Glenn Loovens

Glenn Loovens

Loovens playing for Celtic in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Glenn Loovens [1]
Date of birth	(1983-09-22) 22 September 1983 (age 40)
Place of birth	Doetinchem, Netherlands
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) [2]
Position(s)	Centre-back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2001–2006	Feyenoord	27	(0)
2003–2004	→ Excelsior (loan)	24	(2)
2004–2005	→ De Graafschap (loan)	11	(0)
2005–2006	→ Cardiff City (loan)	33	(2)
2006–2008	Cardiff City	67	(1)
2008–2012	Celtic	61	(8)
2012–2013	Zaragoza	21	(0)
2013–2018	Sheffield Wednesday	131	(1)
2018–2019	Sunderland	11	(0)
Total		386	(14)
International career
2002–2004	Netherlands U21	6	(0)
2009–2010	Netherlands	2 [3]	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Glenn Loovens (born 22 September 1983) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a centre-back.

Club career

Early career

Loovens is the son of Hans Loovens, who played for FC Twente. He also has a brother called Ivo. He signed for the Feyenoord youth academy when he was twelve years old, where his teammates included Robin van Persie and Said Boutahar. In 2001, manager Bert van Marwijk promoted him to the first team. ^[4]

Netherlands

Loovens came through the Feyenoord youth system and made his debut against PSV Eindhoven in the 2001–02 season in the Feyenoord team that later won the UEFA Cup, alongside van Persie, Civard Sprockel and Ferne Snoyl. In the later seasons, he failed to make good on his promising start as he quickly lost his position in defence to Patrick Paauwe again. He made his European debut at 19 years old, in a 2–0 defeat to Dynamo Kyiv at the Olympic Stadium in Kyiv on 23 October 2002.

Cardiff City

Loovens spent the 2005–06 season on loan at Championship side Cardiff City and impressed enough so that they signed the promising young defender on a permanent deal after several months of negotiations for a reported fee of £250,000. ^[5] He originally formed a defensive partnership with club captain Darren Purse but the 2007–08 season saw Purse lose his place in the side to Roger Johnson and the pair went on to form a vital base for the team to build on, including playing alongside each other in all six matches during the club's run to the 2008 FA Cup Final. Loovens found the back of the net in the final against Portsmouth but it was disallowed for an earlier infringement. The 2007–08 season also saw Loovens make his 100th appearance in all competitions for Cardiff by playing against Hull City on 12 March.

Celtic

Loovens was the subject of transfer interest for most of summer 2008, with Old Firm rivals Celtic and Rangers emerging as leading candidates to secure his signing. Walter Smith, manager of Rangers, declared his interest in Loovens and made an offer for his services but their valuation of the defender was rejected by Cardiff. ^[6] On 16 August 2008, Loovens joined Scottish champions Celtic on a four-year contract for a fee of around £2.1 million. Loovens stated that Parkhead was his preferred destination as he would get the chance to play in the Champions League. ^{[6] [7]} He made his Celtic debut on 23 August 2008, in a 3–0 win over Falkirk at Celtic Park. ^{[8] [9] [10]} His first goal came on 23 September 2008 in a Co-op Insurance League Cup tie, also at Celtic Park, as Celtic beat Livingston 4–0. ^[11]

Loovens scored the winning goal against Hearts in injury time on 20 September 2009, to send Celtic top of the table. ^[12] He scored an own goal in a 1–3 defeat against Rangers in October 2010 ^[13] and was criticised for his performance in Celtic's next game, a League Cup win over St Johnstone. ^{[14] [15] [16]} Loovens paid for his poor form, as he was dropped for the following match, also against St Johnstone. ^{[17] [18]}

Sheffield Wednesday

Loovens signed a short-term deal in December 2013 for Sheffield Wednesday after impressing during a short training stint. He then decided to extend his contract with the club until May 2014. ^[19]

Towards the end of that summer, on 13 July 2014, Loovens then extended for a further year after reportedly rejecting several contract offers from other clubs, both in England and abroad. He was also then promptly announced as club captain for the 2014–15 season by head coach Stuart Gray. ^[20]

With one game to play in the 2017–18 season, it was announced that his contract wouldn't be renewed and he would be leaving at the end of the season. ^[21]

Sunderland

In July 2018, Loovens signed a two-year contract with Sunderland. ^[22] On 22 August 2019, it was announced Loovens would leave Sunderland after having only served a year of his two-year contract. ^[23]

International career

Loovens received his first senior cap for the Netherlands when he started the Oranje's 3–0 friendly win over Japan, on 5 September 2009. ^[24] He had previously been capped twice for the under-21 side. ^[25] and he represented the Netherlands at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship.

Career statistics

As of 22 August 2019

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Feyenoord	2001–02 [26] [27]	Eredivisie	8	0			—		3 [lower-alpha 1]	0	11	0
	2002–03 [26] [28]	Eredivisie	12	0			—		1 [lower-alpha 2]	0	13	0
	2003–04 [26]	Eredivisie	1	0			—		—		1	0
	2004–05 [26]	Eredivisie	6	0			—		—		6	0
	Total		27	0			—		4	0	31	0
Excelsior (loan)	2003–04 [26]	Eerste Divisie	24	2			—		—		24	2
De Graafschap (loan)	2004–05 [26]	Eredivisie	11	0			—		—		11	0
Cardiff City (loan)	2005–06 [29]	Championship	33	2	1	0	2	0	—		36	2
Cardiff City	2006–07 [30]	Championship	30	1	2	0	0	0	—		32	1
	2007–08 [31]	Championship	36	0	6	0	1	0	—		43	0
	2008–09 [31]	Championship	1	0	0	0	1	0	—		2	0
	Total		67	1	8	0	2	0	—		77	1
Celtic	2008–09 [32]	Scottish Premier League	17	3	1	0	3	1	2 [lower-alpha 2]	0	23	4
	2009–10 [32]	Scottish Premier League	20	3	2	0	0	0	8 [lower-alpha 3]	0	30	3
	2010–11 [32]	Scottish Premier League	13	1	2	0	3	0	3 [lower-alpha 3]	0	21	1
	2011–12 [32]	Scottish Premier League	11	1	1	0	0	0	4 [lower-alpha 4]	0	15	1
	Total		61	8	6	0	6	1	17	0	90	9
Real Zaragoza	2012–13 [32]	La Liga	21	0	3	0	—		—		24	0
Sheffield Wednesday	2013–14 [32]	Championship	22	0	4	0	0	0	—		26	0
	2014–15 [32]	Championship	26	0	1	0	1	0	—		28	0
	2015–16 [32]	Championship	31	0	1	0	3	0	3	0	38	0
	2016–17 [32]	Championship	32	1	1	0	0	0	2	0	35	1
	2017–18 [32]	Championship	20	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	23	0
	Total		131	1	10	0	4	0	5	0	150	1
Sunderland	2018–19 [32]	League One	11	0	0	0	0	0	2 [lower-alpha 5]	0	13	0
Career total			386	14	28	0	12	1	28	0	454	15

1. Appearances in UEFA Cup
2. Appearances in UEFA Champions League
3. Appearances in UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League
4. Appearances in UEFA Europa League
5. Appearances in EFL Trophy

Honours

Feyenoord

• UEFA Cup: 2001–02

Cardiff City

• FA Cup runner-up: 2007–08 ^[33]

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League: 2011–12
• Scottish Cup: 2010–11
• Scottish League Cup: 2008–09

References

1. "List of Players under Written Contract Registered Between 01/12/2013 and 31/12/2013" (PDF). The Football League. January 2014. p. 1. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
2. Glenn Loovens Profile Celtic FC
3. "Interlands, doelpunten Glenn Loovens in het Nederlands Elftal". Voetbalstats. 28 December 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
4. "Oud-Feyenoorders over de grens: Glenn Loovens". FR12. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
5. Cardiff City look to the Loovenator Western Mail, 20 March 2008; Retrieved 12 April 2008
6. "Celtic sign Loovens from Cardiff". BBC Sport. 16 August 2008. Retrieved 16 August 2008.
7. Glenn Loovens spells out reasons for choosing Celtic ahead of Rangers Telegraph, 19 August 2008
8. Glenn Loovens Profile Archived 20 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine Celtic FC
9. Associated Foreign Press Samaras double lifts Celtic as Dons hold Rangers Soccerway, 23 August 2008
10. Derby debutants at the ready BBC Sport, 28 August 2008
11. TUESDAY NIGHT CLOCKWATCH Sporting Life, 23 September 2008
12. Glenn Loovens sinks Hearts to relieve Celtic manager Tony Mowbray guardian.co.uk, 20 September 2009
13. Celtic 1 – 3 Rangers BBC Sport, 24 October 2010
14. Anthony Stokes strikes twice before Celtic resist St Johnstone comeback guardian.co.uk, 27 October 2010
15. Glenn Loovens running the gauntlet of Old Firm three-strike policy as Celtic head back to Perth The Scotsman, 30 October 2010
16. Glenn will get stick for errors but we have competition if I want to change things, says Celtic boss Neil Lennon Daily Record, 30 October 2010
17. Live – Scottish football BBC Sport, 30 October 2008
18. St Johnstone 0 – 3 Celtic BBC Sport, 30 October 2010
19. "Loovens checks in". Sheffield Wednesday FC. 3 December 2013.
20. "Sheffield Wednesday: Loovens' pride at leading Owls into battle". The Star. Sheffield. 13 July 2014.
21. "Owls announce 2017/18 retained list". Sheffield Wednesday F.C. 1 May 2018. Retrieved 7 May 2018.
22. McCormick, Sean (20 July 2018). "Sunderland fans happy to have signed Glenn Loovens". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 20 July 2018.
23. "Best of luck, Glenn!". Sunderland Association Football Club. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
24. "Netherlands beat Japan 3–0 in friendly". USA Today. 5 September 2009. Retrieved 4 August 2011.
25. "Glenn Loovens". Uefa.com . Retrieved 4 August 2011.
26. "Glenn Loovens". BDFutbol. Archived from the original on 28 August 2012. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
27. "Games played by Glenn Loovens in 2001/2002". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
28. "Games played by Glenn Loovens in 2002/2003". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
29. "Games played by Glenn Loovens in 2005/2006". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
30. "Games played by Glenn Loovens in 2006/2007". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
31. "Games played by Glenn Loovens in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
32. "Glenn Loovens". Soccerway. Retrieved 13 August 2015.
33. "Cardiff City 0 Portsmouth 1: Harry's Cup final wish comes true". Independent. 18 May 2008.

External links

• Glenn Loovens at Soccerbase
• Netherlands U21 stats at Ons Oranje