Perr Schuurs, 26, joined NEC Nijmegen as a free agent during the summer. The Dutch centre-half had not played a game since sustaining a severe knee injury on October 23rd, 2023, when playing for Torino against Inter.
Schuurs had been working to regain match fitness as NEC reached the UEFA Europa League for the first time since 2009 via the UEFA Champions League qualifiers.
On Saturday, Schuurs made his official return to professional football by coming on for Bram Nuytinck in the 80th minute in NEC's Eredivisie match against PEC Zwolle, thus ending 1,043 days of hurt.
But his return became endlessly sweeter 2 minutes and 48 seconds later, when he headed in a corner from Tjaronn Chery and put the final score of 3-1 on the scoreboard in Zwolle.
Schuurs started his career in Fortuna Sittard's youth academy and joined Ajax in 2018 after captaining Fortuna to the Eredivisie at 18. In Amsterdam, Schuurs struggled to win a place in the starting XI under Erik ten Hag.
The young defender joined Torino in 2022 and became a mainstay in the Italians' defence, but his steady rise came to a crashing halt as he suffered a severe knee injury that required several surgeries. Schuurs and Torino mutually terminated his contract in February 2026.
Flashscore covers the 2026/27 Eredivisie season week in, week out, with match reports and daily roundups. From PSV's title defence to Telstar's relegation fight and Ajax's resurrection.
Flashscore's Paul Winters delivers the Eredivisie Team of the Week every Monday and looks back on the past weekend in his weekly ErediVision column, which you can find in the league's latest news.
Latest news | Competition standings | Latest results | Upcoming fixtures
