Quick Facts
Biography
Stijn De Smet (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstɛi̯n də ˈsmɛt], born 27 March 1985 in Bruges) is a Belgian professional football player, who currently plays for K.V. Kortrijk.
Career
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, KSV Jabbeke.
De Smet's big breakthrough came in the 2004–05 season, being in the starting line-up 19 times. The season before, De Smet had only appeared in six matches in total. He played for Cercle Brugge, where he was regarded as the most promising youth prospect and the best youth player at the team since Thomas Buffel. 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. On 17 July 2009 the 24-year-old forward left Cercle Brugge to sign a five-year deal for K.A.A. Gent. With this team, he won the Belgian Cup in 2010.
On 25 July 2011, De Smet signed a season-long loan deal with K.V.C. Westerlo.
International
Since the 2004–05 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.
De Smet was selected 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 selected again for the friendly against Morocco, and was part of the starting XI.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Darko Pivaljević | Cercle Brugge top scorer alongside Tom De Sutter and Oleg Iachtchouk 2008 | Succeeded by Oleg Iachtchouk |