Van de Looi played in the youth academies of RKHVV and Vitesse 1892 and made his professional debut for second-tier Eerste Divisie club BVV Den Bosch in 1992 as a loanee.

After a season, in which he made few appearances, van de Looi was given an opportunity to play by Vitesse head coach Herbert Neumann.

Partly due to injuries, van de Looi played relatively few games in his three seasons at NAC, with whom he also suffered relegation from the Eredivisie in 1999.

There, too, he could not regain his earlier form, and after another relegation he returned to the Netherlands after only six months in Germany – this time to newly promoted FC Groningen.

[7] On 23 May 2016, Van de Looi was announced as the new manager of Dutch football club Willem II, signing a two-year contract.