Tom De Sutter

Football player infobox
playername= Tom De Sutter
fullname = Tom De Sutter
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1985|7|3
cityofbirth = Ghent
countryofbirth = Belgium
height = 192 cm
currentclub = Cercle Brugge
clubnumber = 10
position = forward
youthyears = 1992-1997
1997-2001
2001-2005
youthclubs = VV Balegem
St. Wetteren
Club Brugge
years = 2005-2006
2006-
clubs = Torhout KM
Cercle Brugge
caps(goals) = ? (?)
43 (14)
nationalyears = 2006-2008
2008-
nationalteam = Belgium U21
Belgium
nationalcaps(goals) = 4 (3)
3 (0)
pcupdate = 10 February 2008
ntupdate = 14 September 2008

Tom De Sutter (born July 3, 1985 in Zottegem) is a Belgian football player. He is a tall attacker, which makes him an ideal target man.

De Sutter started his football activities at his local team K.V.V. Balegem, where he was discovered by Third division side St. Wetteren. From there, he moved to Club Brugge where he couldn't manage to get a place in the first team, so he moved back to a team in Third division, Torhout KM this time. De Sutter only stayed there for one season, as he was discovered by Clubs city rivals, Cercle Brugge, after a friendly match in which De Sutter scored a hat-trick. At Cercle, he managed a breakthrough almost immediately, scoring in his first official match against Excelsior Mouscron.

De Sutters performances were also noticed by Jean-François De Sart, the Belgian national under-21 coach, electing him for the team since his transfer to Cercle. He was part of the squad that qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

On November 27 2007, De Sutter scored 4 goals in 21 minutes in a Belgian Cup game, playing away against KV Mechelen. In the next round, his goal decided the derby against Cercles main rival Club Brugge, one of De Sutter's former youth teams. The stronger and stronger performances by De Sutter didn't go unnoticed during the 2007-08 mid season break. De Sutter raised the interest from a.o. Anderlecht and Trabzonspor, and he was voted "Best Player of the First Half of the Season"cite news
title = Cercle-aanvaller Tom De Sutter verkozen tot beste speler van de eerste seizoenshelft
url = http://www.sportwereld.be/Article/Detail.aspx?articleID=471MEE7Q
publisher = SportWereld
date = 2008-01-11
accessdate = 2008-01-14] by Belgian football fans and media. He also surprised with a third place in the Golden Shoe election of 2007.

On February 1, Cercle Brugge announced that after the cup match at home against Standard Liège, in which De Sutter scored the final 4-1 goal, Cercle received some bids for De Sutter. The highest bid was rumoured to be one of € 7.5 million from Zenit Saint Petersburg, although head coach Dick Advocaat denied this.cite news
title = Geen enkel bod kon mij doen twijfelen
url = http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza.be/voetbal/eersteklasse/Cercle_Brugge/080201_de_sutter_zenit
publisher = Sporza
date = 2008-02-01
accessdate = 2008-02-01] Cercle Brugge spokesman Pol Van Den Driessche confirmed in één program "De Zevende Dag" that it was not a bid by Zenit, but that it was a Eastern European team and that it was a bid between € 5 and 10 million. However, De Sutter decided to stay with Cercle until (at least) the end of the season.

At the end of January 2008, national coach Rene Vandereycken included De Sutter in his team for Belgium's unofficial friendly match against Standard Liège. One day before the match, De Sutter tore one of his knee ligaments, leaving him a 6 month rehabilitation.

External links

* [http://www.cerclemuseum.be Cerclemuseum.be] nl icon
* [http://www.geocities.com/tomdesutter Tom De Sutter fan page] nl icon
* [http://www.flandersnews.be/cm/flandersnews.be/Sports/071127_Football_Cup Belgian Cup Game]

References