Sergio van Dijk

In this Dutch name, the surname is van Dijk, not Dijk.

Serginho "Sergio" van Dijk (born 6 August 1982) is a former professional footballer who played as a striker. He was the top goal scorer in the 2010–11 A-League regular season and made a name for himself in Australian football for his prolific scoring tally. Born in the Netherlands, he played for the Indonesia national team.

Sergio van Dijk

Van Dijk playing for Brisbane Roar in 2008
Personal information
Full name	Serginho van Dijk
Date of birth	(1982-08-06) 6 August 1982 (age 42)
Place of birth	Assen, Netherlands
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
0000–1996	LTC Assen
1996–1999	Groningen
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2002	Groningen	2	(1)
2002–2005	Helmond Sport	82	(12)
2005–2008	Emmen	110	(40)
2008–2010	Brisbane Roar	47	(24)
2010–2012	Adelaide United	53	(24)
2013–2014	Persib Bandung	29	(21)
2014	Sepahan	7	(1)
2014–2015	Suphanburi	40	(17)
2016	Adelaide United	0	(0)
2016–2017	Persib Bandung	26	(12)
2018–2020	VV Pelikaan-S
Total		396	(152)
International career
2013–2014	Indonesia	6	(1)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Van Dijk was named after the Brazilian star, Serginho Chulapa, who played for Brazil during the 1982 World Cup. His mother was a big fan of Brazil at the time.^[2] Van Dijk is of Dutch-Indonesian parentage.^[3]

Club career

Netherlands

Van Dijk started his career at local club LTC in Assen before he was drafted into the FC Groningen youth academy. In the 2000–01 season he played two matches (one goal) for Groningen in the Eerste Divisie, helping them to gain promotion. In the Eredivisie he did not play for Groningen and he moved back to the Eerste Divisie with Helmond Sport in 2002. In 2005, he moved to FC Emmen, where he scored 18 and 12 goals in his first two seasons. In the 2007–08 season he played at Emmen alongside his brother Danny.

Brisbane Roar

On 16 June 2008, Van Dijk signed a two-year contract with Queensland Roar (now operating as Brisbane Roar) after impressing the Roar scouts with his technique at the end of May against Redlands United and a Gold Coast Select XI.^[4]

Van Dijk started off the season slowly, only scoring one goal in his first ten matches although managing six assists at the time.^[5] However he then silenced the critics by scoring nine goals in as many matches (including a brace against the Central Coast Mariners).^[6] On 17 January 2009, van Dijk was the Roar's first ever player to score a hat-trick in their 3–1 win over Sydney FC.^[7]

Adelaide United

On 11 February 2010, Van Dijk signed for Adelaide United on a six-month contract for the club's AFC Champions League campaign,^[8] and made his debut against defending Asian champions, Pohang Steelers on 24 February 2010, in a 1–0 win at Hindmarsh Stadium. Van Dijk made his scoring debut for the Reds in their 2–0 away win against Shandong Luneng on matchday 2 of the Champions League campaign.^[9]

Sergio van Dijk warming up with Adelaide United before an A-League Round 2 game against the Central Coast Mariners

On 14 March 2010, van Dijk agreed to a three-year contract with Adelaide United.^[10] On 21 January 2011, he scored a hat-trick in the team's 8–1 win over North Queensland Fury. He won the Golden Boot award for the 2010–11 season with 16 goals.^[11]

Van Dijk was released from Adelaide United in January 2013.^[12]

Persib Bandung

In February 2013 van Dijk signed for Indonesian Super League club Persib Bandung.^[13] He scored on his debut in a 2–1 loss to Persisam Samarinda.^[14] On 3 March, he scored again twice, in a 3–1 win over Persija Jakarta.^[15]

Sepahan

Van Dijk signed a contract with Sepahan in December 2013, effective from 1 January 2014 to play for the team in the Iran Pro League and AFC Champions League.^[16]

Suphanburi

On 30 June 2014, van Dijk signed for Thai Premier League club Suphanburi, for a two-year contract.^[17]

Adelaide United

After two productive seasons with Suphanburi, van Dijk returned to former club Adelaide United as their Asian player for the 2016 AFC Champions League campaign.^[18][19] On 9 February 2016, he made his sole appearance for Adelaide in their short-lived campaign, coming off the bench as a substitute against Shandong Luneng, in the third qualifying round play-off at Hindmarsh Stadium. Despite receiving a raucous reception from the home crowd, and producing a strong performance reminiscent of his previous spell with Adelaide, van Dijk and the Reds were barrelled out of the competition, 2–1, bringing van Dijk's contract to an end.^[20]

Persib Bandung

After being clubless and trained with his former club FC Emmen,^[21] he finally decided to come back to Persib Bandung^[22] and was re-united with former Adelaide United colleague Marcos Flores. Due to an injury he made only four league appearances.

VV-Pelikaan-S

Van Dijk joined the Dutch league amateur club VV-Pelikaan-S.

International career

On 19 July 2010, it was reported that van Dijk was to declare for Indonesia, the country of origin of one of his grandparents.^[23] However, upon meeting with the Indonesian football authorities, he learned that in order to be able to represent Indonesia, he must earn Indonesian citizenship and give up his Dutch citizenship, as Indonesia does not allow dual citizenship. He refused to decide his international future, citing that it is difficult for him to give up his Dutch citizenship because his wife and their families are Dutch.^[24] He eventually decided to revoke his Dutch citizenship in order to play for Indonesia. The Football Association of Indonesia announced that van Dijk was being naturalized, so that he could play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. On 4 March 2013, he was called up for the first time, in a 2015 Asia Cup qualifier. He made his debut against Saudi Arabia on 23 March 2013.

Personal life

Van Dijk has a young son, who lives with family in the Netherlands. Regarding his future in football, van Dijk has said, "...after all these years of being overseas, it's my eighth year now, I think it's also time to let the family choose what the future plans are."^[25]

Van Dijk also operates a clothing label with his brother Danny, called Sixlovesnine.^[26]

He is not related to Virgil van Dijk.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club's	Season	League			Cup		International		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Groningen	1999–2000[27]	Eerste Divisie	2	1			–				2	1
	2000–01[27]	Eredivisie	0	0			–				0	0
	2001–02[27]		0	0			–				0	0
	Total		2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
Helmond Sport	2002–03[27]	Eerste Divisie	23	0			–				23	0
	2003–04[27]		32	8			–		6[lower-alpha 1]	1	38	9
	2004–05[27]		27	4			–		5[lower-alpha 1]	0	32	4
	Total		82	12	0	0	0	0	11	1	93	13
Emmen	2005–06[27]	Eerste Divisie	38	18			–				38	18
	2006–07[27]		37	12			–				37	12
	2007–08[27]		35	10	1	0	–				36	10
	Total		110	40	1	0	0	0	0	0	111	40
Brisbane Roar[lower-alpha 2]	2008–09[27]	A-League	20	11	1	2			3[lower-alpha 3]	1	24	13
	2009–10		27	13					–		27	13
	Total		47	24	1	2	0	0	3	1	51	27
Adelaide United	2010–11[27]	A-League	28	16			7	2	2[lower-alpha 3]	1	37	19
	2011–12[27]		22	8			6	2	–		28	10
	2012–13[27]		3	0			2	0	–		5	0
	Total		53	24	0	0	15	4	2	1	70	29
Persib Bandung	2013[28]	Indonesian Super League	29	21					–		29	21
Sepahan	2013–14[28]	Iran Pro League	7	1	0	0	4	1	–		11	2
Suphanburi	2014[28]	Thai Premier League	14	3	0	0	0	0			14	3
	2015[28]		26	14	0	0	0	0			26	14
	Total		40	17	0	0	0	0	0	0	40	17
Adelaide United	2016[27]	A-League	0	0			1	0			1	0
Persib Bandung	2016[29]	ISC A	23	12							23	12
	2017[28]	Liga 1	3	0							3	0
	Total		26	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	26	12
Career total			396	152	2	2	20	5	16	3	434	162

1. Appearances in Eerste Divisie relegation play-offs
2. "Queensland Roar" until the 2009–10 season
3. Appearances in A-League final series

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Indonesia	2013	3	0
	2014	3	1
Total		6	1

Scores and results list Indonesia' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each van Dijk goal.

List of international goals scored by Sergio van Dijk

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	11 November 2014	Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia	East Timor	1–0	4–0	Friendly

Honours

Individual

• A-League Golden Boot: 2010–11

See also

• List of Indonesia international footballers born outside Indonesia

References

1. "Sergio Van Dijk". Soccerway. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
2. Micallef, Philip. "Van Dijk reveals Latino legacy". The World Game. Retrieved 7 November 2010.
3. "Slick Van Dijk puts his hand up – for Indonesia". The Sydney Morning Herald. 27 February 2009. Retrieved 7 November 2010.^{[permanent dead link]}
4. "Hyundai A-League Home".
5. "Roar's Van Dijk admits goal drought". Archived from the original on 13 September 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2009.
6. "Queensland Roar sink Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium".
7. Van Dijk hat-trick and Roar get their final^{[permanent dead link]}
8. "Reds add fire power with Van Dijk signing". Adelaide United FC. A-League. 11 February 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.^{[dead link]}
9. "Adelaide United dismantle Shandong in China". Adelaide United FC. A-League. 10 March 2010. Retrieved 14 March 2010.^{[dead link]}
10. "Reds snare Van Dijk for three years". Adelaide United FC. A-League. 15 March 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2010.^{[dead link]}
11. "MVP Flores was in a league of his own".^{[dead link]}
12. "Adelaide United releases Sergio Van Dijk". The Australian. 17 January 2013. Retrieved 27 January 2013.
13. "Jadi WNI, Van Dijk Kini Resmi Berbaju Persib". Simamaung.com. 11 February 2013. Archived from the original on 3 July 2022. Retrieved 11 February 2013.
14. "Kosmina had lost the Adelaide United players, says Sergio van Dijk". Goal.com. 19 February 2013. Retrieved 19 February 2013.
15. "LIGA INDONESIA". Archived from the original on 1 March 2013. Retrieved 5 March 2013.
16. "Sergio van Dijk, the new striker of Sepahan fc". persianleague.com. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
17. "ช้างศึกฯดึง ไดค์ ทีมชาติอินโดฯพร้อมมาร์ซิโอ้ ร่วมทัพ". suphanburifootballclub.com. Archived from the original on 30 October 2014. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
18. Trombetta, Jordan (17 January 2016). "Van Dijk back in Adelaide". Adelaide United official website. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
19. "Sergio Van Dijk returns to Adelaide United". Football Channel Asia. 19 January 2016. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
20. "Adelaide still calls for Van Dijk". FourFourTwo. 11 February 2016. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
21. "Tak Punya Klub, Sergio Van Dijk Berlatih Di Klub Kasta Kedua Liga Belanda". FourFourTwo. 12 March 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
22. "Bobotoh, Alasan Utama Sergio Van Dijk 'Pulang' ke Persib". Viva. 18 May 2016. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
23. Val Migliaccio (19 July 2010). "Van Dijk heads to Indonesia". The Advertiser. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
24. "Sergio Van Dijk, Siap Bela Merah-Putih" [Sergio van Dijk, Ready to be a Red and White]. Bayu Marhaenjati (in Indonesian). BolaNews. 20 July 2010. Archived from the original on 14 August 2010. Retrieved 23 August 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
25. Williams, Paul (16 February 2016). "Van Dijk: One last challenge". FourFourTwo. Retrieved 7 May 2016.
26. "Van Dijk's secret career".
27. "Sergio van Dijk » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
28. Sergio van Dijk at Soccerway
29. "Sergio van Dijk". ligaindonesiabaru.com. Retrieved 21 January 2021.

External links

• Sergio van Dijk at Soccerway
• Sergio van Dijk at National-Football-Teams.com