Mike Havenaar

Mike Havenaar

Havenaar playing for Ventforet Kofu in 2010
Personal information
Date of birth	(1987-05-20) 20 May 1987
Place of birth	Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Japan
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Vitesse
Number	14
Youth career
	Sapporo FC
2000–2002	Consadole Sapporo
2003–2005	Yokohama F. Marinos
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2006–2010	Yokohama F. Marinos	26	(0)
2008	→ Avispa Fukuoka (loan)	26	(7)
2009	→ Sagan Tosu (loan)	33	(15)
2010–2011	Ventforet Kofu	63	(37)
2012–	Vitesse	63	(21)
National team‡
2005	Japan U18	1	(0)
2006	Japan U19	3	(0)
2007	Japan U20	3	(1)
2011–	Japan	15	(4)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 November 2013. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:35, 19 June 2013 (UTC)

Mike Havenaar (ハーフナー・マイク, Hāfunā Maiku, born 20 May 1987) is a Japanese-Dutch professional footballer. He currently plays as a striker for Eredivisie side Vitesse.

Early life

Havenaar's parents came to Japan from the Netherlands in 1986 when his father Dido signed on to play for Hiroshima-based side Mazda F.C. of the Japan Soccer League (now Sanfrecce Hiroshima of the J. League). His mother was an athlete and a former national champion in the heptathlon.^[1] His younger brother Nikki currently plays for Nagoya Grampus and has previously played for the U-17 and U-18 Japan national team as centre back.^[2] The Havenaar family became naturalized Japanese citizens in 1994.

Club career

Havenaar began his career with the Consadole Sapporo U-15 side, where his father played and later worked as goalkeeper coach.

When Dido moved to powerhouse Yokohama F. Marinos, Mike joined the Marinos youth side and promoted to the top team in 2006. Playing as a forward, Havenaar made his debut as a professional on 15 April 2006, against Gamba Osaka. Havenaar and his father are the first father-son combination to play in the J. League.

He was loaned to second division club Avispa Fukuoka^[3] and Sagan Tosu and showed respectable results.

In 2010 he joined Ventforet Kofu, scoring 20 goals in 30 appearances for the club, helping them gain promotion to J. League Division 1.

In 2011 Havenaar returned to Division 1 with Venforet and netted 17 times in 32 appearances. He received the J. League Best Eleven award after the season.^[4] Despite his contendership for the Top Scorer award, Kofu was relegated at the end of the season.

Vitesse

On 21 December, Dutch side Vitesse announced that they completed the signing of Havenaar on a two-and-a-half-year contract beating out the likes of Bundesliga side Wolfsburg for his signature.^[5]

Havenaar made his debut for the club as a 73rd minute substitute for Nicky Hofs in their 1–0 away defeat to rivals NEC Nijmegen.^[6] His first goal came in his next appearance, a 3–1 loss to PSV.^[7] Havenaar made his first start for Vitesse on 4 February 2012 and provided an assist to Nicky Hofs first goal of the season, securing a 1–0 win NAC Breda.^[8] Havenaar scored his second goal for his new club in another losing effort, this time a 4–1 loss to title contenders FC Twente.^[9] Havenaar continued to impress for Vitesse, slotting the ball home after a cutting pass from Alexander Buttner to complete a 2–0 victory over De Graafschap on 4 March.^[10] Away against FC Groningen he made the third goal for Vitesse in the last minute, the game ended in 1–3 for Vitesse.

International career

In 2007, Havenaar was picked to join the Japan U-20 squad to compete 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada and played one match against Nigeria U-20.

In August 2011, he was called up to Japan's training squad.^[11]

He made his debut for Japan on 2 September 2011 as a 70th minute substitute against North Korea in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier match,^[12] striking the post. He scored his first ever goals for the national team with a brace, both headers, against Tajikistan on 11 October 2011 in the same competition. Japan won the game 8–0.^[13]

Career statistics

As of 25 September 2013 (2013-09-25)^[14][15]

International

As of 22 June 2013 (2013-06-22)^[12]

Goals for senior national team

^[12]

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	11 October 2011	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Tajikistan	1–0	8–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	11 October 2011	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Tajikistan	5–0	8–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
3.	6 September 2012	Tohoku Denryoku Big Swan Stadium, Niigata, Japan	United Arab Emirates	1–0	1–0	International Friendly
4.	23 March 2013	Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Canada	2–1	2–1	International Friendly

Honours

Individual

• J. League Division 2 Top Scorer (1) : 2010
• J. League Best XI (1) : 2011

Personal life

Havenaar is trilingual, he learned Japanese from his everyday life, Dutch from his parents and English from going to Yokohama International School.^[16] Havenaar married a Japanese woman in 2011^[17] and in the same year, his first daughter was born on 5 August.^[18]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mike Havenaar.

• Mike Havenaar – FIFA competition record
• Mike Havenaar Transfermarkt

Japan Squad v t e Japan squad – 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Kawashima 2 Inoha 3 G. Sakai 4 Honda 5 Nagatomo 6 Uchida 7 Endō 8 Kiyotake 9 Okazaki 10 Kagawa 11 Havenaar 12 Nishikawa 13 Hosogai 14 Nakamura 15 Konno 16 Kurihara 17 Hasebe (c) 18 Maeda 19 Inui 20 Takahashi 21 H. Sakai 22 Yoshida 23 Gonda Coach: Zaccheroni