Dirk Kate is a Feyenoord football player. He was born on July 22, 1980 in the Netherlands. For many years, the footballer played for the national team, but he and the team did not manage to win anything.
Carier start
The future footballer was born in the city of Katwijk aan Zee. This is a small fishing town. Dirk's father was a fisherman, and Kate himself planned to follow in his father's footsteps. However, everything changed when at the age of five he was accepted into the football team. Speaking for the amateur club of his town, Dirk Kate “hit the pencil” of the club scouts from the Dutch championship - Utrecht.
It was in the football club Utrecht that Kate began his professional career. Dirk was the main striker of the Dutch team. During the time spent in Utrecht, Kate became the leader of the club. When a new coach joined the team, Dirk began to play on the flank, although his center position is considered his nominal position. In the 2002/03 season, Dirk was able to score twenty goals. In the same season, his team was able to win the country's cup, beating the Feyenoord in the final. One of the goals in this match scored Kate. Dirk was able to play one hundred and sixty matches for Utrecht, after which he moved to another club of Eredivisia - Feyenoord. The transfer amount was one million euros.
Career at Feyenoord
Almost immediately after the transition, Kate was able to become the favorite of Feyenoord fans. The Dutchman was able to make several hat-tricks during his second season. At the end of the 2004–05 Netherlands Championship, it was Kate who became the top scorer of the competition. Dirk managed to sign at the gates of his rivals twenty-nine times.
The very next year, he scored twenty-five goals, playing in tandem with Solomon Kalou, a flank forward from Côte d'Ivoire. This was Keith’s third consecutive season as part of Feyenoord. At the end of spring 2006, many rumors appeared that connected Keith with the English teams. As reported, the main favorites in the fight for the Dutch striker were considered “Liverpool” and “Newcastle”. In mid-August, Kate signed a contract with Liverpool. No transfer costs were reported. In total, Kate played 233 games in the Dutch Championship.
"Liverpool"
For the first time as part of the Reds, Dirk played against London's West Hem when he came on as a substitute at the end of the game. The Champions League match against the Dutch PSV was the first game when Kate appeared in the Liverpool main squad. Dirk managed to score the first goal only at the end of September in the match against Newcastle, which was considered the main contender for the player in the transfer window in the summer of 2006. A week later, Kate was able to score a goal scored in the goal of the capital “Tottenham”. In early 2007, Liverpool beat London's Chelsea 2-0. This was the first time that Rafa Benites defeated Jose Mourinho. That season, Kate spent thirty-four matches with Liverpool and scored twelve goals.
In the summer transfer window of 2012, Kate signed a three-year agreement with the Turkish Fenerbahce. After the contract expired, the player returned to the Dutch championship in 2015, signing a contract with Feyenoord. In the spring of 2016, Dirk extended the agreement with the club. The contract expires in the summer of 2017.
Netherlands national team
The first game in the Dutch national team, which was coached by Dutch specialist Marco van Basten, Dirk Kate held in September 2004. Two years later, Dirk Kate was on the list of reserve players for the World Cup in Germany. The statistics of the football player at the world championship were not impressive. He could not distinguish himself by effective actions.
After his debut in the national team, Dirk Kate took part in all major tournaments: he helped his team get through the French team at the European Championship 2008; gave away assists at the 2010 World Cup, when the Netherlands lost in the final; hit the bid for the 2012 European Championship, where the Netherlands team failed. In 2014, Kate was able to win bronze at the World Cup in Brazil, after which he decided to end his career with the Netherlands.