Mattijs Branderhorst

Mattijs Branderhorst (born 31 December 1993) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays for Eredivisie club FC Utrecht as a goalkeeper.^[1][2]

Mattijs Branderhorst

Branderhorst with Willem II in 2013
Personal information
Date of birth	(1993-12-31) 31 December 1993 (age 29)
Place of birth	Tiel, Netherlands
Height	1.92 m (6 ft 4 in)^[1]
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team	FC Utrecht
Number	31
Youth career
0000–2009	Theole
2009–2015	Willem II
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2015–2019	Willem II	21	(0)
2015–2016	→ MVV (loan)	5	(0)
2019	→ NEC (loan)	16	(0)
2019–2023	NEC	79	(0)
2023–	FC Utrecht	0	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 1 July 2023

Club career

Willem II

Branderhorst came through the youth ranks at Willem II from his childhood club Theole. On 18 November 2011, he was included in the first-team squad for the first time. In a match against Almere City, manager Jurgen Streppel kept him on the bench for the entire game.^[3] In the years that followed, Branderhorst became a regular starter in the reserve team of the Tilburg-based side, which featured players such as Virgil van Dijk and Frenkie de Jong.^[4]

Branderhorst was loaned to MVV in 2015.^[5] There, he made his professional debut on 13 September 2015 as a substitute for the injured Jo Coppens against NAC Breda.^[6]

He made his debut for Willem II on 15 October 2017 in the home match against FC Twente. In the match, he made the start for the injured Timon Wellenreuther.^[7]

NEC

On 28 January 2019, Branderhorst was loaned to NEC for the remainder of the season.^[8] On 1 February, he made his debut in the 4–1 home win over Jong FC Utrecht. After the loan ended, NEC brought him to Nijmegen on a permanent deal, with him signing a contract for two seasons.^[9]

The second season he was the undisputed starter in goal and played all matches until the competition was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He started the 2020–21 season as second goalkeeper, behind Norbert Alblas, who had recovered from an injury.^[10] He did, however, start the two KNVB Cup matches against Fortuna Sittard and VVV-Venlo.^[11] On 26 February 2021, manager Rogier Meijer decided to switch goalkeepers: after a number of unfortunate performances by Alblas, Branderhorst became the starting goalkeeper again.^[12] On 23 May, Branderhorst won promotion with NEC to the Eredivisie, by beating NAC Breda 2–1 in the final of the play-offs.^[13] He signed a new two-year contract on 22 June 2021.^[14]

In his first season with NEC in the Eredivisie, he was the starting goalkeeper after winning the position battle with Danny Vukovic.^[15] He immediately managed to keep three clean sheets in the first four games.^[16] That season, only Remko Pasveer of Ajax and Lars Unnerstall from Twente had more clean sheets than Branderhorst.^[17] Despite his strong performances through the season, NEC brought back Netherlands international goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen, who they signed from Valencia in August 2022, demoting Branderhorst to backup for the 2022–23 season.^[18]

Utrecht

In July 2023 he signed for FC Utrecht.^[19]

Career statistics

As of match played 19 October 2022^[1][2]

Club	Season	League			Cup		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Willem II	2015–16	Eredivisie	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	2016–17	Eredivisie	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	2017–18	Eredivisie	20	0	4	0	—		—		24	0
	2018–19	Eredivisie	1	0	2	0	—		—		3	0
	Total		21	0	6	0	—		—		27	0
MVV (loan)	2015–16	Eerste Divisie	5	0	1	0	—		—		6	0
NEC (loan)	2018–19	Eerste Divisie	16	0	0	0	—		2^[a]	0	18	0
NEC	2019–20	Eerste Divisie	29	0	1	0	—		—		30	0
	2020–21	Eerste Divisie	14	0	2	0	—		3^[a]	0	19	0
	2021–22	Eredivisie	34	0	0	0	—		—		34	0
	2022–23	Eredivisie	1	0	1	0	—		—		2	0
	Total		94	0	4	0	—		5	0	103	0
Career total			120	0	11	0	—		5	0	136	0

1. Appearances in the Eredivisie promotion/relegation play-offs

References

1. Mattijs Branderhorst at Soccerway. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
2. Mattijs Branderhorst at WorldFootball.net
3. "Willem II - Almere City FC 1:2 (Eerste Divisie 2011/2012, 13. Round)". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
4. Broek, Danny van den (29 March 2019). "Mattijs Branderhorst is eenling in een elftal". de Gelderlander (in Dutch).
5. Mattijs Branderhorst op huurbasis van Willem II naar MVV Maastricht - Brabants Dagblad (in Dutch)
6. "MVV - NAC Breda 1:1 (Eerste Divisie 2015/2016, 6. Round)". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
7. . HP/De Tijd (in Dutch). 15 October 2017. Archived from the original on 15 October 2017.
8. N.E.C. huurt Mattijs Branderhorst van Willem II - N.E.C. Nijmegen (in Dutch)
9. Gruijthuijsen, Jasper van (23 May 2019). "Doelman Mattijs Branderhorst eerste aanwinst voor NEC". de Gelderlander (in Dutch).
10. Zundert, Bram van (26 August 2020). "Branderhorst is plek kwijt, Alblas eerste keus onder de lat bij NEC". de Gelderlander (in Dutch).
11. "Mattijs Branderhorst » KNVB beker 2020/2021". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
12. Pichel, Dominique (25 February 2021). "Keeperswissel bij NEC: Alblas geslachtofferd voor Branderhorst". de Gelderlander (in Dutch).
13. "NEC verslaat NAC in slotfase en keert na vier jaar terug in de eredivisie". nos.nl (in Dutch). 23 May 2021.
14. "N.E.C. en Mattijs Branderhorst verlengen contract" (in Dutch). 22 June 2021. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
15. Bijma, Jeroen (13 August 2021). "Branderhorst krijgt voorkeur boven Vukovic en is eerste doelman van NEC". De Gelderlander (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 May 2022.
16. "Mattijs Branderhorst » Eredivisie 2021/2022". Worldfootball. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
17. "Torhüter | Eredivisie 2021/22: 34. Spieltag". kicker (in German). from the original on 23 May 2022. Retrieved 23 May 2022.
18. Bijma, Jeroen (8 August 2022). "Branderhorst begrijpt keuze NEC voor Cillessen: Je bent gek als je de kans om hem terug te halen laat schieten". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 3 December 2022.
19. "Keeper Mattijs Branderhorst versterkt FC Utrecht". FC Utrecht.

External links

• Mattijs Branderhorst at WorldFootball.net