Maxime Lestienne

Maxime Christophe Lestienne, (born 17 June 1992) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Singapore Premier League club Lion City Sailors.

Lestienne is known to be one of the best foreigners to grace the league in the history of the Singapore Premier League.

Mouscron
Lestienne came up through the youth ranks at Royal Excelsior Mouscron. At the time of his debut in the senior squad on 20 December 2008, Mouscron was competing in the Belgian First Division. Lestienne came on as a substitute for Asanda Sishuba in the 80th minute of a 5–1 home victory against Club Brugge.

Club Brugge
After the bankruptcy of Mouscron in 2009, Lestienne became available on a free transfer. Despite interest from English side Everton and Dutch side PSV, Lestienne eventually signed a contract with Club Brugge on 6 January 2010. Lestienne scored his first hat-trick for the club in the Bruges derby on 23 September 2012 against Cercle Brugge. On 17 November 2012, Lestienne scored one and assisted four times in a 2–6 away win against S.K. Beveren.

Al-Arabi
On 31 August 2014, Lestienne moved overseas to joined Qatari side, Al-Arabi on a permanent transfer.

Loan to Genoa
Lestienne was loaned out to Genoa until the end of the 2014–15 season almost immediately after signing for Qatari side Al-Arabi. On 18 January 2015, he got himself a brace of assist as his club settled in a 3–3 draw against Sassuolo.

Loan to PSV
On 12 July 2015, Lestienne was loaned out to PSV until the end of the 2015–16 season. PSV decided not to exercise its option to buy the player at the end of the loan spell. In the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League group stage fixture against Manchester United on 15 September 2015, Lestienne assisted twice to Héctor Moreno and Luciano Narsingh to secured a 2–1 home victory. On 30 September 2015, Lestienne scored a brace in the UEFA Champions League match against CSKA Moscow but fell short to a 3–2 defeat to the Russian club.

Rubin Kazan
On 5 July 2016, Lestienne moved to Russian club Rubin Kazan. On 10 April 2017, he scored a brace to help his team to secured a 2–2 draw against Tom Tomsk.

Málaga
On 31 January 2018, Lestienne joined Málaga on loan until the end of the 2017–18 La Liga season.

Standard Liège
On 25 July 2018, he returned to Belgium, signing with Standard Liège. During the 2019-2020 season in the UEFA Europa League group stage fixtures, Lestienne scored an injury time goal from a brilliant counterattack to a famous 2–1 victory against Eintracht Frankfurt. After 109 appearances and 21 goals for the club, he bid farewell.

Lion City Sailors
On 8 February 2022, Lestienne joined Singapore Premier League club, Lion City Sailors on a two-year deal. In the 2022 AFC Champions League group stage fixture on 18 April 2022, Lestienne assisted twice as Lion City Sailors made history and gained media attention for their 3–0 victory against Korean club, Daegu FC. On 24 April 2022, he scored his first AFC Champions League goal against Shandong Taishan in a 3–2 win. By Matchweek 22, Lestienne had racked up 10 goals and 20 assists for the Sailors. In his first season, he won the 2022 Singapore Community Shield. On 13 August 2022, he managed to get 2 goals and 4 assists in a 10–1 victory against Young Lions. 2 gameweeks later, Lestienne scored 1 goal and 4 assists against Hougang United in a 9–4 victory. It was his 2nd quadruple of assists in the season and 3rd hat-trick of assist in the season. He ended the 2022 campaign with a wonderful performance of 16 goals and 28 assists in all of the 34 matches.

On 24 February 2023 during the 1st matchday fixture of the 2023 Singapore Premier League season, he racked up a hat-trick of assists against Tanjong Pagar United in which the Sailors came out victorious in a 3–1 win. On 1 July 2023, he made his 50th appearances for the Sailors with 31 goals and 41 assists in total. On 7 July 2023, Lestienne scored his first club hat-trick in 4–1 victory against Young Lions. On 4 August 2023, Lestienne scored his second hat-trick of the season against Tampines Rovers. It was his fastest career hat-trick in 25 minute. With the conclusion of the league, Lestienne went on to have exceptional performances throughout the season scoring 25 goals and providing 21 assists in 24 appearances. On 4 October 2023, Lestienne converted a penalty for his side in the 2023–24 AFC Champions League group stage match against Hong Kong club, Kitchee in a 2–1 away win. On 9 December 2023, he scored in the 2023 Singapore Cup Final which ended up with a victorious 3–1 win against defending champions, Hougang United where he won the cup. Lestienne’s performance in the 2023 season rewarded him with the 'Player of the Year' award, 'Team of the Year' award and being named in the league 'Team of the Year'. He managed to grab a total of 26 goals and providing 29 assists in 35 appearances in 2023. On 15 December 2023, Lion City Sailors announced that Lestienne had signed a two-year contract extension until 2025.

On 4 May 2024, Lestienne helped his club to lift the 2024 Singapore Community Shield after providing an assist and scoring a goal in a 2–0 win over Albirex Niigata (S) which won him the 'Man of the Match' award.

International career
Lestienne has appeared nine times for the Belgium U21 team and scored once, when he converted a penalty in the 53rd minute in a 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification Group 9 game against Cyprus U21 won by Belgium 2–0.

Lestienne was called up to the senior Belgium national team for the friendly against the United States in May 2013, but did not play. He was called up again to the squad in November 2019 to play against Russia and Cyprus for Belgium last two Euro 2020 qualifiers match which he didn't make any appearances.

Honours
PSV
 * Eredivisie: 2015–16
 * Johan Cruyff Shield: 2016

Lion City Sailors
 * Singapore Cup: 2023
 * Singapore Community Shield: 2022, 2024

Individual
 * Singapore Premier League Player of the Year: 2023
 * Singapore Premier League Team of the Year: 2022, 2023
 * Singapore Premier League Top goalscorer: 2023
 * Singapore Premier League Top assist provider: 2022, 2023
 * Singapore Premier League Player of the Month: May 2022, August 2022, April/May 2023, June 2023