Born on December 20th, 2006, Nolhan Courtens grew up in the Brussels metropolitan area and began his career with Royal Leopold FC before joining the most decorated team in Belgium: RSC Anderlecht.
However, a knee injury sidelined him for seven months and prevented him from taking full advantage of Anderlecht’s world-renowned youth production centre, with Courtens being cut from the squad and eventually dropping down to AFC Tubize.
He then spent the next two years at Union Saint-Gilloise and KV Mechelen before joining Royal Antwerp FC, where he signed his first professional contract with Antwerp’s reserves in May 2022.
"It was not an easy path, to be honest. I started in an amateur club in the city where I was born, Uccle. After five years, I made the big step to Anderlecht, but I had to leave after two years as they fired me due to my injury problems," recalls Courtens in an exclusive Flashscore interview.
"That was one of the toughest moments in my career, even if I was only 11 years old, so I had to take a step back to Tubize, who were in the Belgian second division. But I think the moment when I had to leave Anderlecht triggered me and changed me mentally for the clubs where I went after.
"There was not really a lot of stability until I went to Antwerp, but I've always been able to deal with it properly. Even if I had just arrived at the club, I could adapt really quickly," he explains.
Courtens enjoyed an impressive 2023/24 season on the domestic and international front, playing 22 matches for the Young Reds in the Belgian third tier and starting in all six UEFA Youth League matches against Barcelona, Porto, and Shakhtar Donetsk, before making 22 league appearances in 2024/25.
It wasn’t long before he was drawing the attention of not one, but two national teams: after representing Belgium at the U16 and U17 level, Courtens looked set to play for DR Congo’s U20s, only to miss out due to injury. Similar to other players like Romelu Lukaku and Youri Tielemans, he will have to eventually decide between playing for the Red Devils and the Leopards.
"The choice hasn't presented itself for now: I’ve been called up twice for DR Congo, but unfortunately, I couldn’t play both times because I had a really light injury that kept me out for a week. It’s strange that this happened, because I’m not a player who gets injured often. I’m grateful for it, and I’ve been able to keep my Congolese roots alive despite living in Belgium, but so far, I haven’t made a choice yet," Courtens says.
Somewhere along the line, Courtens realised that he wasn’t going to play regularly over established internationals like Jairo Riedewald and Dennis Praet. It’s why he decided to leave Belgium for the first time in 2025, joining Dutch side Heerenveen on a two-year contract with the option for a further year.
After initially cutting his teeth with their U21S, Courtens made his senior debut on February 4th against PSV Eindhoven in the KNVB Cup. Two weeks later, he made his Eredivisie debut against PSV, who were closing in on a third straight league title, followed by four more substitute cameos. This season, however, Courtens has taken things up a notch under Robin Veldman and transitioned from a reserve player to a full-fledged first-team member of Heerenveen, who sit 10th in the Eredivisie.
"I wanted to see something new," says Courtens of his move abroad. "I had a few options in Belgium, and I could have even stayed at Antwerp. But the style of play of the Eredivisie was really interesting to me, and I really wanted to go to a team in the Netherlands. Belgian football is way more physical than the Dutch, and when I arrived at Heerenveen, I saw that the Dutch style of play was fitting for me. It wasn’t much of a surprise."
After coming off the bench in the season opener, he was an unused substitute for two consecutive matches before making his first-ever start against Willem II. Courtens did even better the following match, timing his run to perfection and slotting home the equalising goal versus AZ Alkmaar.
And after an impressive display in central midfield against Telstar, Courtens thrived in a more advanced role and opened the scoring in a 4-0 win over Sparta Rotterdam. He’ll be looking to make it five starts in a row as well as three goals from four as Heerenveen travel to PSV on October 9th.
Flashscore spoke to Courtens about several topics in an exclusive interview you can read below:
How influential was your time at Royal Antwerp’s academy? Do you feel like getting the chance to knuckle down there for a few years without changing clubs was really crucial for your development?
"It was important in my development: when I went to Antwerp, it was when they were starting to grow into what they are right now, because they had just come up from the second division. They told me, ‘If you come, you’ll be at a club in the first division,’ so I took the gamble. It wasn’t the most important thing in my development as a young player who was learning more, but Antwerp is definitely a club that helped me a lot in terms of progressing as a player."
You played six times for the Heerenveen first team in 2025/26…how would you rate your first season abroad? What were your favourite things and least favourite things from your debut Eredivisie season?
"It’s hard to say what my least favourite thing was, but there was a difficult period where I was training very well and proving myself, but I had to wait 14-15 games before making my debut. At the time, I was hoping for my chance to come, and I still had to wait, so that was the thing that I had the most difficulty with. But the thing that I liked the most was my debut, and the fact that I could enter the pitch over and over again."
What was it like scoring your first senior goal vs. AZ Alkmaar, the current league leaders and reigning cup winners? What was going through your mind when you scored that goal?
"It was a special feeling; I was very happy. It was great to score my first goal. I never imagined that it would come so fast, but I'm grateful that it did. I’m a Christian believer, so I thanked God at that moment for the goal. I was really grateful for the opportunity to score it."
How important has your faith been in terms of guiding you through the various adversities that you faced growing up?
"My journey in faith has been a bit different: I was raised by a Christian mother who educated me and taught me in these ways, but I never really accepted it for myself. It wasn’t until after the knee injury and after stepping back from Anderlecht, when I was 17 years of age, that I really started to seek and accept God into my life."
At 19 years old, you’ve still got a lot of ways to go before you hit your prime. How would you describe yourself as a player right now, and what are you trying to improve?
"I'm still discovering myself, but I would say that my physique and technique are my main assets: I'm someone who can use his body well, but I’ve also got the technical ability to turn past my man and play with confidence in midfield. When I was younger, I played in so many positions; there wasn't really a position I had a problem with.
"Even at Antwerp, when I was playing 11 vs 11, I played everywhere from centre back to right back to right winger to left winger. So I’m really an all-round player. It can be difficult to know, ‘Ok, what is my specific position?’ I think it's a disadvantage in some ways, but sometimes it's an advantage in that the trainer can use me in a lot of positions.
"I don't think I'm lacking a lot in one thing, but in a bit of everything: I have to improve and become more mature in my style of play. As a midfielder, I always have to track back, but if there’s one thing in particular that I can work on, it’s tackling and scanning the game to be able to better know my surroundings."
Lastly, what’s your message for the Heerenveen fanbase?
"I would just say that I will always give my 100%, and I hope to give them pleasure with goals, assists, and skills, and be a player who’s nice to watch. Heerenveen finished eighth last season, but if you look at our way of playing in most games, we’re a team with good qualities that can beat everybody. We’re a nice team to watch, and we want to reach the playoffs again, and this time, we want to qualify for Europe."