Edson René Braafheid (born 8 April 1983) is a Dutch

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 currently plays as a

left-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 amateur club Palm Beach Stars. Braafheid started his career with

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 ...

side

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

in 2003, before moving on to

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

in 2007 on a free transfer. He was signed by German

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 ...

club Bayern Munich in 2009 for €2 million. After failing to break into the team during the first half of the season Braafheid moved on loan to Scottish Premier League club Celtic, in order to increase his chances of playing in the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

with Holland. After a few appearances at the start of the 2011–12 season for Bayern, Braafheid moved to fellow Bundesliga club

Hoffenheim Hoffenheim () is a village in Rhein-Neckar-Kreis, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Sinsheim and, as of 2020, it has a population of 3,191. History The village, settled since prehistoric times, and first mentione ...

. Braafheid has played for the U-21 and full Netherlands team. Braafheid was called up to the Netherlands squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics, however, due to Twente's European matches early in the season he couldn't go. He was also called up to the squad for the 2010 World Cup and made a substitute appearance in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

Club career

Utrecht

Braafheid began his professional career at FC Utrecht in 2003 and made 81 appearances for the side.

FC Twente

On 10 February 2007, Braafheid played his first

match for

against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), 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 bef ...

. His current contract at the club lasts until 2010. Braafheid came to Twente on a free transfer after his contract with Utrecht expired; he was a talented left-back, but Braafheid impressed friend and foe when playing for Twente as a strong, sturdy central defender instead of his former position. He kept talented central defender Ramon Zomer out of the Twente squad ever since he made the position his own. Former Twente coach

Fred Rutten Fredericus Jacobus Rutten (; born 5 December 1962) is a Dutch football coach and former player. As a player, he spent his entire career with Twente during the years 1979 to 1992. Following his playing career, Rutten also managed Twente, before m ...

is to thank for that, turning Braafheid from a noticeably talented back to an impressive central defender, despite his mediate height.

Bayern Munich

Braafheid joined Bayern Munich for the 2009–10 season after the German club and Twente agreed on a €2 million transfer deal on 11 June 2009. He was not able to secure himself a place in the starting squad, however, during the first half of the season, he asked for a transfer in order to have a chance of being nominated for the Dutch

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

team.

Celtic

Braafheid was signed by Celtic of

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

on a loan deal until the end of the 2009–10 season on 1 February. Braafheid made his debut for Celtic on 7 February 2010 in a 4–2 victory over

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Tony Mowbray Anthony Mark Mowbray (born 22 November 1963) is an English former professional footballer who is currently the manager of Sunderland. Mowbray played for Middlesbrough, Celtic and Ipswich Town as a defender. He began his coaching career with Ip ...

on 25 March 2010.

1899 Hoffenheim

After Braafheid made only three appearances in the first leg of the new season, he moved to fellow

side

1899 Hoffenheim Turn- und Sportgemeinschaft 1899 Hoffenheim e.V., or simply TSG 1899 Hoffenheim or just Hoffenheim () is a German professional football club based in Hoffenheim, a village of Sinsheim municipality, Baden-Württemberg. Originally founded in 189 ...

on 27 January, following teammate

David Alaba David Olatukunbo Alaba (born 24 June 1992) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back or left-back for La Liga club Real Madrid and captains the Austria national team. Alaba started out in Bayern's youth system before b ...

. On 5 February 2011, Braafheid made his debut for the team in the 3–2 home win against

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

, but was

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

only six minutes after coming on as a substitute for

Vedad Ibišević Vedad Ibišević (; born 6 August 1984) is a Bosnian former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is currently assistant head coach of Hertha BSC. Ibišević started his professional career at Paris Saint-Germain. He had a two-yea ...

. Returning from a one-season loan spell at

and despite his contract running until June 2014, Braafheid was no longer part of Hoffenheim's Bundesliga squad for the 2013-14 campaign. His former shirt number 28 was assigned to

Alexander Stolz Alexander Stolz (; born 13 October 1983) is a German former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Playing career Stolz was born in Pforzheim. He joined VfB Stuttgart from the Regionalliga side FC Nöttingen during summer 2005, in ...

. After the summer transfer window had closed, he started to participate in the U23 training sessions.

S.S. Lazio

On 1 August 2014, S.S. Lazio announced that they had signed Braafheid on a free transfer. He renewed contract on 6 July 2015.

FC Utrecht

On 17 August 2016, Braafheid signed a one-year contract at his first club FC Utrecht. In early January 2018, he agreed the termination of his contract with Utrecht citing family reasons and lack of playing time.

Austin Bold FC

In August 2018, Braafheid was one of the first three players signed by

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

expansion club

Austin Bold FC Austin Bold FC was an American professional soccer team located in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2017, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. In 2021, Austin Bold FC announced it would be moving to Fort Worth, Texas leaving Circ ...

, along with Kléber Freitas and Marcelo Saragosa. Braafheid's work visa cleared in June 2019 and he made his debut for Bold FC on June 30, playing the full 90 in a 5-0 win over

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC is a professional soccer team based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Founded in 2014, the team is a member of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The franchise is owned by Martin E Ra ...

Palm Beach Stars

Braafheid continued his career by joining the Palm Beach Stars of the Florida-based Premier American Soccer League in November 2020.

International career

In 2006, Braafheid was part of 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 ...

squad that won the

UEFA U-21 Championship 2006 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship was the 15th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship. In December 2005, Portugal was selected to host the finals of the competition, which took place from 23 May–4 June 2006. The tournament was w ...

in Portugal. In a column in early 2008, critic Hugo Borst had named Braafheid as a true defender, and stated he should have been in the Dutch squad for

Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of Europea ...

in Austria and Switzerland under manager Marco van Basten. Dutch fans heavily criticised the defence after Jaap Stam,

Frank de Boer Franciscus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredi ...

, and other highly rated defenders said goodbye to the ''Oranje'' shirt. Even despite the defenders since then continued to concede very few goals in the post-Stam era, defence was considered as the greatest weakness. On 11 February 2009, Braafheid made his debut for the Dutch national team against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

2008 Summer Olympics

In early summer of 2008, Braafheid was selected for the Dutch Olympic Squad going to

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 ...

, along with fellow Twente defender Rob Wielaert, as one of the three possible dispensation players. But as Twente qualified for

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 competi ...

football in play-offs by beating

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Gree ...

, Braafheid and Wielaert were no longer allowed to go, as their Champions League matches were early in the season.

2010 World Cup

Braafheid was included in the preliminary squad for the

in South Africa. On 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager

Bert van Marwijk Lambertus van Marwijk (; born 19 May 1952) is a Dutch football manager who was recently the head coach of the United Arab Emirates national team. As a player, he played for the Go Ahead Eagles, AZ, MVV and Fortuna Sittard amongst other club ...

announced that the player would be part of the final squad of 23 competing in South Africa. Braafheid came on as a substitute in the World Cup final. Near the end of the second half of extra time he was hit in the back of his head by an accidental volley. Luckily, the ball fell right into the arms of the Dutch keeper

Maarten Stekelenburg Maarten Stekelenburg (; born 22 September 1982) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club Ajax. Stekelenburg began his career at Ajax, playing 282 matches over nine seasons in his first spell there and win ...

. The Netherlands went on to lose the match, thus making them the runners up for a third time in a World Cup final. Braafheid and the rest of his team were rewarded with a silver medal.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Utrecht * Johan Cruyff Shield: 2004 Netherlands *

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

runner-up: 2010

References

External links

*
Profile at VI.nl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Braafheid, Edson 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Paramaribo Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Surinamese footballers Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Dutch expatriate footballers FC Utrecht players FC Twente players FC Bayern Munich footballers Celtic F.C. players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim players S.S. Lazio players Eredivisie players Bundesliga players Scottish Premier League players Serie A players Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2010 FIFA World Cup players Association football fullbacks Austin Bold FC players USL Championship players