Erwin Mulder

Erwin Mulder (born 3 March 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Go Ahead Eagles.

In November 2006, at the age of 17, Mulder was invited to Feyenoord's first team squad by Feyenoord coach Erwin Koeman.

As the reserve goalkeepers Patrick Lodewijks and Sherif Ekramy were both facing injuries, the teenager was Henk Timmer's first stand-in.

He was on the bench for over ten matches during the season 2006–07, but did not make his official first team debut.

In January 2007, Mulder was one of the few talents to join the first team on training camp in Belek, Turkey, but returned to the Feyenoord U19 squad afterwards.

On 5 May 2007, Feyenoord said he was expected to be among six players to be included in the first team the following month on 3 June 2007, the club announced that Mulder had been officially promoted to Feyenoord's first team squad for the 2007–08 season and extended his contract until summer 2011 on 28 September 2007.

As Lodewijks retired, Mulder became third goalkeeper behind Timmer and Ekramy.

Due to injuries of the first two goalkeepers, he made his official Eredivisie debut on 2 December 2007, in a home match against Heracles, which saw them win 6–0, and giving him his first clean sheet in his professional career.

This turned out to be his first appearance in the 2007–08 season.

To gain experience, Mulder joined Excelsior on loan for the season 2008–09 under manager Ton Lokhoff.

Excelsior had just been relegated to the Eerste Divisie and were in need of a first team goalkeeper after Ronald Graafland left the club to join Vitesse Arnhem.

On 8 August 2008, Mulder made his debut for Excelsior in a 1–0 loss against Telstar.

Since making his debut for the club, he had established himself as the first choice goalkeeper at Excelsior.

On 6 March 2009, Mulder received a straight red card, just a few minutes before half-time, for a professional foul in the penalty box, resulting in a penalty to FC Oss.

After being sent off, Arjan van Dijk replaced him in goal.

van Dijk could not save the penalty.

The match finished with FC Oss beating Excelsior 3–1, in a game that saw three penalties awarded, (two for the home side and one to Excelsior).

After a two-match ban because of his sending off, Mulder made his return in goal on 27 March 2009 against SC Cambuur in a 1–1 draw.

At Excelsior, he played 36 matches for the third club from Rotterdam, finishing in fifth place in the Eerste Divisie.

His performance was strong at Excelsior that he was the only player in the Eerste Divisie selected by Johan Neeskens for the Netherlands B squad.

When Feyenoord decided not to renew first team goalkeeper Henk Timmer's contract, Mulder returned to Feyenoord for the 2009–10 season, having previously stated that he was ready for the first team.

During pre-season, he had to battle with reserve goalkeeper Rob van Dijk and Feyenoord U19's Darley Ramon Torres for a regular place under the bar.

Mulder was close to another season-long loan spell at Excelsior when Feyenoord decided to test the Slovak goalkeeper Kamil Čontofalský.

He trained with the Excelsior squad for a week, but returned to Feyenoord when Čontofalský's trial had ended.

However, Mulder pulled a muscle during a training session, causing him to be sidelined for up to four to six weeks.

After his recovery, he remained at Feyenoord after rumours of re-joining Excelsior on loan for the second time this season.

However, Mulder spent most of the 2009–10 season as third choice goalkeeper behind Rob van Dijk and Derley.

Mulder went on to make ten appearances later in the 2009–10 season and gained four clean sheets in ten league appearances.

For his performance, the club began talks over a new contract.

Nevertheless, he became first choice goalkeeper for the rest of the season after Derley was sent-off in a 4–2 win against Roda JC on 7 March 2010 and van Dijk's injury in a 1–1 draw against Heracles on 14 March 2010.

He is a former Netherlands U20's international and also received a call up to the senior Netherlands side in 2012.

Mulder was born and raised in Pannerden, Gelderland, the Netherlands, a small village close to the German border halfway between Arnhem and Emmerich where footballer Robin Gosens was born.

Mulder's father was a talented goalkeeper, making his first team debut at the age of 16 in the second highest amateur level.

Mulder has two older brothers.

Mulder started playing football at local Pannerden club R.K.P.S.C. At the age of ten, he made the switch from field player to goalkeeper.

After being a goalkeeper for one year, Mulder received his first invitation for the KNVB district team: "From that moment on I realized I had talent. I really enjoyed it as well, diving in the mud, loved it."

When Mulder went to secondary school around the age of 12, the goalkeeper joined the Vitesse Arnhem youth academy, a professional Eredivisie club from Arnhem.

After playing for Vitesse for three seasons, he was asked to join the Feyenoord youth academy.

At Feyenoord, Mulder was seen as one of the biggest goalkeeping talents.

Feyenoord's former goalkeeping coach Pim Doesburg predicted him to be the first goalkeeper to reach Feyenoord's first team coming directly from the Feyenoord youth academy since Joop Hiele in the late seventies.