Background
De Graaf is a midfielder who was born in Den Haag and made his debut in professional football, being part of the Royal Bank of Canada Roosendaal squad in the 2001-2002 season.
De Graaf is a midfielder who was born in Den Haag and made his debut in professional football, being part of the Royal Bank of Canada Roosendaal squad in the 2001-2002 season.
He also played for Feyenoord Rotterdam and ADO Den Haag before joining NAC Breda. On 15 June 2010, he signed a two-year deal with Scottish Premier League club Hibernian. De Graaf made an "impressive" performance in his home debut for Hibs, scoring two goals in a 3–2 defeat by NK Maribor.
His later performances were not as productive, however, as he missed clear goalscoring chances in games against Rangers, Inverness and Kilmarnock.
De Graaf later admitted that those missed chances contributed to Hughes having to leave the club soon afterwards. De Graaf struggled to hold down a place under Hughes" successor, Colin Calderwood, and was loaned to SBV Excelsior for the remainder of the 2010-2011 season.
Calderwood stated in April 2011 that he had received good reports about De Graaf"s performances for Excelsior and confirmed that he would return to Easter Road for the 2011-2012 season. His contract with Hibernian was terminated and he signed for SBV Excelsior on 1 September 2011.
International career
De Graaf has represented the Netherlands B national football team five times.