Davy Klaassen

Early career

Klaassen began his football career in the youth ranks of local amateur side HVV de Zebra's, where he played until 2003, when he transferred to HSV Wasmeer. A year later he was recruited into the famed Ajax Youth Academy. While playing for the Ajax A1 youth squad in 2011–12, Klaassen helped his side to win the Nike Eredivisie league title, as well as finishing as runners-up to Inter Milan in the NextGen Series (the Champions League equivalent for under-19 teams) after losing on penalties (5–3) following a 1–1 deadlock after extra time.

Ajax

Klaassen made his debut for the first team in the UEFA Champions League group stage away draw (0–0) against Olympique Lyonnais on 22 November 2011 replacing Lorenzo Ebecilio in the 85th minute. While still competing in the A-Juniors Nike Eredivisie league competing for the Ajax A1 under-19 squad, he made his Eredivisie debut on 27 November as a substitute against NEC and scored only 42 seconds after having been subbed on. He made his debut in the starting XI of the Ajax first team on 11 December 2011, due to starting center midfielder Theo Janssen catching the flu. Klaassen played the entire match, which ended in a 0–1 away win for Ajax against RKC Waalwijk.

On 5 August 2013, Klaassen made his debut in the Eerste Divisie in a 2–0 win against Telstar while playing for the newly promoted reserves team Jong Ajax, in what would be the first match ever in the 2nd tier of professional football for the reserves. He…

Youth

Klaassen made his debut for the Dutch national team at youth levels, debuting for the Netherlands U-16 team on 28 October 2008 in the 10th edition of the Tournoi Val de Marne '08 in the 3–0 victory over Italy U-16, while scoring the second goal for the Netherlands in his first international encounter. Klaassen scored in his second appearance for the Netherlands U-16 in the same tournament as well in 0–1 win over France U-16. In total Klaassen made 5 appearances for the Netherlands U-16 while scoring 4 goals. Scoring two more goals in friendly encounters against Ukraine U-16 and Ireland U-16 as well. On 22 September 2009, Klaassen made his first appearance for the Netherlands U17 team in a friendly encounter against France U17 which ended in a 1–0 loss for the Dutch. On 3 March 2010, he scored his first goal for the under-17 side in his 8th appearance, a friendly match against Greece U17. He also played a major role in the Netherlands qualifying campaign ahead of the 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Football Championship as well as playing in the 2009 edition of La Manga Cup. On 2 September 2010, Klaassen made his debut for the Netherlands U19 team in a friendly match against Germany U19 which ended in a 2–2 draw. In his 7th appearance for the under-19 side he scored both his first and second goal on 10 November 2011 in a qualification match ahead of the 2012 UEFA European Under-19 Championship against Moldova U19 with the Netherlands failing to qualify for the final…

Klaassen's nickname is "cheese straw" (Dutch: kaasstengel) due to his physical appearance. Another nickname is "Mister 1-0" due to him often scoring the first goal of a match. On the signing of the former Ajax captain, then Everton manager Ronald Koeman was quoted saying Klaassen was a leader on the pitch. Koeman further described Klaassen's as a player that “is hardworking, likes to press and, of course, will give us more creativity and goals".

Club

As of match played 27 August 2026

International

As of match played 27 March 2023

Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Klaassen goal.