// Workers AI · dad joke modeWhat did Sari Kees say to her friend? "Kees me maybe?
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_(cropped).jpg) Kees in 2024 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 17 February 2001 | ||
| Place of birth | Belgium | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Ajax | ||
| Youth career | |||
| SP Budingen | |||
| KSV Drieslinter | |||
| OH Leuven | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2016–2019 | OH Leuven | 43 | (8) |
| 2019–2020 | Genk | 15 | (0) |
| 2020–2024 | OH Leuven | 89 | (11) |
| 2024–2026 | Leicester City | 6 | (0) |
| 2026– | Ajax | 0 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2015 | Belgium U15 | 1 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Belgium U16 | 4 | (1) |
| 2016–2018 | Belgium U17 | 16 | (0) |
| 2018–2020 | Belgium U19 | 20 | (3) |
| 2021 | Belgium U23 | 2 | (0) |
| 2022– | Belgium | 34 | (5) |
|
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 9 February 2025 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 5 December 2024[1] | |||
Sari Kees (Flemish: [ˈsaːri ˈkeːs]; born 17 February 2001) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Ajax and the Belgium national team.
Club career
[edit]Kees started her youth career as a goalkeeper at SP Budingen. At age 10, she joined OH Leuven, and further developed as a central defender throughout their youth teams for the next eight seasons.[citation needed]
On 12 June 2019, it was announced that Kees joined Racing Genk for one season, becoming a team regular there.[2][3]
Kees returned to OH Leuven again in April 2020,[4] scoring the winning goal in their 1–0 win against defending champions Anderlecht in March 2022.[5] Leuven ended in second place behind Anderlecht for three straight seasons, from 2020-21 to 2022-23, and in 2023-24 won the regular season only to be overhauled in the title play-offs[6][7]
Kees stated that her ambitions for the coming years are becoming a full-time member of the national team, and earning a transfer to a foreign club, which came true when she signed for OHL's sister club Leicester City in July 2024.[8]
On 28 July 2026, Kees was announced at Ajax.[9]
International career
[edit]Kees is a member of the national team since the under-15s. As a central defender, she played for the under-19s in the UEFA U19 Championship in 2019 in their group matches against Spain, Germany and England.[citation needed]
Kees made her debut for the Belgium national team on 16 February 2022, in a 4–0 win against Slovakia in the Pinatar Cup in Spain.[10]
Kees was named in the Belgium squad for UEFA Women's Euro 2022 in England, where the Red Flames were beaten in the quarter-finals 1-0 by Sweden. She went on to contribute to Belgium's successful qualification for UEFA Women's Euro 2025 via the play-offs, starting both legs of the play-off final against Ukraine.[11][12]
On 11 June 2025, Kees was called up to the Belgium squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025.[13]
Career statistics
[edit]- As of match played 6 October 2022[14]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium U15 | 2015 | 1 | 0 |
| Belgium U16 | 2015 | 1 | 0 |
| 2017 | 3 | 1 | |
| Total | 4 | 1 | |
| Belgium U17 | 2016 | 7 | 0 |
| 2017 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 16 | 0 | |
| Belgium U19 | 2018 | 6 | 0 |
| 2019 | 13 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 20 | 3 | |
| Belgium U23 | 2021 | 2 | 0 |
| Belgium | 2021 | 1 | 0 |
| 2022 | 13 | 1 | |
| Total | 14 | 1 | |
| Career total | 57 | 5 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | 6 September 2022 | Yerevan Football Academy Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia |  Armenia | 7–0 | 7–0 | 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification |
| 2. | 13 November 2022 | Joseph Marien Stadium, Brussels, Belgium |  Slovakia | 1–0 | 7–0 | Friendly |
| 3. | 23 February 2024 | Pancho Aréna, Felcsút, Hungary |  Hungary | 1–1 | 5–1 | 2023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League play-offs |
| 4. | 5–1 | |||||
| 5. | 9 April 2024 | Viborg Stadium, Viborg, Denmark |  Denmark | 1–4 | 2–4 | UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying |
| 6. | 14 April 2026 | Easter Road, Edinburgh, Scotland |  Scotland | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification |
Honours
[edit]Belgium
References
[edit]- ↑ "Al onze Red Flames" [All our Red Flames]. RBFA (in Dutch). Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ↑ "KRC Genk Ladies blijven zich maar versterken". Vrouwenvoetbalkrant.be (in Dutch). 12 June 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ↑ "Sari Kees: Wedstrijden". Voetbalkrant.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ↑ "Drie Genkies beproeven hun geluk in Leuven" (in Dutch). Oud-Heverlee Leuven. 20 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
- ↑ "OHL wint van RSCA" (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ↑ "Anderlecht verkoopt OH Leuven nu ook titeltik dankzij gouden wissels en doelpunt in 90e minuut" [Anderlecht deals title blow to OH Leuven thanks to golden substitutions and goal in the 90th minute]. Sporza (in Dutch). 4 May 2024.
- ↑ "Standard knikkert OHL uit titelstrijd met felbevochten zege en komt virtueel aan de leiding" [Standard knocks OHL out of title race with hard-fought win and takes virtual lead]. Sporza (in Dutch). 11 May 2024.
- ↑ "Flames on the move: OHL ziet Kees naar Leicester trekken, PSV plukt Evrard weg bij Chelsea" [Flames on the move: OHL sees Kees move to Leicester, PSV plucks Evrard from Chelsea]. Sporza (in Dutch). 19 July 2024. Retrieved 5 December 2024.
- ↑ "Sari Kees Departs LCFC Women". Leicester City F.C. 28 July 2026. Retrieved 28 July 2026.
- ↑ "Match Report of Slovakia vs Belgium - 2022-02-16 - Pinatar Cup - Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
- ↑ "Red Flames dansen, zingen en glunderen na EK-kwalificatie: "Zeer belangrijk voor ons vrouwenvoetbal"" [Red Flames dance, sing and beam after European Championship qualification: "Very important for our women's football"]. Sporza (in Dutch). 5 December 2024.
- ↑ "Het EK is binnen! Red Flames klaren ook laatste klus tegen Oekraïne na knappe goal en assist van Tessa Wullaert" [The European Championship is here! Red Flames complete final task against Ukraine after a great goal and assist from Tessa Wullaert]. Sporza (in Dutch). 5 December 2024.
- ↑ "The Belgian Red Flames squad for EURO 2025". Royal Belgian Football Association. 11 June 2025. Archived from the original on 14 June 2025. Retrieved 15 June 2025.
- ↑ "rbfa profile".
External links
[edit]- Sari Kees at the Royal Belgian Football Association
- Sari Kees at Soccerway
- Sari Kees at Global Sports Archive
Belgium squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||
- 2001 births
- Living people
- 21st-century Belgian sportswomen
- Belgian women's footballers
- Women's association football defenders
- Oud-Heverlee Leuven (women) players
- KRC Genk Ladies players
- Leicester City W.F.C. players
- Belgian Women's Super League players
- Women's Super League players
- Belgium women's youth international footballers
- Belgium women's international footballers
- UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players
- UEFA Women's Euro 2025 players
- Belgian expatriate women's footballers
- Belgian expatriate sportspeople in England
- Expatriate women's footballers in England