John Heitinga
Dutch association football player (born 1983)
Johnny Gijsbert Alan Heitinga (born 15 November 1983) is a Dutch football coach and former player, most recently an assistant coach at Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
A centre-back and product of the Ajax Academy, he played for their first squad from 2001 to 2008, winning two Eredivisie and three KNVB Cup titles. After a one-year spell at Atlético Madrid in Spain, he signed for Everton in 2009. He joined Fulham at the start of 2014 then signed with German side Hertha BSC later that year. In June 2015, he returned to his Ajax for a single season before retiring in 2016.
After making his debut for the Netherlands national team in February 2004, Heitinga earned 87 caps and represented his country at two World Cups (2006 and 2010) and three European Championships (2004, 2008, and 2012). He helped the Dutch to the World Cup final in 2010, in which he was sent off in a loss to Spain. In 2008, he was named Dutch Footballer of the Year.
Early life
Heitinga was born in Alphen aan den Rijn, South Holland, and raised in Amsterdam. He is of Indonesian descent through his paternal grandfather.
The public source identifies “John Heitinga” as dutch association football player (born 1983). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around John, Heitinga and Dutch.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “John Heitinga”, the useful work is to connect “dutch association football player (born 1983)” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 23, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q946457. VIAF identifies the subject as 286787090. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1983, 2001, 2008 and 2009.
Later biographies can compress uncertainty and repeat inherited reputations, so apparently settled claims may still require comparison. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “John Heitinga”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow John Heitinga primary sources, John Heitinga archive and John research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “John Heitinga”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “John Heitinga” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.