 In early January 2018, he agreed the termination of his contract with Utrecht citing family reasons and lack of playing time.In 2006, Braafheid was part of the Netherlands squad that won the UEFA U-21 Championship 2006 in Portugal.In a column in early 2008, critic Hugo Borst had named Braafheid as a true defender, and stated he should have been in the Dutch squad for Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland under manager Marco van Basten.