Celtic Invincible Dedryck Boyata calls time on playing career

Having parted ways with last season’s Belgian Pro League runners-up Club Brugge in January, the ex-Belgium defender has ended his playing days after being unable to secure a new club this summer.

Although retiring as a player, the 34-year-old will remain in the game by beginning his coaching journey with Belgium’s U21 squad, marking his first move into management.

The towering defender began his professional journey with Manchester City, debuting in the 2010 FA Cup against Middlesbrough. Over the following years, he featured 35 times for the club under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini and also enjoyed loan spells with Bolton Wanderers and Dutch side FC Twente.

Boyata arrived at Celtic in 2015 during Ronny Deila’s tenure, but it was under Brendan Rodgers, who took over a year later, that he enjoyed perhaps his finest form of his career. Known for his aerial prowess, the Belgian netted 15 times in 135 appearances for the Hoops, with many of his goals coming courtesy of headers from set-pieces.

During his four-year stint at Celtic, Boyata collected eight domestic trophies

During his four-year stint at Celtic, Boyata collected eight domestic trophies — four Scottish Premiership titles, two Scottish Cups, and two League Cups — although his last campaign was overshadowed by a dispute with Rodgers after a Champions League qualifier against AEK Athens.

In 2019, Boyata made the move to then Bundesliga outfit Hertha Berlin where he spent three seasons in Germany before concluding his playing days with Club Brugge.

Over a 12-year period with the Belgian national team, Boyata earned an admirable 31 caps for his country and was part of the squad that secured third place at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

In November 2024, ahead of Club Brugge’s visit to Celtic Park in the Champions League. Boyata had this to say about his time at Celtic, as reported by Celtic Wiki.

“Celtic is the club that made me a man. And family-wise, myself and my wife had some great times over there. So it’s really disappointing not to be going back with Brugge. But it’s football. You can never have everything you want.

“Celtic was by far the best period of my career and one of my happiest times. Because as a young player, I was playing at City before but went to a place where I’d have the chance to play every week. And of course, there was the challenge at Celtic of trying to win trophies. That was a new experience for me.

“When you’re there you don’t realise it but you just never know how many times you’re going to get that in your career. That’s what I’d say to a player winning a cup – enjoy it because you don’t know when it will happen in the future. For sure, I probably had the best time of my life at Celtic.”

He is a name that will always split opinion among the Celtic support, but good luck to Dedryck in his coaching career and congratulations on a very decent playing career including of course that Invincible season at Celtic under Brendan Rodgers.

Conor Spence