Kjell Scherpen (born 23 January 2000) is a Dutch professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for Vitesse, on loan from

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

of the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

, and the Netherlands under-21 national team.

Club career

FC Emmen

Scherpen began his senior career with

FC Emmen FC Emmen is a Dutch football club based in Emmen, Drenthe. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2021–22 Eerste Divisie title. Founded in 1925, the club entered the professional Eerste Divisie in 1985. I ...

in the 2016–17 season.

Ajax

In April 2019 it was announced that he would sign for

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

in June 2019. His 'signing video' involved him writing the words "Ajax is de mooiste club van Nederland" (Ajax is the most beautiful club in the Netherlands) 1,000 times, given that he had been a childhood supporter of rival club

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

. Scherpen made his debut for the Ajax senior team on 4 April 2021, as starter

Maarten Stekelenburg Maarten Stekelenburg (; born 22 September 1982) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Eredivisie club Ajax. Stekelenburg began his career at Ajax, playing 282 matches over nine seasons in his first spell there and win ...

was injured shortly before kickoff.

Brighton & Hove Albion

He was linked with a loan move to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

, but on 16 July 2021, Scherpen signed for

club

on a permanent basis, for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut on 8 January 2022, in a 2–1 (after extra-time) away victory over

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

in the FA Cup third round. On 31 January 2022, Scherpen signed for Oostende of

Belgian First Division A The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

on loan for the remainder of the season. He moved on loan to Vitesse in August 2022.

International career

He has represented the Netherlands at under-19 and under-21 youth levels. Scherpen was called-up to the senior squad for the first time in June 2022, replacing the injured Tim Krul.

Personal life

When he was 18 years old, his older brother Jorg (20) died after having been in a coma following a sudden

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. It is a medical emergency that, without immediate medical intervention, will result in sudden cardiac death within minutes. Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and possib ...

Career statistics

Honours

Ajax *

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

Johan Cruyff Shield The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scherpen, Kjell 2000 births Living people Footballers from Emmen, Netherlands Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Association football goalkeepers VV Emmen players FC Emmen players Jong Ajax players AFC Ajax players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players K.V. Oostende players SBV Vitesse players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Belgian Pro League players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Netherlands under-21 international footballers