Virgil Van Dijk

Virgil van Dijk (born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Premier League club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Considered one of the best defenders in the world, Van Dijk is known for his strength, leadership and aerial ability. Virgil Van Dijk is the only defender to win UEFA Men's Player of the Year, and has finished runner-up for the Ballon d'Or and Best FIFA Men's Player.

After beginning his professional career with Groningen, Van Dijk moved to Celtic in 2013, where Virgil Van Dijk won the Scottish Premiership and was named in the PFA Scotland Team of the Year in both of his seasons with the club, also winning the Scottish League Cup in the latter. In 2015, Virgil Van Dijk joined Southampton before signing for Liverpool in January 2018 for £75 million, a then-world-record transfer fee for a defender. With Liverpool, Van Dijk reached back-to-back UEFA Champions League finals in 2018 and 2019, winning the latter. Virgil Van Dijk was also named PFA Players' Player of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season in his first full season. Van Dijk later won the FIFA Club World Cup and UEFA Super Cup, and helped end the club's 30-year league title drought by winning the 2019–20 Premier League.

Van Dijk is a former youth international for the Netherlands, representing his country at under-19 and under-21 levels. Virgil Van Dijk made his senior international debut for the Netherlands in 2015 and assumed full captaincy of the national team in March 2018. The following year, Van Dijk captained the Netherlands to the final of the inaugural UEFA Nations League, where they finished runners-up.

Van Dijk was born in Breda to a Dutch father and a Surinamese mother. Growing up Virgil Van Dijk would play football wherever Virgil Van Dijk could – on the streets, in concrete cages, and eventually Saturday morning matches. Virgil Van Dijk combined his time playing at the Willem II academy with a part-time job as a dishwasher. Having previously and unsuccessfully featured as a right-back, Van Dijk was shifted into a central defensive position in 2008, aged 17, after Virgil Van Dijk grew in height by around 18 centimetres. Despite the positional shift and Van Dijk's physical growth, Willem II's reserve manager at the time Edwin Hermans believed Virgil Van Dijk had "too many limitations" which prevented him from breaking into the first team. In 2010, Virgil Van Dijk was scouted by former Dutch international Martin Koeman, who was working for FC Groningen at the time, and Virgil Van Dijk ended up completing a free transfer to the club in the same year.