Mike Den Heijer is a kiwi footy player doing his thing for NEC Nijmegen in The Netherlands. How that came to happen is a pretty fantastic story and Mike was decent enough to spin the yarn here for us.

First off, cheers for chatting. The story of how you ended up playing for NEC Nijmegen is pretty insane - run through the tale in your own words so the people can be enlightened.

The journey to NEC really started back in 2013 where I tasted travel and international football in the FIFA Under 17 World Cup. I returned to New Zealand ready to advance my football development and international experience. I was very lucky through my long term coach Hiroshi Miyazawa to get the opportunity of trialling with the youth team of top J League Club Kashiwa Reysol.

Kashiwa are renowned for a high quality technical style of football that sees them consistently as one of the elite clubs in the Japanese J League. After the trial I won a spot in the youth squad that went on to finish second in the national league, playing the final in the national stadium in front of 20,000 passionate supporters.

The Japan experience was fantastic for developing the technical and football intelligence part of my game. I returned to NZ in preparation for the Under 20 World Cup where I played about half a dozen games for the NZ U20 side in the lead up to the tournament but settling back into the NZ football style after being in Japan didn’t go well and I pulled out of the Under 20 squad.

This gave me the opportunity to play under Ramon Tribulietx at Auckland City who played a style of football that I really admire and respect. It was a great couple of seasons I had at Auckland City and I'm very grateful for all the opportunities Ramon and the rest of the staff gave me to help me improve my game. In my two seasons with Ramon and Auckland City I won one National and two OFC titles along with a Club World Cup Finals experience in Japan.

Following the second season with ACFC and a short stint with Onehunga Sports I was keen to get back overseas to keep my football development going. An agent organised a trial for me with a German club but after a day at the club and without even putting my boots on I walked away from the trial. The club was below the level that I had expected. Luckily I have Dutch relatives and, after leaving the trial, headed to stay with a cousin.

After arriving on my cousin’s door step I investigated the local clubs, of which the closest was NEC Nijmegen - a first division Eredivisie Club (at the time). I jumped on my cousin’s bike and headed down to the club the first thing the next day. I asked around as to who the head trainer of the youth team was and was pointed to Ron De Groot. I went up to Ron and told him I was from NZ I was good and would he let me train with the team tomorrow.

He was very hesitant and said it didn’t work like that and normally you can’t just turn up and ask to train. I said I understand but look at some video that I showed him on my phone. He relented and said: 'okay, be here tomorrow morning'.

I played some great football that next day and was asked to continue training and playing matches with the team. After impressing for 3 weeks, I was offered a one year deal with the youth team. We won our league and we didn’t lose a single game I played in and I was fortunate enough to captain the team on several occasions.

My football advanced massively over the year thanks to the great support from the trainers Ron De Groot and Patrick Pothuizen, both of whom are club legends at NEC.

Describe what life is like in the Netherlands compared to back in Aotearoa. 

Life in the Netherlands is fantastic. I have Dutch heritage and have always wanted to live and play professional football in Holland so it is a dream come true. The people have a football culture and a passion for the game that we don’t have at home. Our NEC fans are incredibly passionate and loyal supporters... even this year in the second league the stadium is just about full with 10,000 people. The city is great, a beautiful old traditional city... but I do miss my family and girlfriend, of course.

Do you have any contact with Anthony Hudson or the All Whites? How close do you think you are to a national team call-up and how much does something like that drive you?

I haven’t had any contact with anyone from NZ Football for a long time. I dream one day of being able to represent NZ at the highest level of the game. I believe that it will happen when the time is right.

My priority is to establish myself as a good professional in Europe playing football at a high level and once I have done that the international honours and the privilege of playing for my country will hopefully follow.

You're also one of many success stories from Wynton Rufer’s old Wynrs Academy, do you think you'd have been able to get where you are now without having that independent academy pathway?

I started playing football in the Wynrs program when I was a 5-year-old, I loved it so much. I always wanted to play football. It was incredibly important in my early development.

Those younger years are so important - it’s the time when you learn the football basics - and the independent academies are crucial in my opinion. The Wellington Phoenix Soccer School run by Hiroshi Miyazawa, Leigh Kenyon and Joe Dawkins was the kind of academy pathway I learnt to play football from. This academy is run by people who know what it takes to become a pro footballer and without them I wouldn’t be one.

And of course I am grateful to Wynton for providing a football environment that I enjoyed so much. I’m sure his academy is part of the reason I fell in love with the game.

(Editor's Note: The Wellington Phoenix Soccer School inherited and absorbed the Wynrs Academy after Rufer finished up with it in late-2014)

Who was your childhood football hero and what's one thing from their game that you've tried to emulate over the years?

Steven Gerrard. A hard worker with the ability to change a game with sheer strength of character and determination. An amazingly dedicated loyal club man.

Best goal you've ever scored, relive it in full detail.

Long time ago now but probably my goal against the Auckland City youth team in the national youth league for NZ-U17. A ball was crossed in along the ground, laid back to me and I side-footed smashed the ball out wide and curled it just back inside the post from about 10m outside the box. 

Hey and what's this yarn about you acting in a Tip Top commercial way back when? Gotta hear you tell that tale...

I was down at Wynton Rufer's summer soccer program and Wynton came up to my family and asked if I was keen to audition for a TV advert for Tip Top. My parents didn’t tell me too much about it but took me to the audition and I was told to juggle a football. I was only 7-years-old and I was a good juggler, so I must have impressed. A few days later I had the gig and was back the following weekend to film the advert. I had to juggle a football and count my number of kicks… while supposedly my mum eating Tip Top was getting annoyed at my noisiness and stands up out of her chair and kicks my football away… just when I'm on 99... haha.

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