Stijn Stijnen

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Personal information
Stijn Stijnen
Full name	Stijn Stijnen
Date of birth	April 7, 1981
Place of birth	Hasselt, Belgium
Height	188 cm
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Club Brugge
Number	1
Youth clubs
	Runkst VV, SC Hasselt
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000-	Club Brugge	17 (0)
National team²
2006-	Belgium	4 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of November 17, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of August 17, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Stijn Stijnen (Hasselt, April 7, 1981) is a Belgian football player with Italian roots. He is currently playing for Club Brugge.

[edit] Biography

Stijnen moved from Hasselt to Bruges in 2000, and became the club's first stand-in for Dany Verlinden and, when Verlinden had retired, for Tomislav Butina. On 18 April 2003 he made his debut in the Jupiler League, in the game against Racing Genk (0-3). However, his big breakthrough came in the season 2005-2006, when he replaced the injured Tomislav Butina several times. Some strong performances (including the champions league game against Juventus) made Stijnen become first goalkeeper. Belgium manager René Vandereycken noticed Stijnen's performances as well and let him make his debut for the Belgium national football team in the game against Saudi Arabia, on 11 May 2006.

[edit] Controversy

Stijnen outraged Gilberto Madaíl, the president of the Portuguese foot-ball association, and Alex Ferguson with comments about Cristiano Ronaldo. He said, “After two minutes we will normally have massacred him so much that he will have to leave the pitch on a stretcher,” followed by “What else do we need to do? Portugal have greater quality and that’s why we have to do things our way. If we try to play like them we will certainly lose.”, referring to Belgium's 24 March 2007 clash against Portugal, a Euro 2008 qualifier. Belgium lost the match 4-0, with Ronaldo scoring two goals.