Mike Havenaar

At 37 years old, Mike Havenaar has this physical status:

Havenaar began his career with the Consadole Sapporo U-15 side, where his father played and later worked as goalkeeper coach.

When Dido moved to powerhouse Yokohama F. Marinos, Mike joined the Marinos youth side and promoted to the top team in 2006. Playing as a forward, Havenaar made his debut as a professional on 15 April 2006, against Gamba Osaka. Havenaar and his father are the first father-son combination to play in the J. League.

He was loaned to second division club Avispa Fukuoka and Sagan Tosu and showed respectable results.

In 2010, he joined Ventforet Kofu, scoring 20 goals in 30 appearances for the club, helping them gain promotion to J1 League.

In 2011, Havenaar returned to Division 1 with Venforet and netted 17 times in 32 appearances. He received the J. League Best Eleven award after the season. Despite his contendership for the Top Scorer award, Kofu was relegated at the end of the season.

On 21 December 2011, Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem announced that they completed the signing of Havenaar on a two-and-a-half-year contract beating out the likes of Bundesliga side Wolfsburg for his signature.

Havenaar made his debut for the club as a 73rd-minute substitute for Nicky Hofs in their 1–0 away defeat to rivals NEC Nijmegen. His first goal came in his next appearance, a 3–1 loss to PSV. Havenaar made his first start for Vitesse on 4 February 2012 and provided an assist to Nicky Hofs first goal of the season, securing a 1–0 win NAC Breda. Havenaar scored his second goal for his new club in another losing effort, this time a 4–1 loss to title contenders FC Twente. Havenaar continued to impress for Vitesse, slotting the ball home after a cutting pass from Alexander Büttner to complete a 2–0 victory over De Graafschap on 4 March. Away against FC Groningen he made the third goal for Vitesse in the last minute, the game ended in 1–3 for Vitesse.

On 21 July 2014, it was announced by Córdoba CF that they had signed Havenaar. He made his La Liga debut on 25 August 2014, starting in a 0–2 away loss against Real Madrid.

On 30 December 2014 Havenaar was released by the Andalusians, after appearing in only five matches and scoring no goals during his spell for Córdoba CF.

On 2 March 2015, it was announced by HJK Helsinki that they had signed Havenaar. He made his competitive debut for HJK on 6 March 2015 in the Finnish League Cup and scored the second goal in a 2–0 win. On 4 April 2015, Havenaar scored the second goal in the 57th minute to secure a 2–0 win and the League Cup against RoPS.

On 11 August 2015, Dutch Eredivisie side ADO Den Haag announced that they had signed Mike Havenaar as a striker. On 3 July 2017, ADO Den Haag officially announced that Havenaar would be leaving the club to move back to Japan and join J1 league side Vissel Kobe. During his two seasons at ADO, the striker scored a total of 27 goals, including a goal on the last day of the 2016/17 season in the 4–1 win over Excelsior.

On 3 July 2017, Havenaar joined Japanese J1 league side Vissel Kobe.

On 26 January 2021, Havenaar joined Tōkai Adult Soccer League side FC.Bombonera.

International career

In 2007, Havenaar was picked to join the Japan U-20 squad to compete 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada and played one match against Nigeria U-20.

In August 2011, he was called up to Japan's training squad.

He made his debut for Japan on 2 September 2011 as a 70th-minute substitute against North Korea in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier match, striking the post. He scored his first ever goals for the national team with a brace, both headers, against Tajikistan on 11 October 2011 in the same competition. Japan won the game 8–0. Havenaar also participated in FIFA Confederations Cup 2013 coming on as a substitute and playing a total of 11 minutes in the competition.

Career statistics

1Includes Emperor's Cup and KNVB Cup.

2Includes J. League Cup.

3Includes UEFA Europa League.

4Includes Eredivisie Playoffs.

Source