Wonder Women: Dutch Goalkeeping Star Sari Van Veenendaal Is Heading Home
WOMEN'S
Jenny Hojnacki
3 Yrs Ago
After six years abroad, Dutch goalkeeper Sari Van Veenendaal is going home.
The 30-year-old is one of the best shot stoppers in the world, with all the accolades to prove it. She was FIFA Goalkeeper of the Year in 2019 after winning the Golden Glove at the 2019 Women’s World Cup. She was a national hero as her nation won the European Championships in 2017. She has also won a league title and three domestic cups with Arsenal in the ever-growing Women’s Super League in England before playing a single season with Atlético Madrid.
Her next move takes her back to the Netherlands, where she signed a one-year deal with PSV Eindhoven on Thursday.
Van Veenendaal is arguably the best women’s goalkeeper in the entire world and could play between the sticks at just about any club. With all that available to her, she is choosing to return home to a league that may not have the same reputation of those she is leaving behind. She wants to be clear that it is not a step back, but rather a giant leap forward for both her career and women’s soccer in her home nation.
“I am happy to return to the Netherlands and will certainly not come here to take a step back,” Van Veenendaal said on PSV’s website. “PSV is a club which has continued to develop in recent years and which has sporting ambitions which I like. I come to help a talented team thanks to my experience. At the same time, I want to continue learning and I remain very motivated to become even better."
Van Veenendaal made a name for herself thanks to dynamite performances with the Dutch National Team at the highest stages of women’s soccer. It started in the summer of 2017, when she backstopped her country all the way to the Euro 2017 championship on home soil. She was nothing less than outstanding that summer. She was named the goalkeeper of the tournament after only allowing three goals in six matches, including shutouts against top sides England, Sweden, and Norway. She not only earned recognition from the world of women’s soccer, but she was also named a Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau by the Dutch Prime Minister.
Van Veenendaal followed that performance up with an equally stellar showing at the 2019 Women’s World Cup. She won the Golden Glove as the tournament’s top keeper as she led her team to the Final while only conceding three goals before falling to the United States.
Returning to the Netherlands allows Van Veenendaal to be close to the things she loves outside soccer. Her partner lives there and was rarely able to travel to England or Spain. She recognized the need to leave home originally, and the experience at Arsenal and Atlético propelled her to stardom.
“Football players in the Netherlands go abroad to become the best,” she said in an interview over the winter. “Men take their entire family with them. That's not how it works with us.” Van Veenendaal is a very family oriented person who credits her father for a lot of her success. She made sure that he was with her in Milan last September when she accepted FIFA’s Best Women’s Goalkeeper Award.
“You know, my father took me everywhere,” she said. “I only started playing football when I was 12. And when I finally played at a higher level, I could just get on the train myself. My parents and sister always give me the best. Whatever I do.”
Van Veenendaal’s friends and family will now get many more chances to see her play. Eindhoven is significantly closer to her hometown of Nieuwegein than London or Madrid, giving her the extra boost she needs to be the best she can.
“I prefer to be in the Netherlands,” she said. “That gives me energy, but it also costs a lot of energy. Traveling and stuff. I find that the most difficult. You are not there at the moments you want to share. That is a great sacrifice at times.”
PSV will give Van Veenendaal the chance to be a superstar goalkeeper in her home nation while still providing the chance to succeed at the highest level. She is yet to win the Women’s Champions League and her new club will play in that tournament for the first time next season.
PSV is also searching for its first Women’s Eredivisie title, despite having finished with the most points in the regular season in 2018-2019, and after climbing to the top of the table when the 2019-2020 season was cancelled.
Having Van Veenendaal in goal will certainly give PSV a driven and trophy hungry goalkeeper to help propel them to a title for the first time, while giving Dutch women’s soccer fans a national hero to root for as she works to help the Dutch League grow.