Rai Vloet (born 8 May 1995) is a Dutch professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as an

attacking midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

Club career

Vloet was born in

Schijndel Schijndel () is a town and former municipality in the province of North Brabant, in the south of the Netherlands. Schijndel is located approximately southeast of 's-Hertogenbosch. Schijndel was founded on 6 December 1309. On 1 January 2017 Schijn ...

. He made his professional debut as

Jong PSV Jong PSV is a Dutch football team based in Eindhoven. It is the reserve team of PSV Eindhoven and plays in the Eerste Divisie since the 2013–14 season. History Until 2013, Jong PSV played in the Beloften Eredivisie, a league exclusively fo ...

player in the second division on 20 September 2013 against

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

coming on as a substitute in the 74th minute. On 20 September 2016, while on loan at

FC Eindhoven Football Club Eindhoven, commonly known as FC Eindhoven, is a professional association football, football club based in Eindhoven, Netherlands, that competes in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football ...

, Rai Vloet scored a goal in the 87th minute against FC Den Bosch, coached by his father Wiljan Vloet, to win 3–2 in the 2016–17 KNVB Cup. For the 2017–18 season he joined

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eredivisi ...

. On 15 August 2018, after signing to Swiss club

Chiasso Chiasso (; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Mendrisio (district), Mendrisio in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Ticino in Switzerland. As Extreme points of Switzerland, the southernmost of Switzerland's ...

, Vloet was bought by Italian side

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

. In January 2019, he left Frosinone by mutual consent. On 4 February 2019, Vloet was signed by Belgian side

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium. With more than 41,500 inhabitants, it is on ...

as a free agent. On 13 July 2019, he joined

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

on a one-year contract with an option for another year. On 22 June 2020, he joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

Heracles Almelo Heracles Almelo is a Dutch professional football club based in Almelo, founded in 1903. The club has won the Dutch national title twice, in 1927 and 1941. Heracles won the Eerste Divisie title during the 2004–05 season, gaining promotion to t ...

. On 25 March 2022,

FC Astana Astana Football Club () is a professional Association football, football club based in Astana. They play in the Kazakhstan Premier League, the highest level of Football in Kazakhstan, Kazakh football. The club's home ground is the 30,000-seat As ...

announced the signing of Vloet. On 6 September 2022, Astana announced that Vloet had moved to Ural Yekaterinburg after they had exercised a release clause in Vloet contract. Vloet's contract with Ural was terminated by mutual consent in June 2024, following the club's relegation from the

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

Personal life

Vloet was one of two men arrested on 14 November 2021 after the car in which both men were travelling was involved in a fatal collision with another vehicle on the A4 motorway near

Hoofddorp Hoofddorp (; ) is the main town of the municipality of Haarlemmermeer, in the province of North Holland, the Netherlands. In 2021, the population was 77,885. The town was founded in 1853, immediately after the Haarlemmermeer had been drained. Hi ...

that resulted in the death of a four-year-old boy. In January 2022, Vloet's club

suspended him with immediate effect after being confronted with the police report by newspaper

De Telegraaf ''De Telegraaf'' (; ) is the largest Netherlands, Dutch daily morning newspaper. Haro Kraak,Gaat Paul Jansen de crisis bij De Telegraaf oplossen?, ''de Volkskrant'', 2015. Retrieved 1 August 2015. Paul Jansen has been the editor-in-chief since ...

. According to the police report, Vloet and the other man had stated that they did not drive the car. A breath test showed that Vloet had twice the permitted blood alcohol level and the on-board computer of Vloet's car showed that the driving speed was 193 kilometers per hour while the Netherlands has a speed limit of 130 km/h. In March 2023, the Public Ministry demanded a prison sentence of three years and six months and a four-year driving ban for Vloet for causing the fatal accident. On 3 April 2023, he was sentenced to two years and six months in prison and received a four-year driving ban. The sentence was reduced as the court considered the impact of the intense media attention on Vloet's professional career and the remorse he showed during the trial. On 9 September 2024, Vloet withdrew his appeal, and the Public Ministry followed suit, partly out of consideration for the victims' families, thereby upholding the sentence.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vloet, Rai 1995 births People from Schijndel Footballers from North Brabant Living people Men's association football midfielders Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers Jong PSV players PSV Eindhoven players SC Cambuur players FC Eindhoven players NAC Breda players FC Chiasso players Frosinone Calcio players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Excelsior Rotterdam players Heracles Almelo players FC Astana players FC Ural Yekaterinburg players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Serie A players Belgian Pro League players Kazakhstan Premier League players Russian Premier League players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Dutch sportspeople convicted of crimes Dutch people convicted of manslaughter Road incident deaths in the Netherlands 21st-century Dutch sportsmen