Stijn De Smet

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Stijn De Smet
Personal information
Full name Stijn Camiel De Smet
Date of birth March 27, 1985 (1985-03-27) (age 23)
Place of birth    Bruges, Belgium
Height 183 cm
Playing position attacking midfielder/forward
Club information
Current club Cercle Brugge
Number 19
Youth clubs
KSV Jabbeke
Cercle Brugge
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
2003- Cercle Brugge 121 (25)   
National team2
2005-2008
2008-		 Belgium U21
Belgium		 10 (3)
1 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 10 May 2008.
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 26 March 2008.
* Appearances (Goals)

Stijn De Smet (born March 27, 1985 in Bruges) is a Belgian professional football player. He currently plays for Cercle Brugge, where he is regarded as the most promising youth prospect and the best youth player at the team since Thomas Buffel.[citation needed] De Smet usually plays as an attacking midfielder or forward. He was discovered by Cercle Brugge (as well as their rivals Club Brugge) at the age of 12 while playing for his local team, SV Jabbeke.

De Smet's big breakthrough came in the 2004-2005 season, being in the starting line-up 19 times. The season before, De Smet had only appeared in 6 matches in total. Since the 2004-2005 season, De Smet is being selected for the matches of the Belgian national under-21 team. He was also part of the squad that qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

In December 2006, Stijn De Smet was invited for a trial at Blackburn Rovers, the partner team of Cercle. Sadly for De Smet, a knee injury caught in the match at Anderlecht forced him to stay in Belgium.

De Smet was called up for Belgium for the first time for an unofficial friendly against Standard Liège, as a replacement for the injured Thomas Chatelle. De Smet played the last 10 minutes of the match. He was called up again for the friendly against Morocco. He started the match and thus received his first cap.

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Flag of Serbia Darko Pivaljević		 Cercle Brugge Topscorer
alongside Tom De Sutter and Oleg Iachtchouk
2008		 Succeeded by
Incumbent

[edit] References

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Cercle Brugge – current squad

3 Portier • 5 Gombami • 7 Viane • 8 Tarumbwa • 9 Iachtchouk • 10 De Sutter • 11 Mahan • 12 Boi • 13 Wille • 14 Serebrennikov • 15 Eboigbe • 16 De Wulf • 17 Sergeant • 18 Snelders • 19 De Smet • 20 Gjuzelov • 21 Vandenbussche • 22 Nyoni • 23 Artz • 25 Verbist • — Buyse • — Catteeuw • — Coppens • — Fernández • — Schotte • — Slović • — Van Eenoo • — Viðarsson • Manager: De Boeck