Suriname national football team

Although the former Dutch colony is located in South America, it competes in CONCACAF, together with Guyana and French Guiana. Suriname was one of the founding members of CONCACAF in 1961. Suriname won the CFU Championship in 1978, were runners-up in 1979 and have achieved three fourth place finishes in the CFU Championship/Caribbean Cup. Suriname discourages dual citizenship and Surinamese-Dutch players who have picked up a Netherlands passport – which, crucially, offers legal work status in almost any European league – are barred from selection to the national team.[3] Many Suriname-born players and Dutch-born players of Surinamese descent, like Gerald Vanenburg, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Aron Winter, Georginio Wijnaldum, Virgil van Dijk and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink have turned out to play for the Dutch national team. In 1999, Humphrey Mijnals, who played for both Suriname and the Netherlands, was elected Surinamese footballer of the century.[4] Another famous player is André Kamperveen, who captained Suriname in the 1940s and was the first Surinamese to play professionally in the Netherlands.

Suriname has participated in the qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup since 1962, but has never qualified for the finals. Suriname's strongest showing in World Cup qualification was the campaign for the 1978 finals, when the national team reached the final group stage.

Suriname also came second in CONCACAF qualifying for the 1964 Olympics, behind qualifiers Mexico and third in qualifying for the 1980 Olympics, behind qualifiers Costa Rica and United States. The US then boycotted the Moscow Olympics, and were replaced by Cuba in the football tournament, after Suriname opted to boycott the games as well.

In 2008 Suriname advanced to the group stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying despite using only local players. With their two-leg victory over neighbours Guyana, Suriname moved on to face Haiti, Costa Rica, and El Salvador in the third round.

Inspired by the success of teams with dual nationals, especially Algeria, SVB president John Krishnadath submitted a proposal to the national assembly to allow dual citizenship for athletes with the then-goal of reaching the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals.[5] In order to support this project, a team with professional players of Surinamese origin was assembled and played an exhibition match on 26 December 2014 at the Andre Kamperveen Stadion. The project is managed by Nordin Wooter and David Endt, who have set up a presentation and sent invitations to 100 players of Surinamese origin, receiving 85 positive answers. Dean Gorré was named to coach this special selection. FIFA supported the project and granted insurance for the players and clubs despite the match being unofficial.[6]

As of May 2015, Gorré was the national team coach who oversaw both the official and unofficial teams. The professional team consisted of players willing to commit to Suriname if the dual-citizenship bill was approved, and played two international matches. In 2016, Roberto Gödeken became the head coach once again. In qualification for the 2017 Caribbean Cup, Suriname secured a spot in the third round, but finished second behind Jamaica in their group. However, as one of the three best second place finishers, Suriname advanced to face Trinidad and Tobago and Haiti in the 5th place play-off. Suriname won the match against Trinidad and Tobago, but lost against Haiti, and therefore once again failed to make an appearance in the Concacaf Gold Cup.

In 2018 Dean Gorré signed a new 2 year contract with the SVB to manage Natio once more. His first game ended in a draw against Dominica in Nations League qualifiers. Gorré became not only the head coach of the senior team, but also overseas the youth teams and also has a helping hand in the introduction of a professional league in the country. Gorré also managed to arrange trainingcamps for the national team in the Netherlands, where Natio have test their strength against professional and amateur football clubs.

Suriname in 2020

Suriname qualified for the CONCACAF Nations League B after wins against Saint Kitts and Nevis and British Virgin Islands, draw against Dominica and a loss against Jamaica. Suriname got to share a group with Nicaragua, SVG and Dominica. After a narrow away win against Dominica, Suriname got to bag a massive 6–0 win at home against Nicaragua.

In November 2019, it was announced that a so-called sports passport would allow Dutch professional footballers from the Surinamese diaspora to represent Suriname.[7] On 19 November, Suriname qualified for the 2021 Gold Cup with 2–1 CONCACAF Nations League win over Nicaragua.[8] It will be their debut in the CONCACAF Gold Cup and their first appearance in a CONCACAF tournament since 1985.

In the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup, Suriname will play against Costa Rica, Jamaica and the winner of the preliminary match 8 in Group C.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2021

Suriname  v  Cayman Islands

24 March 2021 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier	Suriname	v	Cayman Islands	Paramaribo, Suriname
TBA				Stadium: André Kamperveen Stadion

Aruba  v  Suriname

27 March 2021 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier	Aruba	v	Suriname	Oranjestad, Aruba
TBA				Stadium: Trinidad Stadium

Suriname  v  Bermuda

4 June 2021 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier	Suriname	v	Bermuda	Paramaribo, Suriname
TBA				Stadium: André Kamperveen Stadion

Canada  v  Suriname

8 June 2021 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier	Canada	v	Suriname	Canada
TBA				Stadium: TBD

Suriname  v TBD

July 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup	Suriname	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

Suriname  v TBD

July 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup	Suriname	v	TBD	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

TBD v  Suriname

July 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup	TBD	v	Suriname	TBD
				Stadium: TBD

As of 1 October 2019

Head Coach	Dean Gorré
Assistant Coach	Eugene Verwey
Assistant Coach	Warner Blackson
Team Manager	Neil Sakimin
Goalkeeping coaches	Stephen Burke Jack Mangalie
Equipment Manager	Marlon van Coblijn
Team Doctor	Deepak Sardjoe

As of June 11, 2016

Team	Pld	W	D	L
Guyana	33	20	6	7
Trinidad and Tobago	25	7	6	12
Dominican Republic	2	0	1	1
Netherlands Antilles	19	8	6	5
Martinique	16	3	6	7
Aruba	13	7	4	2
Cuba	13	1	2	10
Curaçao	11	2	1	8
French Guiana	13	7	3	3
Guadeloupe	10	5	0	5
Haiti	9	3	4	2
Costa Rica	7	0	0	7
El Salvador	7	1	0	6
Grenada	5	2	2	1
Guatemala	5	0	2	3
Antigua and Barbuda	5	3	1	1
Barbados	5	0	3	2
Honduras	3	0	2	1
Panama	3	2	0	1
Jamaica	4	2	0	2
India	2	2	0	0
Saint Kitts and Nevis	3	0	1	2
Saint Lucia	2	1	0	1
Nicaragua	2	0	0	2
Bermuda	1	0	0	1
Brazil	1	0	0	1
Canada	1	0	0	1
China PR	1	0	0	1
Denmark	1	1	0	0
East Germany	1	0	0	1
United States	1	1	0	0
Netherlands	1	0	0	1
Cayman Islands	1	1	0	0
Mexico	1	0	0	1
Montserrat	3	3	0	0
Colombia	1	0	1	0
Puerto Rico	1	0	1	0
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	4	2	1	1
Dominica	1	1	0	0
Total	237	84	51	99

This is a list of honours for the senior Surinamese national team

• CONCACAF Championship / Gold Cup:
  • 6th place: 1977
• CCCF Championship:
  • 4th place: 1960
• CFU Championship / Caribbean Cup:
  • Winners: 1978
  • Runners-up: 1979
  • 4th place: 1994, 1996

• Surinam Airways Flight 764

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Suriname national football team.

• (in Dutch) Official website