Danny Koevermans retires from professional soccer

Danny Koevermans is officially retiring from professional soccer.

Just two months after making his return to the Eredivisie with FC Utrecht the Dutch forward has decided to call it a career.  The announcement came after Koevermans suffered a calf injury that looked to keep him out for an extended period of time.

Since signing for Utrecht early in the year Koevermans only managed to make three short appearances as a substitute.  He has struggled with injuries recently though and his latest, a calf injury picked up following the game against PSV Eindhoven, seems to have been on set back too many.

The big injury was to his knee back in 2012 as he suffered a torn cruciate ligament that sidelined him for the better part of a year and spelled the beginning of the end of his time with Toronto FC.  After he came back to from the injury he started to pick up other leg injuries on a regular basis that consistently derailed his return to playing at any sort of high level.  The recurring calf injuries limited him towards the of the 2013 season with TFC and continued to follow after his return to the Netherlands.

His scoring rate of 0.76 goals per 90 minutes will go down among the best in the history of MLS and his 19 goals are 4th on TFC's all time list.  For one season he a dominant force in MLS but sadly his time with TFC was cut far too short by injuries and he was never really able to make a lasting impact on the field.  He will probably be best remembered for his role in the club's run to the semifinals of the 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League.  He only scored two goals in the event but both were key in helping TFC get beyond the group stage.

Now that Koevermans has retired from professional soccer he will move into a coaching role with Utrecht as he was still under contract with the club.  In the club's release he stated that he was not interested in rehabilitating on the sidelines once again while watching his teammates enjoying the game.  Instead he will now look for happiness in a new role.

Koevermans has plenty of reason to be proud of his career despite being forced to retire at the age of 35.  He scored well over 100 goals in his professional career, established himself as one of the top forwards in the Eredivisie earning nearly 100 appearances for PSV Eindhoven who paid approximately 6 million Euros for his services and handed him the number 10 shirt, and he even managed to collect four caps for the Dutch National Team.  His loan goal for the national team came in a Euro 2008 qualifier against Luxembourg.

His playing career may not have ended the way he had envisioned but it was still quite the impressive resume that he built.  Now he will look to continue his success in the coaching ranks and for those who got the chance to interact with Koevermans while he was here in Toronto it would come as no surprise to see him succeed on that side of the game.

Koevermans was certainly a popular figure during his time around Toronto and on the bright side he will now have plenty of time to fine tune his Settlers game.