Stefan de Vrij

Stefan de Vrij (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈsteːfɑn də ˈvrɛi̯]; born 5 February 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Serie A club Inter Milan and the Netherlands national team.

Not to be confused with Stefan de Vries.

Stefan de Vrij
De Vrij playing for Lazio in 2018
Personal information
Full name Stefan de Vrij[1]
Date of birth (1992-02-05) 5 February 1992
Place of birth Ouderkerk aan den IJssel, Netherlands
Height 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)[2]
Playing position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 Inter Milan
Number 6
Youth career
1997–2002 VV Spirit
2002–2009 Feyenoord
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2014 Feyenoord 135 (7)
2014–2018 Lazio 95 (8)
2018– Inter Milan 62 (6)
National team‡
2007–2008 Netherlands U16 3 (0)
2008–2009 Netherlands U17 18 (0)
2010–2011 Netherlands U19 9 (0)
2012 Netherlands U20 1 (0)
2011–2013 Netherlands U21 12 (0)
2012– Netherlands 37 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 1 August 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 16 October 2018

He began his career at his local club VV Spirit, and debuted as a professional for Feyenoord aged 17. He spent five seasons at the Eredivisie club, serving briefly as captain, before joining Lazio in July 2014.

A full international since 2012, De Vrij has earned over 30 caps for the Netherlands. He was in the Dutch team which finished third at the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and was selected for the Castrol Performance Index Team of the Tournament.

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.[3]

Club career

Feyenoord
De Vrij training with Feyenoord in 2012

De Vrij played for local Ouderkerk aan den IJssel club VV Spirit for five seasons. At the age of 10, he attended a Feyenoord talent day. After various training sessions and a friendly match against ARC, De Vrij was officially asked to join Feyenoord's youth division.[3] 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.[3]

On 17 July 2009, De Vrij signed his first professional contract with Feyenoord until summer 2012.[4] De Vrij made his official debut for Feyenoord's first team on 24 September 2009, when he replaced Kelvin Leerdam in the 58th minute in the KNVB Cup away match against Harkemase Boys (0–5).[5] On 6 December 2009, De Vrij made his Eredivisie debut in the home match against FC Groningen (3–1), when he replaced Denny Landzaat in the 89th minute.[6] 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 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 and then to vice-captain Jordy Clasie after the former struggled with disciplinary issues.[7][8]

Lazio

On 30 July 2014, De Vrij joined Serie A club Lazio 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 to Manchester United.[9]

He made his debut on 24 August in the third round of the Coppa Italia, and scored the third goal of a 7–0 home win over third-tier Bassano Virtus.[10] A week later, he played his first Serie A match as Lazio began the season with a 3–1 defeat at A.C. Milan.[11] On 21 September, he was sent off in the 85th minute of a game away to Genoa which Lazio had been dominating, and two minutes later Mauricio Pinilla scored the only goal to give Genoa victory.[12] De Vrij featured in the 2015 Coppa Italia Final on 20 May against Juventus, being substituted for Keita at half time in extra time in an eventual 1–2 defeat.[13]

His second season began with the 2015 Supercoppa Italiana, playing the full 90 minutes of a 2–0 loss to Juventus in Shanghai.[14] 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.[15] He did not make a sufficient recovery, and was subjected to an operation the following month.[16] In November, it was confirmed that he would miss the next six months due to the injury.[17]

He scored his first goal for the club in Serie A on 11 September 2016 in a 1–1 away draw to Chievo.[18]

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.[19]

Inter Milan

Following months of speculation, on 28 May 2018, De Vrij announced that he was going to join Inter Milan starting on 1 July.[20][21] On 11 July, he was officially presented as an Inter player, signing a contract until June 2023.[22] De Vrij received squad number 6, and made his competitive debut on 19 August in the opening championship week against Sassuolo.[23]

He scored his first goal for Nerazzurri one week later, putting his side two goals up against Torino at home, in an eventual 2–2 draw.[24] In September 2018, De Vrij played his 100th match in Serie A in the 2–1 home win over Fiorentina.[25][26] He also made his first UEFA Champions League appearance in season opener against Tottenham Hotspur, assisting Matías Vecino's injury-time winner for a 2–1 home win.[27] De Vrij eventually played 5 out of 6 matches in the competition's group stage, which saw en early elimination of Inter, instead continuing their European adventure in knockout phase of UEFA Europa League.[28]

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, crashing out of competition 1–0 on aggregate.[29] Three days later, De Vrij scored in the Derby della Madonnina match against rivals Milan, helping his team to win 3–2,[30] taking back the third place in championship,[31] and completing the first league double over them since 2011–12 season.[32]

On 9 November 2019, in the 2019–20 season, De Vrij made his 50th appearances in all competitions for Inter in a 2–1 league win over Verona at San Siro.[33]

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.[3] 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.[34]

De Vrij was active on the 2009 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship 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).[35] De Vrij was paired up with Dico Koppers in central defence[36] and participated in every match the Oranje played without getting substituted, making a notable contribution.[3] With a second place on the European Championship, the Netherlands U17 qualified for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria.

Senior team

On 7 May 2012, De Vrij was named in the provisional list of 36 players for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament, one of nine uncapped players to be chosen by Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk 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 Louis van Gaal in the 4–2 loss against Belgium in a friendly match.[37]

He was one of four Feyenoord defenders named in Louis van Gaal's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.[38] In the Netherlands' first game of the tournament, against Spain on 13 June, the referee gave a questionable penalty kick after 26 minutes after Diego Costa stood on De Vrij's foot and fell.[39] Xabi Alonso 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.[40] De Vrij played in all of the Netherlands' matches as they eventually finished in third place. He and Arjen Robben were the two Dutch players selected to the Team of the Tournament.[41]

In the Netherlands' first game of UEFA Euro 2016 qualification away to the Czech Republic on 9 September 2014, De Vrij equalised with a header from Daley Blind's cross but the Dutch lost 2–1.[42] 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 on 31 March 2015, also wearing the captain's armband after Wesley Sneijder's substitution.[43]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 10 August 2020[44][45]
Club statistics
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Feyenoord 2009–10 Eredivisie 17150——221
2010–11 301102[lower-alpha 1]0—331
2011–12 30120——321
2012–13 260303[lower-alpha 2]0—320
2013–14 324102[lower-alpha 1]0—354
Total 135712070—1547
Lazio 2014–15 Serie A 30051——351
2015–16 20002[lower-alpha 3]01[lower-alpha 4]050
2016–17 27240——312
2017–18 366307[lower-alpha 1]11[lower-alpha 4]0477
Total 958121912011810
Inter Milan 2018–19 Serie A 282008[lower-alpha 5]0—362
2019–20 344208[lower-alpha 6]0—444
Total 62620160—806
Career total 292212613212035223
  1. All appearance(s) in UEFA Europa League
  2. Two appearances in UEFA Champions League, one appearance in UEFA Europa League
  3. All appearance(s) in UEFA Champions League
  4. Appearance in Supercoppa Italiana
  5. Five appearances in UEFA Champions League, three appearances in UEFA Europa League
  6. Six appearances in UEFA Champions League, two appearances in UEFA Europa League

International
As of 31 May 2018[46]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Netherlands 201220
201370
2014162
201551
201600
201730
201840
Total373

International goals
Netherlands score listed first, score column indicates score after each De Vrij goal.[46]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 13 June 2014Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador, Brazil13 Spain3–15–12014 FIFA World Cup
2 9 September 2014Generali Arena, Prague, Czech Republic21 Czech Republic1–11–2UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying
3 31 March 2015Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands27 Spain1–02–0Friendly

Honours

Lazio

Netherlands U17

Netherlands

Individual

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References
  1. "2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil: List of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 11 June 2014. p. 25. Retrieved 11 June 2014.
  2. "Stefan de Vrij". inter.it (in Italian). F.C. Internazionale Milano. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  3. "Dromen van doorbraak: Stefan de Vrij (16) ontwikkelt zich bij Feyenoord en Oranje sterk" [Dreaming of breakthrough: Stefan de Vrij (16) develops strongly at Feyenoord and Oranje]. AD (in Dutch). 3 February 2009. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
  4. "De Vrij tekent eerste profcontract" [De Vrij signs first prof contract]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 17 July 2009. Archived from the original on 23 February 2012. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
  5. "Feyenoord boekt onberispelijke zege in Friesland" [Flawless victory for Feyenoord in Friesland]. Feyenoord.nl (in Dutch). 21 November 2009. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
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  8. "Pelle accuses "Ajax" supporter". Fox Sports. 2 March 2014.
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In this Dutch name, the family name is De Vrij, not Vrij.
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