Dirk Kuyt

Dirk Kuijt (anglicised to Kuyt, ; born 22 July 1980) is a Dutch former professional footballer and current manager of Challenger Pro League club Beerschot.

Originally starting out as a striker, he played much of his career as a winger.

Kuyt began his professional career with Utrecht in 1998 and quickly became part of its first team.

He spent five years at the club, and in his final season he won his first senior honour, the KNVB Cup, and was chosen as the season's Dutch Golden Shoe Winner.

Following this, he left Utrecht in a €1 million transfer to Feyenoord.

He broke into the first team in March 1998, playing the last six games of the season in the Hoofdklasse, and catching the eye of Eredivisie club Utrecht.

Kuyt still regularly visits Katwijk and his old club Quick Boys, which benefited from a £300,000 windfall as a result of the player's move to Liverpool.

Kuyt signed professionally for Utrecht that summer, aged 18, and immediately established himself in the first team.

Sometimes, he played as striker, however he was more often than not playing as a winger, as the side preferred to play Montenegrin Igor Gluščević up front.

Kuyt missed only five games over seven seasons from 1999 until 2006 and appeared in 179 consecutive matches between 2001 and 2006, striking up a fruitful partnership with fellow Feyenoord teammate Salomon Kalou.

He left Feyenoord after three years, having scored 71 league goals in 101 appearances, and joined Premier League side Liverpool for £10 million.

He scored in the UEFA Champions League final which Liverpool lost against Milan.

Kuyt missed only five games over seven seasons from 1999 until 2006, making 233 appearances.

Between March 2001 and April 2006, he played 179 consecutive matches.

This continued until the 2002–03 season when Foeke Booy was installed as the club's new manager.

Booy played Kuyt as a striker / attacking midfielder (behind the striker) for the entire season, and Kuyt repaid him with 20 league goals.

Utrecht also reached the KNVB Cup final, where it met Feyenoord.

Although the club was an underdog, Utrecht comfortably won the cup 4–1, with Kuyt scoring one and being given the man of the match award.

At the end of the season, Kuyt completed a €1 million move to Feyenoord, where he replaced the out-going Pierre van Hooijdonk.

At Feyenoord, Kuyt immediately became a fans' favourite with his continued goal scoring success.

His first season saw him net another 20 league goals.

Kuyt played for the Netherlands from 2004 to 2014.

The opening game of the 2004–05 season marked Kuyt's first ever hat-trick against De Graafschap.

He later went on to score three in the 6–3 victory against ADO Den Haag and ended the season as the Eredivisie's top scorer with 29 goals, a career high.

He became the club captain in 2005 and was a prolific goalscorer at the Rotterdam club; he was the club's top scorer for three consecutive seasons, the top goalscorer in the 2004–05 Eredivisie season, and the 2005–06 Dutch Footballer of the Year.

In 2005, Kuyt was handed the Feyenoord club captaincy and went on to have a third successful season with the club, scoring 25 goals in all competitions.

He formed a strong partnership with Salomon Kalou, with the duo nicknamed "K2".

He represented the nation at five major international tournaments, the 2006, 2010, and 2014 FIFA World Cups and the 2008 and 2012 UEFA European Championships.

Over the summer of 2006, Kuyt was again linked with moves to many top English clubs, most notably Liverpool and Newcastle United.

Rumours began in May, with Kuyt stating, "I am happy at Feyenoord but I would like to play in the Premier League."

Kuyt completed a move to Liverpool on 18 August for an undisclosed fee.

He scored several important goals for Liverpool elsewhere, including seven goals in the 2007–08 Champions League, including a goal in the quarter-final against Arsenal at Emirates Stadium and in the semi-final against Chelsea, and two penalty kicks against Everton in the derby the same season.

He scored his first hat-trick for Liverpool against Manchester United in March 2011.

After coming on as a substitute, his extra time goal at Wembley for Liverpool against Cardiff City in the 2012 League Cup Final helped win the trophy for Liverpool, and was also his only trophy as a Liverpool player.

Kuyt announced his retirement from football in 2017, having scored a hat-trick in the last game of the season to secure Feyenoord their first title since 1999 three days earlier.

He briefly came out of retirement the following April, to help out Quick Boys, where he already was the assistant-manager, to fix their shortage on strikers for the remainder of the season.

Kuyt is the third of four children.

His father was a fisherman and he has stated that if he would not have found a career in football he probably would have followed his father into the family business.

He grew up in the fishing town of Katwijk aan Zee.

Kuyt's football career began when he joined the local amateur team Quick Boys at age five.