Marcel de Jong, who captained Canada on his 50thinternational appearance for Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team, has announced
\u200bhis retirement from football as an active player. Marcel hangs up his boots
\u200bafter a career of more than 15 years as a professional footballer in
\u200bNetherlands, Germany, USA and Canada.
De Jong represented Canada in three cycles of FIFA World Cup
\u200bQualifiers, five editions of the Concacaf Gold Cup, and one edition of Concacaf
\u200bNations League Qualifying. From 2007 to 2018 with Canada Soccer’s Men’s
\u200bNational Team, he made 56 international “A” appearances including the one start
\u200bas Canada’s captain.
He was 21 years old when he made his debut for Canada on 20
\u200bNovember 2007. Two years later at his first Concacaf Gold Cup, he scored his
\u200bfirst international “A” goal in a 2:2 draw with Costa Rica. He later scored
\u200binternational goals against Jamaica and Ghana.
At the club level, de Jong played for youth programs in
\u200bNetherlands before joining Helmond Sport and then Roda JC, making his Dutch
\u200bEredivisie debut at age 19 on 19 August 2006. He later moved to FC Augsburg in
\u200bGermany and made 41 appearances in the Bundesliga across four seasons. From
\u200bthere, he moved to USA where he helped Sporting Kansas City win the 2015 US
\u200bOpen Cup.
In Canada, de Jong played for Ottawa Fury FC, Vancouver
\u200bWhitecaps FC and Pacific FC. He was an original member of Pacific FC in the
\u200bCanadian Premier League in 2019, although missed most of the season through
\u200binjury. He was back healthy in 2020 and featured in seven of Pacific FC’s 10
\u200bmatches at the Island Games.
At the international youth level, de Jong represented Canada
\u200bat the FIFA U-20 World Cup Netherlands 2005 and scored one goal in the group
\u200bstage. He was 16 years old when he made his debut in the Canadian youth program
\u200bin 2003 with coach Stephen Hart. He also represented Canada at both the 2003
\u200bConcacaf Under-17 Qualification Tournament and the 2005 Concacaf Under-20
\u200bQualification Tournament.