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Erik Pieters (; born 7 August 1988) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a left-back and centre-back and is currently a free agent.
Pieters began his career with FC Utrecht and made his professional debut in August 2006. He impressed enough at the Stadion Galgenwaard to earn a move to PSV Eindhoven in July 2008 for €2.5 million. At PSV, he won the Johan Cruijff Shield in 2008 and the KNVB Beker in 2011–12 and also became a regular member of the Dutch national team. Injuries hampered his progress in 2012–13 before he moved to English side Stoke City in June 2013 for €3.6 million.
Pieters spent six years with Stoke and made 206 appearances before joining Burnley in July 2019. He signed for EFL Championship club West Bromwich Albion in September 2022 for a further two seasons. He had a short term spell at Luton Town without making a first-team appearance prior to moving to Championship side Derby County in late March 2025 in a deal until the end of the season; he left the club in June 2025.
The following season, Pieters regained his place in the starting eleven and played his part as PSV went on an unbeaten run for the last two months leading up to the winter break. His season was interrupted by a knee injury sustained while on international duty and he returned to within two weeks. The 2009–10 campaign saw PSV finish in 3rd position and reach the round of 32 in the UEFA Europa League. Pieters played 48 times in 2010–11 as PSV came close to reclaiming the Dutch title, finishing third four points off champions Ajax and he also helped PSV beat Feynoord 10–0. The 2011–12 season saw Pieters struggle with a fractured metatarsal and played 25 times before deciding to undergo foot surgery.
He made his return from injury in a league match against PEC Zwolle on 18 January 2013 after a nine-month layoff, and with PSV losing 3–1 Pieters was sent-off for a foul on Fred Benson. Such was Pieters' anger that he ran down the players entrance and punched a window, badly cutting his arm and was ruled out for a further three months. He returned in the top-of the table clash with Ajax towards the end of the 2012–13 season, replacing Jetro Willems after 73 minutes. A mix up with Pieters and PSV goalkeeper Boy Waterman allowed Derk Boerrigter to scoring the winning goal and Ajax went on to win the Eredivise.
Pieters retained his place at left-back under Mark Hughes in 2014–15, playing in 32 matches as Stoke finished in ninth position. Stoke suffered a number of defensive injuries during the season with Pieters suffering from a groin injury. Stoke ended the campaign with a 6–1 victory against Liverpool. Pieters signed a contract extension in December 2015, keeping him contracted at the club until 2020. Pieters played 41 times for Stoke in 2015–16 as the Potters again finished ninth. At the end of the season Opta Sports revealed that Pieters made more tackles than any other defender in the Premier League during the campaign.
Pieters again remained Hughes' first choice left-back in 2016–17, making 38 appearances as Stoke finished in 13th position. Pieters was criticised at times during the campaign by supporters due to some poor performances and assistant manager Mark Bowen admitted that Pieters "has come off his standards". Pieters was fined £70,000 by manager Paul Lambert in March 2018 after attending a late night party just hours before a league fixture against Everton. Pieters played 32 times in 2017–18 as Stoke suffered relegation to the EFL Championship. Pieters began the 2018–19 season with two rare goals against Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion.
On 31 January 2019, Pieters joined French club Amiens SC on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season. Pieters played 15 times for Amiens, helping them to avoid relegation.
On 7 March 2025, it was reported Pieters was training with Championship club Middlesbrough; however, the club opted not to sign him.
On 16 May 2025; it was announced by Derby County that Pieters would leave Derby County upon the expiry of his contract in June 2025.
In the semi-finals against England (1–1, 13–12 after 32 penalty kicks), Pieters played in the starting eleven, but was later substituted by Tim Janssen to improve the attack as well as due to a small injury. Pieters returned on the pitch and the Dutch went on to retain their 2006 title by beating Serbia 4–1 in the final. On 7 May 2012, Pieters was named in the provisional list of 36 players for the Euro 2012 tournament, but he did not recover in time for the competition due to a foot injury. PSV team member Jetro Willems replaced him in the Euro 2012 squad.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| FC Utrecht | 2006–07 | Eredivisie | 0 |
| 2007–08 | Eredivisie | 2 | |
| PSV Eindhoven | 2008–09 | Eredivisie | 0 |
| 2009–10 | Eredivisie | 0 | |
| 2010–11 | Eredivisie | 0 | |
| 2011–12 | Eredivisie | 0 | |
| 2012–13 | Eredivisie | 0 | |
| Stoke City | 2013–14 | Premier League | 1 |
| 2014–15 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2015–16 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2016–17 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2017–18 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2018–19 | EFL Championship | 2 | |
| Amiens SC (loan) | 2018–19 | Ligue 1 | 1 |
| Burnley | 2019–20 | Premier League | 2 |
| 2020–21 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 2021–22 | Premier League | 0 | |
| West Bromwich Albion | 2022–23 | Championship | 0 |
| 2023–24 | Championship | 0 | |
| Luton Town | 2024–25 | Championship | 0 |
| Derby County | 2024–25 | Championship | 0 |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year |
| Netherlands |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| 0 |
| 0 |
Netherlands U17
Netherlands U21
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