The tiny nation that produces amazing players
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Published 2023-01-19
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At the World Cup in Doha, the Dutch national team was captained by the Liverpool defender Virgil van Dijk, while much of their tactical acumen comes from assistant manager Edgar Davids.
Van Dijk and Davids, along with many others at the World Cup may have represented a different nation altogether - Suriname.
This is the story of how the tiny nation of Suriname produces so many world-class players. Told by Adam Crafton, illustrated by Craig Silcock.
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Music sourced from epidemicsound.com
Additional footage sourced from freestockfootagearchive.com
Thumbnail Image Reference: Shaun Botterill - FIFA / Contributor / FIFA via Getty Images
#Netherlands #Suriname
All Comments (21)
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I’m always amazed by the fact that Ruud Guillet and Frank Rjikaard's fathers came over to Holland from Suriname together.
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As a Dutchman, I loved this video. Some of the best Dutch players ever are from Suriname lineage and respect for that is well deserved. Seedorf is a top-5 player in our football history in my opinion and does not get the credit he deserves
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It's not the population of 600,000 in Suriname that is relevant, but the population of 500,000 Dutch nationals with roots to Suriname. I don't think any world class player was ever developed in Surinam. It's a combination of the wonderful dutch football infrastructure (the fa has 1 million members, more than the Spanish fa) and the ambition and talent of the surinamese community. I'd love to see Surinam in the 2026 world cup though! I didn't realize their chances of qualifying were so high.
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Suriname and Jamaica man. These 2 smaller countries have contributed to sooooo many world class players over the years that ended up representing the netherlands or england. Much respect to them and i think everyone is rooting for their national teams to reach a level thats atleast close to the talent theyve contributed. It is also fair to mention that a solid percentage of these players have european parents as well too so it could be a legit tough decision for them.
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Thank you for this video, I never expected to see a video about my country on such a large chanel. I'd like to add that breaking even in our second season is a very optimistic goal and will be hard due to our current inflation rate. Furthermore, I'd like to mention "het kleurrijk elftal" which was a team of Dutch players of Surinamese descent whom played friendlies in Suriname in the 80s. Most sadly died due to a huge plane crash in 1989.
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Proud to see my country being represented on tifo🥳🇸🇷
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The Netherlands' contribution to modern football on and off the pitch is enormous, seems insane that they've never won a World Cup.
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This is a great piece! Love that the title makes you think it is about the Netherlands, actually being about Suriname.
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Netherlands: drafting their best players from only suriname France: "Nah ima take a whole continent to draft my ultimate team"
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We would love it if you make this kind of video about the french algerian relationship with football,you will be amazed by the number of player that have both nationalties and played for both national teams in different age group teams
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Love this type of content. Great to see the acknowledgement of Suriname’s contribution to the global stage. I would like like to see something similar with Jamaica’s national team as it has a pool of talent playing for England’s national team and within the English leagues and MLS.
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Fun fact: geographical land size-wise, Suriname is 4 times larger than the Netherlands.
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Denzel Dumfries has ties to Aruba. He even played for us during an international friendly years ago.
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Would be interesting if FIFA adopted the same policy for dual nationals as rugby has. Where A player can change nations if they stand down or not selected from Tests for three years, and can then represent thier birth nation or nation of parents or grandparents. Imagine a Suriname squad strengthed with former Dutch nationals
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Suriname, Indonesia and Dutch, you combine those 3 things you get Dutch football legends.
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The Netherlands has the joint-highest number of Ballon d'or wins BTW.
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I know this gets raised a lot with you guys at Tifo but your quality really is of the finest calibre. Aside from the immense research, graphics and commentary, there is just a little bit of unexplainable magic in every video you make. Thank you again 🙏
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Something that makes me happy as a Dutchman is when players from different cultures feel proud to wear the orange jersey. We can still do better as a country to make these players feel even more proud to represent the Netherlands and make them feel more home. Especially considering lately plenty of players have been chosing their country of origin instead of the Netherlands, makes me feel like we haven't done a proper job making them feel Dutch.
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I used to play for his youth academy one of the best experiences in my lifeđź‘Ś
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A great video on a topic I knew a little about but not enough. Perhaps it explains some of the in-fighting and tensions in the Netherlands team in the 90’s and 00’s. Great eye opener!
