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.
The pair boast more than 120 Netherlands caps between them,
yet, had the world been slightly different, they,
along with many other glittering names, may have represented a different nation altogether.
They might have been joined by Denzel Dumfries and Sergino Dest, Steven Bergwijn too.
These players all share familial links to Suriname,
a small nation of just 600,000 people. And this is the footballing
story of a footballing heartland on the north-eastern coast of South America.
The contribution of those of Surinamese descent to the Dutch national team has been indispensable.
The most famous names include Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf,
Patrick Kluivert and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink. When Georginio Wijnaldum celebrated Liverpool’s 2019
Champions League victory, he posed with a flag combining those of the Netherlands and Suriname.
On the world stage, talent that owes so much to Suriname is never far away,
yet that nation has never qualified for a World
Cup and does not currently have its own professional football league.
But ahead of Qatar 2022, The Athletic travelled to Suriname,
to trace links to the Dutch national team and to hear how Suriname is plotting a
path towards putting its own footprint on world football.
It is nightfall outside a modest hotel in downtown Paramaribo and Henry Seedorf is recalling 1975,
Suriname’s year of independence. Henry is the uncle of Clarence Seedorf, one of the most
gifted technical midfielders of his generation. Seedorf won the Champions League with Ajax,
Real Madrid and AC Milan. He also represented the Netherlands 87 times between 1994 and 2008.
Seedorf was born in Suriname the year after the country gained independence
from Dutch rule. Henry, a senior member of the Surinamese police force,
recalls how Clarence’s father left for a better life in the Netherlands.
In Paramaribo, Henry explains, there were tensions between communities. Hundreds of
thousands of Surinamese people went to the Netherlands, as they already spoke Dutch,
as well as to evade a plight under a military government back home.
“We did not come from a rich family,” Henry explains. “We were from the lower classes. We
played football together on the street, with footballs we made ourselves out of plastic,
or sometimes with a tennis ball. I remember my sister moved to Holland
and one of her first presents she sent to me was a proper football.”
Henry was a teenager when “Baby Clarence”, as he calls him, slept in between his legs at the home
of his parents. At the age of two, Clarence and his mother joined his father in the Netherlands.
Seedorf became arguably the greatest midfielder
of the 1990s but the law forbade him from representing his birth country,
along with anyone else who had migrated. As such, it was never an option for these famous names.
These include Rijkaard, whose own father played for Suriname, and Gullit, whose father had been
a board member of the Suriname FA, according to current FA president John Krishnadath.
In the Dutch national team, adaptation was also not straightforward.
At the 1996 Euros, Davids was sent home from the tournament
following a disagreement with head coach Guus Hiddink, while Patrick
Kluivert once said he would have felt more comfortable in a Suriname national team.
Henry Seedorf says the black players in the Dutch team in
the 1990s became known as the “Suriname Crew”.
Some of the media were negative, he says,
focussing on the fact that the Surinamese players hung out together and also liked
to eat food when with the national team such as brown beans, which is a Surinamese staple.
Even for those players unable to represent Suriname, the bond
remained strong. Those such as Seedorf, Kluivert and Davids visit on vacations
and have sometimes appeared in all-star matches to raise funds for local areas.
The country has faced significant political challenges, most notably the rule of former
military leader Desire Bouterse, who was previously convicted of drug trafficking
in the Netherlands in 1999 before being convicted in a Surinamese
court of the murders of political opponents, but he has since appealed.
Suriname’s economy has also been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic,
in addition to spiralling inflation and unemployment.
Seedorf is among those who has invested in the country, most notably a small stadium
built in his name, and a youth programme that for several years sought to occupy youngsters.
In recent years, a choice has emerged for players of Surinamese descent who were born
in or live in the Netherlands. A special sport passport has been introduced which
means the Surinamese national team is now able to draw upon a wider pool of players.
The Surinamese FA headquarters are a humble abode for the national game,
with the president’s office a modest room joined to a small shop selling replica shirts.
The president, John Krishnadath, says football is, by some way, the most popular sport here.
Plans are afoot to launch a new professional league, initially involving six teams.
The federation will cover the costs of security, paying referees and logistics
for the inaugural season, with hopes of breaking even in the second or third.
In the first season, supporters will be allowed to attend matches for free, the president says.
The desire to develop Suriname’s domestic game is partly guided by a concern that the generation
gap between those in the Netherlands with Surinamese roots is becoming larger over time,
which may make it harder to attract players unfamiliar with the country.
Yet even as projects take shape to grow a domestic league,
the Suriname FA encourages any talents aged 18 or over to pursue a career in
Europe or the United States, where their development will be enhanced.
Since the law change, the Suriname FA has been on a recruitment drive. Nigel Hasselbaink, nephew
of Jimmy Floyd, plays for Suriname, while the former West Bromwich Albion defender Ryan Donk,
who once turned out for the Dutch Under-21 side, also now represents the Suriname senior team.
A consultancy scouting group is working across the Netherlands to identify those with Surinamese
roots who could be willing to play for the nation. Yet while the generation of the 1990s appeared to
crave the opportunity to play for Suriname, the association is now realistic about the appeal.
In the most recent FIFA world rankings, Suriname were 139th, between Ethiopia and St Kitts & Nevis.
As such, the Surinamese, managed by former Dutch international Aron Winter, accept they are likely
to pick up only those in the Netherlands who have little chance of making the squad.
Ahead of the 2026 World Cup however, there is renewed hope and possibly attraction.
Suriname compete within CONCACAF qualifying, but in 2026 the three hosts – Canada,
Mexico and the United States - will gain automatic entry to the World Cup,
while the expanded 48-team format will mean more places in the competition for CONCACAF
nations. This will mean more opportunity for countries such as Panama, Costa Rica and
Suriname, who did not make it beyond the first of three phases on the road to Qatar 2022,
“2026 will be our easiest chance,” says John Krishnadath. “We should be there. We should
be part of this. For decades now, we have been dreaming of a place at a World Cup.”