# Jordi Balk

Jordi Balk (born 26 April 1994) is a retired Dutch professional footballer who played as a centre back during his career, for Ross County, FC Oss, St Patrick's Athletic, FC Lienden, VV DUNO, DOVO and Sportlust '46.

## Club career
### Ross County

Balk, who had previously played in the youth academy of Dutch club Utrecht, signed for Scottish Premiership club Ross County in July 2014. He made his debut appearance on 16 August 2014, in a 2–1 defeat against Kilmarnock. Balk was released from his contract in November 2014.

### FC Oss

In January 2015, he signed with Dutch Eerste Divisie side FC Oss until the end of the season. He stayed with FC Oss until 2017.

### St Patrick's Athletic

After 3 seasons with FC Oss, Balk went on trial with League of Ireland Premier Division club St Patrick's Athletic, from the capital city of Dublin. On 5 July 2017 he played the full 90 minutes as a trialist in a 1–0 friendly win over Scottish Premiership side Heart of Midlothian at Richmond Park. After impressing fans and coaching staff with his passing, positional sense and tackling, Balk signed a contract with the Saints on 7 July 2017, becoming the first Dutch player to play for the club. Balk made his full debut on 9 July in a narrow 1–0 defeat away to league leaders Cork City. He scored his first goal in the clubs crucial 4-2 win against Cork which helped St Pats stay in League of Ireland Premier Division.

### Return to Holland

On 19 December, Balk announced to his fans via his Instagram account that despite St Patrick's Athletic offering him a multi-year contract, he would be leaving Dublin and returning home to sign for FC Lienden of the Tweede Divisie on a 1.5 year contract.
Balk signed with Voetbalvereniging Duno Doorwerth, better known as VV DUNO, in the beginning of 2019. However, already on 12 February 2019 it was confirmed, that Balk would join DOVO from the upcoming season.
Balk played for Sportlust '46 from 2020 until he retired from football in July 2022.
On 9 September 2023, Balk returned to Dublin to play in a friendly for a St Patrick's Athletic legends team for Ian Bermingham's testimonial match.

## Career statistics

    As of 19 December 2017.
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | Cup | Cup | League Cup | League Cup | Other | Other | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Ross County | 2014–15 | Scottish Premiership | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 |
| FC Oss | 2014–15 | Eerste Divisie | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| FC Oss | 2015–16 | Eerste Divisie | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 33 | 0 |
| FC Oss | 2016–17 | Eerste Divisie | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 17 | 1 |
| FC Oss | Club Total | Club Total | 68 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | 70 | 1 |
| St Patrick's Athletic | 2017 | League of Ireland Premier Division | 12 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 |
| FC Lienden | 2017–18 | Tweede Divisie | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 84 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 89 | 2 |
* ↑ Appearances in Promotion Play-offs