who is recognized as the inventor of the sport. The team comprised 18 players who were studying in Springf ...

in the last few matches of

2016–17 Serie A The 2016–17 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 115th season of top-tier Italian football, the 85th in a round-robin tournament, and the 7th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

; he also appeared as an unused bench for a few matches at the start of

2017–18 Serie A The 2017–18 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 116th season of top-tier Italian football, the 86th in a round-robin tournament and the 8th since its organization under a league committee separate from Serie B. ...

. He also played for the under-19 team as the starting defender, winning 2016–17

Campionato Nazionale Primavera The Campionato Nazionale Primavera – Trofeo Giacinto Facchetti, was an Italian football youth competition. It is organised by the Lega Serie A and the participating teams that take part in Serie A and Serie B: the first edition was held in th ...

. On 27 September 2017, Vanheusden injured his cruciate ligament in a UEFA Youth League match against

FC Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offici ...

, which kept him out of action for four months. On 26 January 2018, Vanheusden extended his contract with Inter until June 2022.

Loan to Standard Liège

On 30 January 2018, Vanheusden joined Standard Liège until 30 June 2018, with an option to extend for one more year. Vanheusden made his professional debut in a 1–0

Belgian First Division A 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 ...

playoff win over

K.A.A. Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (, English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Ghent or by their nickname ' ( en, The Buffalos), is a Belgian sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football ...

on 14 April 2018.

Standard Liège

On 28 June 2019, Standard Liège signed Vanheusden in a permanent deal for a reported €12.5 million fee, which surpassed Nicolae Stanciu's record as the most expensive purchase by a Belgium club.

Return to Inter Milan

On 13 July 2021, he returned to

Loan to Genoa

On 20 July, he was sent on loan to

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

. He made his

debut on 21 August against Inter away, at the Giuseppe Meazza in a 4–0 loss to his team.

Loan to AZ

On 25 July 2022, Vanheusden was loaned by AZ in the Netherlands, with an option to buy.

Loan to Standard Liège

On 8 July 2023, he returned to

for the upcoming season.

International career

Vanheusden debuted with the Belgium national team in a 1–1 friendly draw with

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

on 8 October 2020.

Personal life

Vanheusden is named after the Brazilian footballer,

Zinho Crizam César de Oliveira Filho, better known as Zinho (; born 17 June 1967), is a Brazilian football pundit and retired footballer. Playing career Club Born in Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Zinho played club football in Brazil with Flamengo, ...

after his performance at the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

Career statistics

References

External links

*
Standard Profile
1999 births Footballers from Hasselt Living people Belgian men's footballers Belgium men's international footballers Belgium men's under-21 international footballers Belgium men's youth international footballers Standard Liège players Inter Milan players Genoa CFC players AZ Alkmaar players Belgian Pro League players Serie A players Eredivisie players Men's association football defenders Belgian expatriate men's footballers Belgian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Belgian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands {{Belgium-footy-defender-stub