page_title: Niklas Moisander
section_title: AZ
hierarchical_section_title: Niklas Moisander / Club career / AZ
caption_attribution_description: English: Niklas Moisander as a player of AZ
context_page_description: Niklas Moisander is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for German club Werder Bremen. Moisander was born in Turku, where he played for the local TPS youth team before moving to AFC Ajax. He is the twin brother of goalkeeper Henrik Moisander, and is a former captain of the Finland national team.
  Moisander made his international debut for Finland in May 2008, at age 22, and had 62 caps, including appearing in 2010, 2014 and 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifications before his retirement from international football in 2017. He was voted the Finnish Footballer of the Year in both 2012 and 2013.
context_section_description: On 11 July 2008, it was announced that AZ had come to terms with Zwolle for the direct transfer of Moisander, signing a three-year contract to bind him to the club until the summer of 2011. He made his Eredivisie debut on 20 September 2008 for AZ in its 1–0 home win against Dutch giants PSV. He scored his first goal for AZ on 3 October 2008 in the 6–0 regular season victory over Sparta Rotterdam. He was able to establish himself as the first choice defender under manager Louis van Gaal, playing a total of 22 full league matches, having briefly been sidelined in the months of January and February due to a knee injury.
  Moisander quickly came back to help his side win the Eredivisie title, the second for the club in its history and Moisander's personal first. That season, the title race had come down to the final round, and although AZ had lost their last game of the season against Vitesse, it was still able to consequently clinch the league due to eminent losses suffered by title contenders Ajax and Twente. The following season, Moisander made his continental debut, playing in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. Playing in five out of the six matches against the likes of Arsenal, Olympiacos and Standard Liège, AZ finished in the bottom of the group under newly appointed manager Ronald Koeman. This was after having won the Dutch Super Cup (the Johan Cruyff Shield) against Heerenveen at the start of the season. Midway through the season, the team changed management again when Dick Advocaat was hired as a replacement for Koeman, and the club finishing the season in fifth place and thus qualifying for the 2010–11 UEFA Europa League Third qualifying round.
  Ahead of the 2010–11 season, AZ had found another replacement in Gertjan Verbeek as the new manager. Moisander played a major role in helping his side to qualify for the 2010–11 Europa League group stage, having appeared in all four games in the qualifying rounds. He also played in four of the six group stage encounters against Dynamo Kyiv, BATE Borisov and Sheriff Tiraspol. The team, however, finished the league in fourth place, thus qualifying for the qualifying rounds once more.
  Following the departure of Stijn Schaars to Sporting CP ahead of the 2011–12 season, Moisander was appointed as AZ's new team captain. Securing the group stage of the 2011–12 Europa League once more, through a successful qualifying campaign against Baumit Jablonec and Aalesunds FK, his team would then successfully advance out of the group stage, where it faced off with the likes of Austria Wien, Malmö FF and Metalist Kharkiv, finishing in second place in the group. The club then advanced to the quarter-finals by defeating Anderlecht and Udinese in previous rounds, eventually bowing out to Valencia 5–2 on aggregate. Moisander played in 14 matches during the club's continental campaign, when it reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the fourth time in the club's history. Moisander started the 2012–13 Eredivisie season with AZ, making two league appearances, before transferring back to neighboring Ajax.
caption: Moisander with AZ
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