 Loovens playing forCeltic in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Glenn Loovens[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1983-09-22)22 September 1983 (age 42) | ||
| Place of birth | Doetinchem, Netherlands | ||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)[2] | ||
| Position | 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 professionalfootballer who played as acentre-back. He representedhis national team twice at senior level, and also played abroad for football clubs in England, Wales, Scotland and Spain.
Loovens is the son of Hans Loovens, who played forFC Twente. He also has a brother called Ivo. He signed for theFeyenoord youth academy when he was twelve years old, where his teammates includedRobin van Persie andSaid Boutahar. In 2001, managerBert van Marwijk promoted him to the first team.[4]
Loovens came through theFeyenoord youth system and made his debut againstPSV Eindhoven in the2001–02 season in the Feyenoord team that later won theUEFA Cup, alongside van Persie,Civard Sprockel andFerne Snoyl. In the later seasons, he failed to make good on his promising start as he quickly lost his position in defence toPatrick Paauwe again. He made hisEuropean debut at 19 years old, in a 2–0 defeat toDynamo Kyiv at theOlympic Stadium inKyiv on 23 October 2002.
Loovens spent the 2005–06 season on loan atChampionship sideCardiff 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 captainDarren Purse but the2007–08 season saw Purse lose his place in the side toRoger 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 the2008 FA Cup Final. Loovens found the back of the net in the final againstPortsmouth 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 againstHull City on 12 March.
Loovens was the subject of transfer interest for most of summer 2008, withOld Firm rivalsCeltic andRangers 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 joinedScottish champions Celtic on a four-year contract for a fee of around £2.1 million. Loovens stated thatParkhead was his preferred destination as he would get the chance to play in theChampions League.[6][7] He made his Celtic debut on 23 August 2008, in a 3–0 win overFalkirk atCeltic Park.[8][9][10] His first goal came on 23 September 2008 in aCo-op Insurance League Cup tie, also at Celtic Park, as Celtic beatLivingston 4–0.[11]
Loovens scored the winning goal againstHearts in injury time on 20 September 2009, to send Celtic top of the table.[12] He scored anown goal in a 1–3 defeat against Rangers in October 2010[13] and was criticised for his performance in Celtic's next game, aLeague Cup win overSt Johnstone.[14][15][16] Loovens paid for his poor form, as he was dropped for the following match, also against St Johnstone.[17][18]
Loovens signed a short-term deal in December 2013 forSheffield 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 coachStuart 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]
In July 2018, Loovens signed a two-year contract withSunderland.[22] On 22 August 2019, it was announced Loovens would leave Sunderland after having only served a year of his two-year contract.[23]
Loovens received his first senior cap for theNetherlands when he started theOranje's 3–0 friendly win overJapan, on 5 September 2009.[24] He had previously been capped twice for theunder-21 side.[25] and he represented the Netherlands at the2001 FIFA World Youth Championship.
| 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[a] | 0 | 11 | 0 | |||
| 2002–03[26][28] | Eredivisie | 12 | 0 | — | 1[b] | 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[b] | 0 | 23 | 4 |
| 2009–10[32] | Scottish Premier League | 20 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8[c] | 0 | 30 | 3 | |
| 2010–11[32] | Scottish Premier League | 13 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3[c] | 0 | 21 | 1 | |
| 2011–12[32] | Scottish Premier League | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4[d] | 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[e] | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| Career total | 386 | 14 | 28 | 0 | 12 | 1 | 28 | 0 | 454 | 15 | ||
Feyenoord
Cardiff City
Celtic
