Sari Kees

Sari Kees
Kees in 2024
Personal information
Date of birth (2001-02-17) 17 February 2001 (age 25)
Place of birth Belgium
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position Defender
Team information
Current team
 Ajax
Number 4
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 52 (6)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 9 February 2025
‡ National team caps and goals as of 15 October 2026

Sari Kees (Flemish: [ˈsaːri ˈkeːs]; born 17 February 2001) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Vrouwen Eredivisie club Ajax and the Belgium national team.

Club career

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.

Kees returned to OH Leuven again in April 2020, scoring the winning goal in their 1–0 win against defending champions Anderlecht in March 2022. 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

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.

On 28 July 2026, Kees joined Vrouwen Eredivisie club Ajax on a contract until June 2029.

International career

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.

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.

On 11 June 2025, Kees was called up to the Belgium squad for the UEFA Women's Euro 2025.

Career statistics

As of match played 6 October 2022
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Belgium U15 201510
Belgium U16 201510
201731
Total41
Belgium U17 201670
201760
201830
Total160
Belgium U19 201860
2019133
202010
Total203
Belgium U23 202120
Belgium 202110
2022131
Total141
Career total575
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.6 September 2022Yerevan Football Academy Stadium, Yerevan, Armenia Armenia7–07–02023 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification
2.13 November 2022Joseph Marien Stadium, Brussels, Belgium Slovakia1–07–0Friendly
3.23 February 2024Pancho Aréna, Felcsút, Hungary Hungary1–15–12023–24 UEFA Women's Nations League play-offs
4.5–1
5.9 April 2024Viborg Stadium, Viborg, Denmark Denmark1–42–4UEFA Women's Euro 2025 qualifying
6.14 April 2026Easter Road, Edinburgh, Scotland Scotland1–01–12027 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

Honours

Belgium

References

  1. ↑ "Al onze Red Flames" [All our Red Flames]. RBFA (in Dutch). Retrieved 5 December 2024.
  2. ↑ "KRC Genk Ladies blijven zich maar versterken". Vrouwenvoetbalkrant.be (in Dutch). 12 June 2019. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  3. ↑ "Sari Kees: Wedstrijden". Voetbalkrant.com (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  4. ↑ "Drie Genkies beproeven hun geluk in Leuven" (in Dutch). Oud-Heverlee Leuven. 20 April 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  5. ↑ "OHL wint van RSCA" (in Dutch). Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  6. ↑ "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.
  7. ↑ "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.
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "Sari Kees Departs LCFC Women". Leicester City F.C. 28 July 2026. Retrieved 28 July 2026.
  10. ↑ "Ajax signs Sari Kees". Ajax. 28 July 2026. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Match Report of Slovakia vs Belgium - 2022-02-16 - Pinatar Cup - Global Sports Archive". globalsportsarchive.com. Retrieved 13 March 2022.
  12. ↑ "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.
  13. ↑ "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.
  14. ↑ "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.
  15. ↑ "rbfa profile".