London: Edwin van der Sar is to step out of retirement at the age of 45 to play one match for his former club VV Noordwijk in the Dutch fourth tier. The former Holland and Manchester United goalkeeper quit playing in 2011, after United’s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona, but has accepted a request from Noordwijk, for whom he played at the start of his career, after their regular goalkeeper Mustafa Mare Zine suffered an injury. “He still thinks warmly of the club and is here regularly,” said the Noordwijk technical director, Peter Vink, to Voetbal in de Bollenstreek . “After some deliberation, he agreed to keep goal next Saturday against Jodan Boys. We assume that it is basically only for one game. We are thrilled that Edwin wants to help us in this way.”

Van der Sar spent five years at Noordwijk between before joining Ajax in 1990, and went on to win a Dutch record 130 caps for Holland as well as winning Champions League titles with Ajax and Manchester United.