Luigi Bruins

Excelsior Rotterdam

1993–2004: Youth teams

Bruins was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Bruins started playing football at the age of six. As the Rotterdam-born was aiming for the highest level, he signed up for a talent practice session at Feyenoord. However, Feyenoord decided not to invite Bruins to join the youth academy. Eventually, Bruins was asked to join Excelsior instead. Bruins went through the complete Excelsior youth academy, until he made his professional debut in 2005.

2004–2006: Breakthrough

Bruins made his professional debut for Excelsior in the season 2004–05. On 28 January 2005, Bruins replaced Santi Kolk in the 78th minute of the Eerste Divisie away match against FC Eindhoven (3–0). It was the first and only match Bruins played in his first season. Bruins had his breakthrough in the season 2005–06. Under the management of the new Excelsior coach Mario Been, Bruins was positioned on his favorite right midfielder position in a 4–3–3 system. Bruins scored his first professional goal in the season opening away match against Cambuur Leeuwarden (0–1) on 12 August 2005. From the start of the season, Excelsior unexpectedly battled for the Eerste Divisie championship. When Excelsior won the home match against championship favorite VVV-Venlo (3–1) on 31 March 2006, the third club from Rotterdam secured the Eerste Divisie 2005–06 title. Bruins played an important role in Excelsior's Eredivisie promotion, scoring 4 goals in 35…

Bruins was part of the Netherlands U21 winning the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship. Jong Oranje retained its 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship title in style with a 4–1 win over Serbia U21 in the final. Bruins scored the fourth Dutch goal, securing the victory. In the summer of 2008, Bruins missed out on a place in the Netherlands Olympic team. He was mentioned in the pre-selection, but wasn't part of the final 18.

Bruins started managing Zwaluwen Vlaardingen in 2024. In January 2026 he was announced the new manager of Katwijk from the 2026/27 season.

As of 1 August 2020