Jan-Arie van der Heijden

Jan-Arie van der Heijden is a midfielder of Vitesse. He was born on 3 March 1988 in Schoonhoven, Netherlands.

Jan-Arie’s career took off in local v.v. Schoonhoven. In the summer 1997, the footballer received an offer to move to the academy of Ajax and joined the youth team of the new club.

Van der Heijden penned his first professional contract in February 2007. The player’s début for Ajax came in the Eredivisie match against Roda, which ended in a secure 4-2 victory for his team.

On 3 March 1988, Jan-Arie extended his contract with the club till 2013. The 2008/2009 season was not very fruitful for the midfielder, because it took him a lot of time to recuperate from a knee injury. As soon as the club’s medical staff allowed the footballer to come on the field, van der Heijden was asked to continue his performance, but with the youth team. At the end of the season, the player was included into the roster for the match against Twente, but failed to come off the substitutes’ bench.

Jan-Arie lacked playing practice, and the management of Ajax decided to send him on a season-long loan to Willem II. The footballer made his début for the temporary team in the 2-3 loss to Feyenoord, where he came on as a substitute in the 59th minute.

In August 2011, van der Heijden sealed a two-year deal with Vitesse.

In 2005 the player received his first call-up to the Netherlands national U-17 squad for the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship. His team took third place after winning the Turkey national squad.