Riechedly Bazoer (born 12 October 1996) 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 ...

of Curaçaoan descent who plays 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 ...

for Dutch club AZ.

Club career

Ajax

Bazoer joined

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 ...

on a free from rival

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 ...

club PSV on 16 November 2012. He had been linked with a move to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

with Arsenal,

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, Manchester City and Newcastle United being mentioned, but opted to sign with Ajax instead. No transfer fee was necessary, as the young defender was under age. However it was declared by the

KNVB The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and wome ...

that Bazoer would not be eligible for the first team of Ajax until after his 16th birthday. Unable to make his debut in the 2012–13 season for the first team due to the KNVB ruling, he played for Jong Ajax in the Beloften Eredivisie, as well as participating in the 2013

Copa Amsterdam The Copa Amsterdam (''known for sponsorship reasons as the'' Aegon Copa Amsterdam), formerly known as the ''Gestion Copa Amsterdam'', is an annual youth football tournament, organized and hosted by AFC Ajax for under-19 youth teams which takes pl ...

with Ajax A1. On 29 June 2013, he made his debut for Ajax during a pre-season friendly against

SDC Putten Sterk Door Combinatie Putten (SDC Putten) is an association football club from Putten, Netherlands. It was founded in 1952. History In 1966 SDC Putten promoted from the Tweede Klasse to the Hoofdklasse. Since, it plays predominantly in the Hoof ...

. Bazoer came on as a second-half substitute, with the match ending in a 4–1 win in favour of Ajax. Bazoer made his professional debut in the

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 t ...

for Jong Ajax, in the team's season opener against

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fi ...

on 5 August 2013, a match they won 2–0 in the team's first ever match in the second division of Dutch football. On 4 September 2013 it was announced that Bazoer was amongst the 22 players who were registered by

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 ...

for Ajax's 2013–14 UEFA Champions League campaign. On 15 February 2015, Bazoer scored his first goal for Ajax in a 4–2 win over

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 ...

. On 19 February 2015, Bazoer made his full European debut in a 1–0 win over Legia Warsaw in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

VfL Wolfsburg

On 14 December 2016,

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

announced that Bazoer had signed a contract with the Lower Saxony club through 30 June 2021. The transfer went through in the following Winter Transfer period. The reported transfer fee was 12 million euro. He made his

debut in the

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 ...

game versus

TSG 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 1 ...

on 12 February 2017.

Porto (loan)

On 31 August 2018, Bazoer was loaned to Primeira Liga side

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

on one-year loan. Bazoer did not featured in any league games for Porto due to injuries and lack of discipline which made him play with

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

Utrecht (loan)

On 7 January 2019, he joined

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 ...

on loan until the end of the season.

Vitesse

On 12 July 2019, he joined Vitesse on a permanent transfer from VfL Wolfsburg for an undisclosed amount. He signed a three-year deal. Bazoer made his debut for Vitesse on 3 August 2019 against former club Ajax. In the match, he scored a goal to put Vitesse ahead 2–1 before being sent off for two yellow cards as they were held to a 2–2 draw. On 24 October 2019, Bazoer was left out of the Vitesse squad until further notice due to his attitude. Under head coach Thomas Letsch, Bazoer would grow into a key player. The German manager of Vitesse positioned Bazoer in the position of centre-back, after advice by assistant coach

Joseph Oosting Joseph Oosting (born 29 January 1972) is a Dutch Association football, football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of Eredivisie side, RKC Waalwijk. Club career He played professional football from 1988 to 2006 for BV Veendam ...

. As Vitesse finished 4th in the league table in the 2020–21 season, Bazoer was voted "Player of the Season" by Dutch football magazine ''

Voetbal International ''Voetbal International'' (VI) is a Dutch football magazine. It is the oldest Dutch football magazine that is still running. History and Profile ''Voetbal International'' was established in 1965. VI was one of the founding members of ESM but le ...

''.

AZ Alkmaar

On 1 August 2022, Bazoer joined AZ on a free transfer, signing a three-year contract.

International career

Youth

Bazoer has represented the Netherlands at various youth levels. He participated in the

2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship The 2012 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the eleventh edition of UEFA's European Under-17 Football Championship under its current age grouping. Slovenia hosted the tournament between 4 and 16 May. An appeal by the Hungarian Football Federa ...

, helping to contribute 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 ...

' second consecutive continental title in that age group by defeating

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

5–4 on penalties in the final, after extra time following a 1–1 deadlock. On 4 January 2013, the

Curaçao Football Federation Curaçao Football Federation ( pap, Federashon Futbòl Kòrsou, FFK) is the football association of Curaçao. It is the legal successor of the Netherlands Antillean Football Union, which ended with the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 20 ...

expressed an interest in calling up Bazoer to represent the Curaçao U-20 team for the

2013 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2013 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was an association football tournament that took place between February 18 and March 3, 2013. The CONCACAF U-20 Championship determined the four CONCACAF teams that would participate at the 2013 FIFA U-20 Wo ...

in Mexico. Bazoer was eligible due to his age and heritage, and this would not have conflicted with his decision to play for the Netherlands given the player's age but the offer was turned down by his agents, and Bazoer remained in Amsterdam.

Senior

Bazoer received his first call up to the senior Netherlands team in October 2015 to replace the injured

Davy Klaassen Davy Klaassen (born 21 February 1993) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club AFC Ajax, Ajax and the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Club career Earl ...

, and again on 6 November 2015 for friendlies against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

and

. He made his senior debut as a late substitute against Wales on 13 November 2015. He was called up to the preliminary squad for the Curaçao national team for the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled t ...

Career statistics

Honours

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 ...

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 ...

Individual *

Talent of the Year: 2016

References

External links

Netherlands U17 stats
at UEFA.com
Netherlands U21 stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Bazoer, Riechedly 1996 births Living people Dutch footballers Dutch people of Curaçao descent Footballers from Utrecht (city) Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Bundesliga players Liga Portugal 2 players USV Elinkwijk players PSV Eindhoven players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players VfL Wolfsburg players FC Porto players FC Porto B players FC Utrecht players SBV Vitesse players Netherlands international footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Dutch expatriate footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal Association football midfielders