Five-time Dutch national Vermeer back in premier league: goalkeeper signs with PEC

Kenneth Vermeer will be back in the premier league starting next season. The 37-year-old former Ajax and Feyenoord goalkeeper and five-time Dutch national has secured a contract with promoted PEC Zwolle.

Vermeer signs, subject to medical examination, for one year with an option for another season.

Vermeer had been without a club since his departure from FC Cincinnati in May. “It feels good to return to the Netherlands in a league familiar to me at a new club,” he announced on the PEC Zwolle website.

“I know PEC Zwolle as a club that stands for well-kept and attacking soccer. Under coach Dick Schreuder that way of playing has been made even more important and further developed and that fits well with my own preference. I have a good feeling about the plan that the club has with me and the other goalkeepers and I like to be part of it.”

Salient fact: when PEC won the cup final 5-1 in 2014, Vermeer was the unlucky goalkeeper at opponent Ajax.

Vermeer recently switched national teams and wants to make a bid with Suriname to qualify for the World Cup in 2026.

Suriname fell last week in the preliminary round of the Gold Cup – the championship of North and Central America – after penalty kicks against Puerto Rico. Vermeer was not there.