Stefan de Vrij (born 5 February 1992) 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, rugb ...

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 ...

for 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 Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

and the Netherlands national team. He began his career at his local club VV Spirit, and debuted as a professional for

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 i ...

aged 17. He spent five seasons at 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 ...

club, serving briefly as captain, before joining Lazio in July 2014. A full international since 2012, De Vrij has earned over 50 caps for the Netherlands. He was part of the Dutch team that finished third at the

2014 FIFA World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for list of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from ...

, and was selected for the Castrol Performance Index Team of the Tournament. He also played at

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europ ...

Early life

De Vrij grew up in Ouderkerk aan den IJssel. He is the youngest son of Jan de Vrij, who played for local club VV Spirit, where Stefan de Vrij started his career. His older brothers Niels and Eric played football in their youth and continued to different career paths.

Club career

Feyenoord

De Vrij played for local Ouderkerk aan den IJssel club VV Spirit for five seasons. At the age of 10, he attended a

talent day. After various training sessions and a friendly match against ARC, De Vrij was officially asked to join Feyenoord's youth division. At VV Spirit, De Vrij often played as a central midfielder, but at Feyenoord he got turned into a defender. The youngster developed himself rapidly. After playing for Feyenoord U15, De Vrij was one of the players to skip the U16 team to play in the U17 immediately. On 17 July 2009, De Vrij signed his first professional contract with Feyenoord until summer 2012. De Vrij made his official debut for Feyenoord's first team on 24 September 2009, when he replaced

Kelvin Leerdam Kelvin Leerdam (; born 24 June 1990) is a Surinamese professional footballer who plays as a right-back for LA Galaxy and the Suriname national team. Club career Early career Leerdam was born in Paramaribo, the capital and largest city of Suri ...

in the 58th minute in the

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 ...

away match against

Harkemase Boys Harkemase Boys is a football club from Harkema, Netherlands. The club plays in the Derde Divisie since 2016, when it won a section championship in the Hoofdklasse. History On 27 October 2021, they became one of 3 Derde Divisie teams to advance ...

(0–5). On 6 December 2009, De Vrij made his Eredivisie debut in the home match against

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

(3–1), when he replaced Denny Landzaat in the 89th minute. Aged 18 by its end, his first professional season saw him make 21 appearances, 17 of which were in the league. During the 2012–13 season, De Vrij replaced

Ron Vlaar Ron Peter Vlaar (born 16 February 1985) is a Dutch former footballer who played as a centre-back. Vlaar came up through AZ's youth ranks. After making his professional debut, he played sparingly for two seasons before joining Feyenoord in 2006. ...

as team captain. However, after a poor run of form in the following campaign, De Vrij was stripped of his armband as it was given first to star striker

Graziano Pellè Graziano Pellè (; born 15 July 1985) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker. Pellè began his career at local Serie A club Lecce, and was loaned to three lower-division sides before moving to the Dutch club AZ in 2007. ...

and then to vice-captain Jordy Clasie after the former struggled with disciplinary issues.

Lazio

On 30 July 2014, De Vrij joined

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 Cop ...

club

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

for an undisclosed fee. He said "Lazio really proved that they wanted me and I am very happy I have made this move. I hope to become a more complete defender in Italy." De Vrij had been widely expected to follow his international manager

Louis van Gaal Aloysius Paulus Maria "Louis" van Gaal (; born 8 August 1951) is a Dutch former football player and manager. At club level, he served as manager of Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and Manchester United, as well as having three spe ...

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

. He made his debut on 24 August in the third round of the

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

, and scored the third goal of a 7–0 home win over third-tier Bassano Virtus. A week later, he played his first Serie A match as Lazio began the season with a 3–1 defeat at

A.C. Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...

. On 21 September, he was sent off in the 85th minute of a game away to

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

which Lazio had been dominating, and two minutes later

Mauricio Pinilla Mauricio Ricardo Pinilla Ferrera (born 4 February 1984) is a Chilean former professional footballer who played as a striker. After beginning his career at Universidad de Chile, he signed for Inter Milan at the age of 19, but never appeared for ...

scored the only goal to give Genoa victory. De Vrij featured in the

2015 Coppa Italia Final The 2015 Coppa Italia Final decided the winner of the 2014–15 Coppa Italia, the 68th season of Italy's main football cup. It was played on 20 May 2015 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, between Juventus and Lazio. Juventus won 2–1 after extra ...

on 20 May against

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

, being substituted for Keita at half time in extra time in an eventual 2–1 defeat. His second season began with the

2015 Supercoppa Italiana The 2015 Supercoppa Italiana was the 28th edition of the Supercoppa Italiana, Italian football supercup. It was played on 8 August 2015 at the Shanghai Stadium in Shanghai, China. With Juventus winning both the 2014–15 Serie A championship a ...

, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 loss to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four Direct-administered municipalities of China, direct-administered municipalities of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the ...

. In September, he picked up a knee injury on international duty but was passed fit to play a further match for the Netherlands, infuriating Lazio's medical staff. He did not make a sufficient recovery, and was subjected to an operation the following month. In November, it was confirmed that he would miss the next six months due to the injury. He scored his first goal for the club in Serie A on 11 September 2016 in a 1–1 away draw to

Chievo Chievo (4,500 inhabitants) is a frazione of Verona located to the west of the city, around from the historic city centre, on the shores of the river Adige. It is best known for its football team, A.C. ChievoVerona, which competes in the second ...

. In March 2018, Lazio's sporting director Igli Tare announced that De Vrij would be leaving the club on a free transfer in the summer.

Inter Milan

Following months of speculation, on 28 May 2018, De Vrij announced that he was going to join

starting on 1 July. On 11 July, he was officially presented as an Inter player, signing a contract until June 2023. De Vrij received squad number 6, and made his competitive debut on 19 August in the opening championship week against Sassuolo. He scored his first goal for ''Nerazzurri'' one week later, putting his side two goals up against

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

at home, in an eventual 2–2 draw. In September 2018, De Vrij played his 100th match in

in the 2–1 home win over Fiorentina. He also made his first

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 ...

appearance in season opener against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

, assisting Matías Vecino's injury-time winner for a 2–1 home win. De Vrij eventually played 5 out of 6 matches in the competition's

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concen ...

, which saw en early elimination of Inter, instead continuing their European adventure in knockout phase of

UEFA 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. ...

. Later on 14 March 2019, in the second leg of Europa League round of 16, De Vrij's wrong ball control resulted fatal for Inter who conceded inside 5 minutes, and eventually lost the game to Eintracht Frankfurt 1–0 at

San Siro Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, commonly known as San Siro, is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy, which is the home of A.C. Milan and Inter Milan. It has a seating capacity of 80,018, making it one of the largest stadiums ...

, crashing out of competition 1–0 on aggregate. Three days later, De Vrij scored in the

Derby della Madonnina The Derby della Madonnina, also known as the Derby di Milano (Milan Derby, in English), is a derby football match between the two prominent Milanese clubs, Internazionale and A.C. Milan. It is called ''Derby della Madonnina'' in honour of one ...

match against rivals

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

, helping his team to win 3–2, taking back the third place in championship, and completing the first league double over them since 2011–12 season. On 9 November 2019, in the 2019–20 season, De Vrij made his 50th appearance in all competitions for Inter in a 2–1 league win over

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

at San Siro.

International career

Youth teams

De Vrij's strong development at Feyenoord did not pass by unnoticed, as he quickly received his first invitation for a national youth team. On 21 November 2007, the Netherlands U16 won the friendly match against Ukraine U16 (1–0), with De Vrij's first appearance in the starting line-up. De Vrij was active on the

2009 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship The 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Championship was the eighth edition of UEFA's UEFA European Under-17 Championship, European Under-17 Football Championship since it was renamed from the original under-16 event, in 2001. Germany hosted the champions ...

in Germany. The Dutch team, aided by a strong contingent of seven Feyenoord players in the squad, finished second after losing the final to Germany in extra-time (2–1). De Vrij was paired up with

Dico Koppers Dico Koppers (born 31 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left back for Ajax Amateurs in the Derde Klasse. Club career Ajax Koppers began his footballing career in Utrecht, playing for the local amateur side SCH'4 ...

in central defence and participated in every match the ''Oranje'' played without getting substituted, making a notable contribution. With a second place on the European Championship, the Netherlands U17 qualified for the

2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the thirteenth tournament of the FIFA U-17 World Cup held in Nigeria from 24 October to 15 November 2009. The tournament was won by Switzerland, beating the host team and holders, Nigeria. The Golden Ball to the Be ...

in Nigeria.

Senior team

On 7 May 2012, De Vrij was named in the provisional list of 36 players for the

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

tournament, one of nine uncapped players to be chosen by

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 ...

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 clubs ...

as part of the preliminary squad. He did not make the final cut. On 15 August 2012, De Vrij made his debut under new manager

in the 4–2 loss against

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 ...

in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

. He was one of four Feyenoord defenders named in

's squad for the

. In the Netherlands' first game of the tournament, against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

on 13 June, the referee gave a questionable penalty kick after 26 minutes after

Diego Costa Diego da Silva Costa (, ; born 7 October 1988), commonly known as Diego Costa, is a professional footballer who plays as a striker for Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers and the Spain national team. Costa began his football care ...

stood on De Vrij's foot and fell.

Xabi Alonso Xabier Alonso Olano (, ; born 25 November 1981) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player who is currently the head coach of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen. Alonso began his career at Real Sociedad, the main team of his h ...

converted this penalty to put Spain 1–0 up. The Dutch fought back, and De Vrij scored their third goal, the first of his international career, as they eventually won 5–1. De Vrij played in all of the Netherlands' matches as they eventually finished in third place. He and

Arjen Robben Arjen Robben (; born 23 January 1984) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a winger. He was known for his dribbling skills, speed, ball control and long-range shots. Robben is regarded as one of the best players of his gener ...

were the two Dutch players selected to the Team of the Tournament. In the Netherlands' first game of UEFA Euro 2016 qualification away to the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

on 9 September 2014, De Vrij equalised with a header from

Daley Blind Daley Blind (; born 9 March 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder, left-back or centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team. He is the son of former Ajax defender and fo ...

's cross but the Dutch lost 2–1. He headed the team into the lead after 13 minutes in an eventual 2–0 win over Spain in a friendly at the

Amsterdam ArenA The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

on 31 March 2015, also wearing the captain's armband after

Wesley Sneijder Wesley Sneijder (; born 9 June 1984) is a Dutch retired professional Association football, footballer. Due to his elite playmaking ability, Sneijder was considered one of the best midfielders in the world during his prime. A product of the Ajax ...

's substitution.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each De Vrij goal.''

Honours

Lazio *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana ( en, Italian Super Cup) is an annual association football, football match contested by the winners of the Serie A and the Coppa Italia in the previous season. If the same team wins both the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

runner-up: 2014–15, 2016–17 Inter Milan *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

* Coppa Italia: 2021–22 * Supercoppa Italiana:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

runner-up: 2019–20 Netherlands U17 *

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

runner-up:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; Protests ...

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 has ...

third place:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wa ...

Individual * FIFA World Cup All-Star Team:

* Serie A Best Defender: 2019–20 *UEFA Europa League Squad of the Season: 2019–20 * Serie A Team of the Year: 2019–20,

References

External links

Stefan de Vrij
at ''

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 ...

'' * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vrij, Stefan de 1992 births Living people People from Ouderkerk Footballers from South Holland Dutch footballers Association football defenders Feyenoord players S.S. Lazio players Inter Milan players Eredivisie players Serie A players Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Netherlands international footballers 2014 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy