Robin Roefs
GK
Netherlands23 years
Showing2026/27 seasonAll official competitions
Preferred Positions
Last 24 months · all competitions
GK
GoalkeeperMain
6,500 min · 72 apps · 71 starts
Squad importance
Current squad importance over the club’s last 40 recorded competitive games in this spell, including previous seasons. Starts and minutes contribute 70%; performance contributes 30%. Absences reduce the score gradually, with less weight when a player is outside the matchday squad.Current role at Sunderland · independent of the season filter
Star
Involvement94%
Performance48%
Through the match on 10 Oct 2026. Refreshed daily.
Profile
Career & playing style
Robin Roefs is a Dutch goalkeeper whose reactions matter when a first save does not end the danger. In a 2025/26 draw at Crystal Palace, he stopped six attempts, including a double save against Jean-Philippe Mateta and Yeremy Pino. The second stop came before the attack was over.
He grew through NEC Nijmegen's academy after joining in 2014. By 2021 he was with the senior squad, but Jasper Cillessen remained ahead of him. Roefs debuted during a September 2023 win over Utrecht after Cillessen went off injured. He later recalled that making his first saves settled his nerves. It was an opening rather than an instant takeover.
A longer senior run followed in 2024/25. NEC's report on a December 2024 draw with Sparta Rotterdam describes him stopping a Tobias Lauritsen header and denying Shunsuke Mito in a one-on-one. The situations show two different demands on a goalkeeper: reacting to a header and confronting an attacker alone.
Roefs also played for the Netherlands at the 2025 European Under-21 Championship. He started the semi-final against England and made two early stops from Harvey Elliott, one with his boot and another from close range. England eventually won 2-1. His contributions kept the Netherlands in that match early, without turning the team result into an individual honour.
In August 2025 he moved from NEC to Sunderland, a club preparing for its Premier League return. On the opening league day against West Ham, Roefs protected a late clean sheet by stopping a possible own goal from teammate Wilson Isidor. It was a different kind of danger from the one-on-one moments in Nijmegen: the threat came from his own side.
The Palace double save was shortlisted for the Premier League's 2025/26 Goalkeeper Performance of the Season award. That was recognition for one display; Jordan Pickford won the award. Roefs was also in goal when Sunderland beat Chelsea on the final day of that league season to qualify for the Europa League, a club achievement rather than an individual title.
Internationally, the Netherlands named him in their May 2026 World Cup squad. A federation match record also shows him replacing Bart Verbruggen at half-time in a June friendly against Algeria. The squad selection and friendly appearance are separate milestones; neither establishes that he played in a World Cup finals match.