Thomas Buffel

Football player infobox
playername = Thomas Buffel


fullname = Thomas Buffel
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1981|2|19
cityofbirth = Brugge
countryofbirth = Belgium
height = height|m=1.75
currentclub = Cercle Brugge
clubnumber =
position = Attacking midfielder
contractend = 1 July 2010
years = 2000–2002 2002–2005 2005–2008 2008–
clubs = Excelsior Feyenoord Rangers Cercle Brugge
caps(goals) = 63 (27) 90 (34) 62 (11) 5 (1)
nationalyears = 2002–2006, 2008–
nationalteam = Belgium
nationalcaps(goals) = 31 0(7)
pcupdate = May 31, 2008
ntupdate = September 14, 2008

Thomas Buffel (born February 19 1981 in Brugge, Belgium) is a Belgian footballer who plays for Jupiler League side Cercle Brugge, he is an attacking midfielder and can play as a striker. He has played at international level for the Belgian football team.

Club career

Early career

Buffel began his career with Belgian sides Ruddervoorde and Cercle Brugge before making a move to The Netherlands.

Buffel played for the Dutch team Feyenoord in the 1999-2000 season, before moving to their feeder team Excelsior Rotterdam from 2000 to 2002. He returned to Feyenoord for the 2002-2003 Dutch season. He reportedly fell out with then-manager Ruud Gullit in the next season "after refusing to sign a new contract".cite news|url=http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/sport/6016018.html|publisher=Glasgow Evening Times|title=Rangers just fan-tastic|date=January 6, 2005]

Rangers

Buffel moved to the Scottish side Rangers in January 2005 in a £2.3 million, four-and-a-half year deal.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/4132791.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Rangers secure Buffel signature|date=5 January, 2005] He made his debut in the Scottish Cup coming on as a substitute against Old Firm rivals Celtic in what was to be a 2-1 defeat.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/4154599.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Celtic 2-1 Rangers|date=9 January, 2005] However the season did not end badly for him as he was to play a key role in the 2005 Scottish League Cup Final, where Rangers defeated Motherwell 5-1.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/4359199.stm|publisher=BBC Sport website|title=Rangers 5-1 Motherwell|date=20 March 2005] He also featured in the Rangers team for the latter part of the season where he would help them to their 51st league title. Making it a double for his first season with the club, he also scored five goals is 18 appearances.

Buffel featured in the Champions League and helped Rangers reach the last 16 of the tournament, where they lost to Villarreal 3-3 on aggregate and were knocked out on away goals rule. He scored seven goals in 38 appearances during the 2005-2006 season mostly playing in the midfield.

In the during the 2007 January transfer window, German club Hannover 96 expressed an interest in him, with Rangers manager Walter Smith saying Buffel was free to leave. However, the deal fell through when Buffel was unable to agree personal terms with the Bundesliga side. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/6311741.stm|title=Buffel Bundesliga move collapses|date= 31 January 2007|publisher=BBC Sport Website]

It was announced on February 9 2007 that Buffel would undergo surgery on a long term knee injury and would not take any further part in the 2006-07 season. After a difficult start to the 2007-08 season he has been linked with a move away from Ibrox. He returned to action on December 26 as a substitute in Rangers' 3-1 win over Motherwell but did not feature regularly.

Buffel's Rangers career came to an end when he joined former club Cercle Brugge on 1 July 2008.

International career

Buffel made his debut for Belgium against Andorra in October 2002 in what was to be a 1-0 victory.cite news|url=http://www.uefa.com/competitions/EURO/history/Season=2004/Round=1579/Match=69026/index.html|publisher=UEFA.com|title=Andorra 0-1 Belgium|date=12 October 2002] He has since then gained 30 caps and scored seven goals, although in recent times has only been a bit part player due to injuries and loss of form club level.

Honours

*Scottish Premier League: 2004-05
*Scottish League Cup: 2004-05

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=32954|name=Thomas Buffel
* [http://www.thomasbuffel.com Official Site of Thomas Buffel] (News, video, pictures, biography, statistics, etc)

Persondata
NAME=Buffel, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=February 19 1981
PLACE OF BIRTH=Oostkamp, Belgium
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=