Dutch Eredivisie: 2009 Summer Transfers Out to Foreign Leagues

Many consider the Dutch league to be a great proving ground before making the jump to one of the "Big" leagues of Europe. In the fairly recent past, 'foreign' players like Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Kalou, Chivu, Kezman, Park Ji-Sung, Henrik Larsson, etc. have excelled in the Dutch league before moving on to bigger clubs. In this post, I thought it'd be interesting to look at the Dutch Eredivisie exports from the 2009 summer transfer window (no loan deals included).

Thomas Vermaelen seems to be playing well at Arsenal, but there are surprisingly very few transfers from the Netherlands to the 'bigger' clubs in Europe from this transfer window.


Ajax
Thomas Vermaelen (Arsenal)
Albert Luque (Malaga)

AZ
Ryan Donk (Club Brugge)
Simon Cziommer (Red Bull Salzburg)

Feyenoord
Lee Chun-Soo (Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia)
Sherif Ekramy (El Gouna FC, Egypt)

FC Groningen
Evegeniy Levchenko (FC Saturn Moscow Oblast)
Marcus Berg (Hamburger SV)

SC Heerenveen
Danijel Pranjić (FC Bayern Munich)
Hans Vonk (Ajax Cape Town)
Donovan Deekman (SC Lokeren, Belgium)
Lesley Fellinga (Toronto FC)

Heracles Almelo
Lukas Bajer (SK Sigma Olomouc, Czech Republic)

NAC Breda
Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga)

NEC
Tim Janssen (Esbjerg fB, Denmark)

PSV
Jeremie Brechet (FC Sochaux)
Jason Culina (Gold Coast United)

RKC Wallwijk
NONE

Roda JC
Marcel Meeuwis (Borussia Monchengladbach)
Andres Oper (Shanghai Shuenhua, China)

Sparta Rotterdam
NONE

FC Twente
Edson Braafheid (Bayern Munich)
Eljerio Elia (Hamburger SV)

FC Utrecht
Tom Caluwe (Al-Wakrah Sports Club, Qatar)
Ali Boussaboun (Al-Nassr, Saudi Arabia)

Vitesse
NONE

VVV Venlo
NONE

Willem II
NONE


Leagues transferred to:
5 - Germany
2 - Belgium
2 - Saudi Arabia
2 - Spain
1 - Austria
1 - China
1 - Czech Republic
1 - Denmark
1 - Egypt
1 - England
1 - France
1 - Qatar
1 - Russia
1 - South Africa
1 - USA/Canada

Suriname Born Players who Don't Play for Suriname

145th ranked Suriname pulled off the upset over their neighboring rivals Guyana in their recent World Cup Qualifier play-in series. Incredibly, Suriname used nearly all home-grown amateur players due to government policies regarding overseas players and will now join a qualifying group with Costa Rica, El Salvador, and Haiti.

Here I've compiled a list of players from the former Dutch colony that have left to play overseas. All of the players listed have one thing in common. They were born in Paramaribo, Suriname.

Active European Based Players Born in Suriname:

Clarence Seedorf - Netherlands (86) and AC Milan
Edgar Davids - Netherlands (74) and Free Agent - LA Galaxy?
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink - Netherlands (23) and Cardiff City
Romeo Castelen - Netherlands (10) and Hamburger SV
Andwélé Slory - Netherlands (2) and Feyenoord
Dwight Tiendalli - Netherlands U21 and Sparta Rotterdam
Edson Braafheid - Netherlands U21 and FC Twente
Lorenzo Davids - Netherlands U21 and NEC Nijmegen
Nordin Wooter - Netherlands U21 and AEK Larnarca (Cyprus)
Leroy George - FC Utrecht
Sigourney Bandjar - Excelsior Rotterdam
Fabian Wilnis - Ipswich Town (Released end of 2008)
Mark De Vries - Dundee United
Darl Douglas - Willem II
Kurt Elshot - NAC Breda
Purrel Fränkel - De Graafschap
Cerezo Fung a Wing - De Graafschap
Kelvin Maynard - FC Volendam
Samuel Koejoe - FSV Frankfurt (2.Bundesliga Germany)
Nicandro Breeveld - FC Omniworld
Adilio Augustin - Haarlem
Rodney Cairo - Haarlem
Toevaro Pinas - Stormvogels Telstar


There are dozens of players playing in Holland and elsewhere that could have played for Suriname. However, Suriname's government doesn't allow for dual citizenship, so once a player accepts another nation (generally the Netherlands), he can no longer return to play for his home country. Conversely, Dutch born Surinamese don't play for Suriname either, as they'd have to give up their Dutch citizenship to do so.

If their government rules were different, Suriname would very likely be one of the top teams in CONCACAF and the Caribbean region, similar to Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago who've used many players that are based in and were born in England.

It's not only an issue for soccer players as about 350,000 people from the small Brazilian neighbor have left the country to live in the Netherlands. That is about a quarter of the entire population of the country.

I'm sure there are even more players overseas, but without knowing the Dutch language, it is difficult to find player information for the second division and below.

Included with these players are many great players of Surinamese descent that were born in the Netherlands.

Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Aron Winter, Gerald Vanenburg, Patrick Kluivert, Ryan Babel, Royston Drenthe, Boy Waterman, Ryan Donk, Gianni Zuiverloon, Maceo Rigters, and many more.

Pretty impressive list.

Suriname's Little Secret from Fifa.com



Interesting Geography Fact:
Suriname was aquired by the Netherlands in a trade with England for New Amsterdam, the present day Manhattan.