Raphael Maitimo

Maitimo started his football career at the age of 6 years old, for club VV Nieuwerkerk in the Netherlands. Already after two years Maitimo was scouted from several professional Dutch clubs, one being Feyenoord where he took his first steps of his professional career. Maitimo spent his whole youth career at Feyenoord Academy. In Feyenoord youth, Maitimo played together with Robin van Persie.[4]

Although having professional sporting commitments Maitimo also finished his bachelor's degree in Economics of Commerce with Sports Marketing & Management as his minor. Maitimo followed a special program for professional athletes, at the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences, to complete his Bachelor of Economics.

In his early career he played alongside Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben[7] in the Netherlands U15, Netherlands U16 and Netherlands U17.

In October 2010 Maitimo got invited by the Football Association of Indonesia to become a part of Indonesia national team. After a long process with finalizing documents, Maitimo finally made his international debut for the Indonesia national team on 25 November 2012 in the 2012 AFF Suzuki Cup against Laos. He also scored his first international goal in the match as a 1–1 equalizer with a looping header.[8] The game ended in a 2–2 draw. On 26 March 2014 Maitimo scored winning goal[9] in the match between Andorra and Indonesia, held in Spain. The match ended in a 1-0 win for Indonesia national team which was their first win in Europe in their history. During 2015 AFC Asian Cup qualification Indonesia changed five coaches, and Maitimo was the only player in the squad invited by all five of them.

A highlight in his international career was the friendly match at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on 7 June 2013 against the Netherlands. In this match Maitimo met his former teammates Robin van Persie, Wesley Sneijder and Arjen Robben.

• Raphael Maitimo at Soccerway
• Raphael Maitimo at National-Football-Teams.com