Pascal Heije
Dutch footballer (born 1979)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pascal Bernardo Raul Heije (born 2 October 1979)[1] is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or right back. A graduate of the AFC Ajax youth academy and a member of the club's celebrated 1997–98 A1 "Golden Boys" generation, he went on to play professionally in the Netherlands, Cyprus and Indonesia.
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Pascal Bernardo Raul Heije | ||
| Date of birth | 2 October 1979 | ||
| Place of birth | Amsterdam, Netherlands | ||
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
| Positions | |||
| Youth career | |||
| The Victory | |||
| Ajax | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1999–2000 | Ajax | 2 | (0) |
| 2000–2003 | RBC Roosendaal | 77 | (0) |
| 2003–2005 | NEC | 34 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | Go Ahead Eagles | 11 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | RBC Roosendaal | 13 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | APEP | 4 | (0) |
| 2011–2012 | Bali Devata | 18 | (1) |
| International career | |||
| 2000 | Netherlands U21 | 1 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Career
Ajax
Heije was born in Amsterdam,[1] and joined the AFC Ajax youth academy, where he rose through the ranks to be regarded as one of the most promising talents of his generation.[2] He was part of the Ajax A1 team of the 1997–98 season, the "Golden Boys" golden generation that won all of its matches by large margins and has since been described as the club's golden class.[3] In the 1997–98 season he was named Ajax's Talent of the Year, and he was seen as a prospective successor to captain Danny Blind.[2]
Heije made his debut for the Ajax first team on 26 March 2000, coming on as a substitute for Aron Winter in the Eredivisie match against NEC, which Ajax won 5–2. He made two league appearances for the club in total.[1]
Later career
In 2000 Heije was loaned, together with teammate Darl Douglas, to the newly promoted RBC Roosendaal. He spent three seasons at the club, making 77 league appearances between 2000 and 2003.[1] In 2003 he moved to NEC in Nijmegen, where he played regularly under coach Johan Neeskens; after Neeskens was dismissed in late 2004, Heije fell out of favour and made 34 league appearances for the club over two seasons.[2]
He joined Go Ahead Eagles for the 2005–06 season, making eleven appearances, but his contract was not renewed and he was left without a club.[4] After a trial at FC Emmen at the start of 2008 came to nothing,[5] he trained with Willem II and rejoined RBC Roosendaal on an amateur basis from August 2008, making 13 appearances. In August 2009 he signed a one-year contract with Cypriot club APEP Pitsilia.[6]
Heije spent the 2010–11 season playing amateur football with Ajax's amateur side, before moving to Indonesia in 2011 to sign for Bali Devata, where he played frequently in the country's top division and scored his only senior goal. He retired from professional football in 2012.[1]
International
Heije represented the Netherlands under-21 team.[1]
Post-playing career
Heije is the captain and initiator of the "Golden Boys" veterans team, composed of the Ajax A1 squad of 1997–98.[3] He founded the Golden Boys Voetbalschool at the end of 2017,[7] and since January 2018 has trained youth players at FC Weesp.[8] In the 2015–16 season he also played amateur football for Blauw-Wit Beursbengels.[9]
