Global InformationVirgil van Dijk information
 Van Dijk lining up for the Netherlands in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Virgil van Dijk | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 8 July 1991 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Breda, Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Centre-back | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Liverpool | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 4 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| WDS'19 | |||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2010 | Willem II | ||||||||||||||||
| 2010–2011 | Groningen | ||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2013 | Groningen | 62 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
| 2013–2015 | Celtic | 76 | (9) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015–2018 | Southampton | 67 | (4) | ||||||||||||||
| 2018– | Liverpool | 196 | (18) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | Netherlands U19 | 1 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2013 | Netherlands U21 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2015– | Netherlands | 66 | (7) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:44, 13 May 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 22:27, 26 March 2024 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
Virgil van Dijk (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈvɪr.d͡ʒɪl vɑn.ˈdɛik];[2] born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation, he is known for his strength, leadership, speed and aerial ability.[3][4][5][6][7]
After beginning his professional career with Groningen, Van Dijk moved to Celtic in 2013. At Celtic, he won the Scottish Premiership and was named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year in both of his seasons with the club, and won the Scottish League Cup in the second. In 2015, he joined Southampton before signing for Liverpool in January 2018 for £75 million, a then-world-record transfer fee for a defender.[8] With Liverpool, Van Dijk reached back-to-back UEFA Champions League finals in 2018 and 2019, winning the latter. He was also named PFA Players' Player of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season in his first full season. Van Dijk later won the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, and helped end the club's 30-year league title drought by winning the 2019–20 Premier League. He is the only defender to win the UEFA Men's Player of the Year Award, and has finished runner-up for both the Ballon d'Or and Best FIFA Men's Player, all in 2019.[9][10] Van Dijk has also been selected in the FIFPRO Men's World 11 in three different years.
Van Dijk represented the Netherlands at under-19 and under-21 levels. He made his senior international debut for the Netherlands in 2015 and assumed full captaincy of the national team in March 2018. The following year, Van Dijk captained the Netherlands to the final of the inaugural UEFA Nations League, where they finished runners-up. He also represented the side at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
PremProfilewas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Highlights Nederland - Gibraltar (11/10/2021) WK-kwalificatie" [Highlights Netherlands - Gibraltar (11/10/2021) World Cup qualification]. YouTube (in Dutch). Royal Dutch Football Association. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
- ^ "Kompany's verdict on the greatest-ever PL defender - and it's not Terry or Ferdinand". talkSPORT. 10 May 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Ben Foster claims Virgil van Dijk was 'best defender that has ever lived' before Liverpool star's ACL injury". Yahoo News. 14 October 2023. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ "Virgil van Dijk the best defender in the world, says Paul Merson". Sky Sports. Archived from the original on 20 April 2019. Retrieved 20 April 2019.
- ^ "Virgil van Dijk: Champions League Defender of the Season". UEFA. Archived from the original on 7 October 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2019.
- ^ "How Virgil van Dijk became the Premier League's top defender". Sky Sports. Retrieved 14 October 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
BBCLiverpoolwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "The Best FIFA Men's Player". FIFA. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
- ^ "Virgil van Dijk wins UEFA Men's Player of the Year award". UEFA. 29 August 2019. Archived from the original on 18 December 2019. Retrieved 29 August 2019.