Frenkie de Jong

Frenkie de Jong was born in Gorinchem and grew up in Arkel, a town in the province of South Holland. His parents, Marjon Schuchhard-de Bruijn, who works in home care, and John de Jong, a parking enforcement officer, named him after the British pop band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. He has a younger brother, Youri de Jong. Frenkie de Jong started playing football at six years old when his father enrolled him at the local amateur club ASV Arkel. At eight, De Jong was scouted by the professional club Willem II, where he progressed through the shared youth academy of Willem II and RKC Waalwijk.

Willem II

De Jong signed his first professional contract with Willem II on 1 August 2013, aged sixteen. On 10 May 2015, De Jong made his Eredivisie debut against ADO Den Haag, two days before his eighteenth birthday. He was substituted in the 68th minute for Terell Ondaan in a 1–0 home win over ADO Den Haag.

Ajax

At the beginning of the season, on 22 August 2015, Ajax purchased De Jong. He signed a four-year contract, for a symbolic €1 fee which included a 10% sell-on bonus. On 23 August 2015, he was loaned back to Willem II until 31 December 2015. During this time, he made one substitute appearance in an Eredivisie match against PEC Zwolle.

2016–2019: Development and first-team regular

For the first two years at Ajax, De Jong was in and out of the first team squad. After returning to the club in January 2016, de Jong made 15 appearances in the 2015—16 Eerste Divisie for Ajax II. He primarily played in the centre of a three-man midfield and scored two goals. The following year, he was awarded the 2016–17 Eerste Divisie's Talent of the season award for his performances with Ajax II for whom, he made 31 first team appearances and played as a central, and defensive, midfielder. He made his senior debut against Sparta Rotterdam coming on, in the 88th minute, for Lasse Schöne. In total, he made four senior appearances for Ajax, and scored one goal against Go Ahead Eagles, in the 2016—17 season. He started one game, came off the bench thrice, and was…

Youth

De Jong made eight appearances for the Netherlands under-19 team, with his debut coming against Russia on 7 July 2015. He made six appearances and scored one goal for the Netherlands at under-21 level.

Senior career

2018–2019: Early senior career

In August 2018, De Jong received his first call-up to the Dutch senior squad for a friendly match against Peru, eventually debuting in said match as a half-time substitute to Giorginio Wijnaldum on 22 September of the same year. Three days later, he started for the first time in a 2–1 loss to France in the league phase of the 2018–19 UEFA Nations League. In June 2019, De Jong was included in the Netherlands' squad for 2019 UEFA Nations League Finals, where he was named as Young Player of the Tournament as the Oranje finished as runner-up to hosts Portugal. The same year in September, De Jong scored his first senior international goal in the Netherlands' 4–2 victory against Germany in UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying.

2020s

In June 2021, De Jong was included in coach Frank de Boer's squad for UEFA Euro 2020. He played in all three group matches, as well as the Netherlands' 2–0 loss to Czechia in the round of 16. In November 2022, De Jong was included in the Dutch squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. On 29 November, he scored his first World Cup goal in a 2–0 win over tournament host Qatar in the team's final group match. On 9 December, he played the full 120 minutes as the Netherlands lost in a…

Frenkie has described himself as a player "who likes to have the ball a lot, and play possession". A versatile player, De Jong can function as a regista, defensive-midfielder, central-midfielder, holding midfielder, box-to-box midfielder and centre-back. He has been lauded for his combination of defensive stability and playmaking ability. He often partnered Matthijs de Ligt at centre-back, at Ajax. As a centre-back, he abstained from committing fouls, showed great positional sense, and won possession frequently. In this more defensive role, his performances led to comparison with former German sweeper Franz Beckenbauer and likened his tendency to progress forward in possession, and ability to play-make, from defense to the German legend.De Jong's vision has been praised alongside his ability to dribble in narrow spaces, control over possession, and decisive passing. A natural dribbler, De Jong has the highest dribbling success of all players to participate in all competitions, during his last season with Ajax. His other attributes include a penchant for long cross-field passes, creating space, and absorbing attacking pressure. His close control, accuracy, work rate, and movement has drawn comparisons with Andrés Iniesta and Johan Cruyff. At Barcelona, he has primarily played on either side of a three-man central midfield. This has led experts and former players to regard him as a player with "Barca DNA" who was "born to play for Barcelona".