Suriname’s national team have been given a boost with seven former Netherlands youth internationals choosing to represent the nation.
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Recently, it was announced that Netherlands players with Suriname roots can represent the nation without having to surrender their Dutch passport.
Nigel Hasselbaink was the first to make the switch to Suriname and he has been joined by seven other former Netherlands youth internationals.
Kelvin Leerdam (Seattle Sounders), Ryan Donk (Galatasaray), Tjaronn Chery (Maccabi Haifa), Florian Jozefzoon (Derby County), Diego Biseswar (PAOK Saloniki), Mitchell Donald (Evkur Yeni Malatyaspor) and Miquel Nelom (Willem II) ) will all now represent Suriname, who recently qualified for the 2021 Gold Cup.
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This is good news for Suriname. Holland is an excellent football development country with a surplus of good players who will never make it into the Dutch NT. Suriname being able to field these players will greatly improve their squad, similar to what Jamaica / T&T have done with English players and West African nations with French players.
Given the general level of play in Concacaf (outside of US / MEX / CRC), Suriname should be able to field a reasonably competitive side for the Gold Cup in 2021.
None of these players would ever make the dutch squad so good for them, good for Surinam