Darren Maatsen

Darren Maatsen
Personal information
Date of birth (1991-01-30) 30 January 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth Vlaardingen, Netherlands
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Winger
Team information
Current team
 Excelsior Maassluis
Number 10
Youth career
VV HVO
Dordrecht
Excelsior Maassluis
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2011–2013 Excelsior 52 (5)
2013–2015 Ross County 18 (3)
2015 Den Bosch 16 (2)
2015 Ayia Napa 8 (1)
2016–2017 Go Ahead Eagles 42 (7)
2017–2018 Apollon Smyrni 9 (0)
2018–2020 RKC Waalwijk 51 (12)
2020–2021 Stabæk 18 (3)
2021 NAC Breda 7 (0)
2021–2022 Quick Boys 27 (8)
2022–2024 AFC 18 (0)
2024– Excelsior Maassluis 17 (2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:17, 15 October 2024 (UTC)

Darren Maatsen (born 30 January 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a winger for Excelsior Maassluis.[1]

Career

Maatsen started playing football in his youth career at VV HVO, FC Dordrecht and Excelsior Maassluis.

SBV Excelsior

Maatsen joined Excelsior in 2011, starting his professional football career. Maatsen made his début, in the opening game of the season, when he came on as a substitute in the 72nd minute in a 2–0 loss against Feyenoord. In numbers of games, he mostly came on the bench as a substitute. In a match against Twente, on 2 October 2011, Maatsen came on as a substitute in the 82nd minute and with eight minutes remaining until full-time, he scored twice to make a comeback in a 2–2 draw.[2] Later in the 2011–12 season, Maatsen scored three more goals against Ajax,[3] NAC Breda[4] and VVV-Venlo,[5] to add a tally to his Excelsior career, but the club was relegated to Eerste Divisie, having finished eighteenth place with nineteenth points. Despite the relegation, his performance attracted interests from Polish side Lech Poznań.[6]

In the 2012–13 season, Maatsen started to play on the right-wing mostly, though sometimes on the left, or even as a striker, making twenty-eight appearances in all competitions.

Ross County

Maatsen signed for Scottish Premiership club Ross County on 21 June 2013.[7]

After just three minutes of the opening match of the season, away to Celtic, he scored with a powerful shot from the edge of the penalty area that went in off the crossbar with goalkeeper Fraser Forster well beaten; Ross County lost 2–1.[8] It was awarded "goal of the week" by The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast.[9] However, Mattsen's first team opportunities was soon limited and made only made ten appearances after suffering an ankle injury that kept him out for most of the season.[10]

The 2014–15 season saw Maatsen's playing time continued to be reduced, even though he scored two goals this season against Dundee[11] and Dundee United.[12] By the time he made seven appearances and scored two times. He was released by Ross County on 2 February 2015.[13]

After Ross County

Maatsen signed with Dutch Eerste Divisie side FC Den Bosch on the same day.[14] Six days later, on 9 February 2015, he made his Den Bosch debut, coming on as a substitute for Jort van der Sande in the 83rd minute, in a 2–0 win over Emmen.[15] Maatsen scored four days later after his debut, in a 5–1 win over Helmond Sport.[16] In the last game of the season, he scored in a 3–3 draw against Almere City.[17] Maatsen made sixteen appearances and scoring twice in his half season at Den Bosch.

On 20 July 2017, Maatsen signed a contract with the recently promoted club of Apollon Smyrni. At his interview after his transfer, he stated that he considered the transfer a big step in his career.[18]

On 23 August 2021, he joined Quick Boys.[19]

Personal

His brother is professional footballer Dalian Maatsen. Maatsen is of Surinamese descent.[20]

References

  1. ^ Darren Maatsen at WorldFootball.net
  2. ^ "Excelsior surprised poor Twente in final stage" [Excelsior verrast pover Twente in slotfase] (in Dutch). AD.nl. 2 October 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  3. ^ "Ajax wins again league game at Arena" [Ajax wint weer eens competitieduel in Arena] (in Dutch). AD.nl. 3 December 2011. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  4. ^ "Excelsior lags off after victory on 9 NAC'ers" [Excelsior hekkensluiter af na zege op 9 NAC'ers] (in Dutch). AD.nl. 21 January 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  5. ^ "Excelsior thanks 'idiot' and gives red lantern to VVV" [Excelsior dankt 'sukkel' en geeft rode lantaarn aan VVV] (in Dutch). AD.nl. 4 January 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  6. ^ "Polish striker adventure beckons for Excelsior" [Pools avontuur lonkt voor spits Excelsior] (in Dutch). AD.nl. 20 April 2012. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
  7. ^ "Winger Darren Maatsen joins Ross County from Excelsior". BBC Sport. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  8. ^ "Anthony Stokes' goals inspire Celtic to opening day win over Ross County". The Observer. Press Association. 3 August 2013. Retrieved 21 May 2014.
  9. ^ "THINGS WE NOTICED FROM THE SCOTTISH PREMIERSHIP (05/08/13)". The Terrace Scottish Football Podcast. 5 August 2013. Archived from the original on 10 July 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  10. ^ "Ross County fit final piece in jigsaw as new signing is confirmed". Ross-Shire Journal. 31 January 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  11. ^ "Ross County 2 - 1 Dundee". BBC Sport. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  12. ^ "Ross County 2 - 3 Dundee United". BBC Sport. 5 December 2014. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  13. ^ "DEPARTURE: DARREN MAATSEN LEAVES CLUB". Ross County F.C. 2 February 2015. Archived from the original on 3 February 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
  14. ^ "Ross County: Darren Maatsen leaves for Den Bosch". BBC Sport. 3 February 2015. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  15. ^ "Jupiler League: Jong PSV, RKC en Helmond Sport verliezen, alleen FC Den Bosch wint" (in Dutch). Omroep Brabant. 9 February 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  16. ^ "FC Den Bosch en trainer Van Eck winnen ook in Helmond" (in Dutch). Omroep Brabant. 13 February 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  17. ^ "Notes des joueurs Den Bosch - Almere City [3-3]" (in Dutch). Walfoot. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
  18. ^ "Ντάρεν Μάατσεν, ο 13ος στον Απόλλωνα Σμύρνης" (in Greek). www.sport24.gr. 20 July 2017. Retrieved 22 July 2017.
  19. ^ "K.v.v. Quick Boys strikt Darren Maatsen" (in Dutch). Quick Boys. 23 August 2021. Retrieved 4 October 2021.
  20. ^ "Darren Maatsen :: Darren Maatsen :: NAC Breda".