Ruben Kogeldans

Ruben Kogeldans ( born January 4, 1967 in Venlo, The Netherlands, † June 7, 1989 at Zanderij, Suriname) was a Dutch- Surinamese football player who was active in the Eredivisie for Willem II Tilburg. He died in the crash of SLM Flight 764 in Suriname.

Biography

Ruben Kogeldans was the son of Paul Kogeldans ', considered one of the first black player in the Netherlands played since 1957 at the VVV Venlo and scored three goals on his debut. The family had come from Suriname to Limburg, of the four children of Paul only Ruben and his older brother Gerold were born in the Netherlands. In the early 1960s they were the only Surinamese living in Venlo. "We at the time were a real attraction in the city. German on a shopping spree wanted to take pictures with me. The found such a little guy with a thing Krauskopf well cute. "Said Gerold Kogeldans recalls.

Ruben first played at the Quick Boys, but was soon discovered by scouts of the VVV. Here, the midfielder went through the youth teams and played 20 years in the youth team. After he had voortgezet algemeen his Hoger onderwijs completed ( much like a diploma ), he studied in Tilburg at the Sports Academy. Here he stayed at Willem II fit, lay near the academy whose premises. At the end of the season 1986/87 he declared the Venlo that they saw no future in the club for him. He closed that account with Willem II a contract for their second team. But in his first season game of the Eredivisie 1987/88 he came as a surprise at right-back in the first team to use. His opponent Regi Blinker Feyenoord was replaced in the second half. From this game on, he was determined to Erstligakader of Tilburg and was one of the crowd favorites. He was fast, and both had great technical skill. In an article in the football magazine Voetbal International he was called back Braziliaanse as " Brazilian defender " - a great compliment for the fan of the Brazilian national team, the Pelé, Falcão, Zico and Frank Rijkaard named as his favorite player. In total he made 36 games for Willem II in the Eredivisie.

During the winter break 1988/89 Kogeldans suffered an injury to the ankle ligaments that temporarily threw him back a little. Although he did not seemed quite fit well in early summer, coach Nick Stienstra and organizer Sonny Hasnoe invited him to travel to their Kleurrijk Elftal to a friendly tournament to Suriname on after some players "first choice " canceled as Jos Luhukay, Roberto Straal or Henk cutter had. The Douglas DC-8, with the team flew to Paramaribo, crashed on landing; Kogeldans and 14 other players were among the 176 casualties of the aircraft accident.