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 tested their strength against professional and amateur football clubs.

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 played against Costa Rica, Jamaica and Guadeloupe in Group C. Suriname lost its first two matches against Jamaica and Costa Rica, but ended third in the group following a 2-1 win against Guadeloupe.

In late July, the Surinamese Football Association terminated the contract of Dean Gorré after failing to reach Natio's objectives.[9] After the termination of Gorré, SVB announced that they have hired the services of Brian Tevreden's Tevreden Group. The Tevreden Group are involved in the search for a new national coach and the recruitment and selection of Surinamese-Dutch professionals who want to play for Natio.[10]

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

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2022

Suriname  v  Nicaragua

22 September 2022 Friendly	Suriname	2–1	Nicaragua	Almere, Netherlands
	Te Vrede 25' Hilterman 90+1'	Report	Quijano 90'	Stadium: Yanmar Stadion Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands)

PEC Zwolle v  Suriname

26 September 2022 Hybrid friendly	PEC Zwolle	5–0	Suriname	Zwolle, Netherlands
				Stadium: MAC³PARK Stadion

Suriname  v  French Guiana

19 November 2022 Friendly	Suriname	1–3	French Guiana	Paramaribo, Suriname
19:00 UTC−3				Stadium: Frank Essed Stadion

Suriname  v  Bonaire

24 November 2022 2022 ABCS Tournament	Suriname	4–1	Bonaire	Willemstad, Curaçao
19:00 UTC−4	Apai 1' Doorson 25' Amoeferie 32' Andro 80'	Report	Seinpaal 74'	Stadium: Stadion Rignaal Jean Francisca

Suriname  v  Curaçao

26 November 2022 2022 ABCS Tournament	Suriname	2–2 (5–6 p)	Curaçao	Willemstad, Curaçao
21:00 UTC−4	Wijks 18' Rigters 72'		Rosa 67' Martina 96' (pen.)	Stadium: Stadion Rignaal Jean Francisca

2023

Suriname  v  Mexico

23 March 2023 2022–23 Nations League	Suriname	0–2	Mexico	Paramaribo, Suriname
21:00 UTC−3		Report	Vásquez 64' Dankerlui 82' (o.g.)	Stadium: Frank Essed Stadion Referee: Saíd Martínez (Honduras)

Suriname  v  Puerto Rico

17 June 2023 2023 Gold Cup qualification	Suriname	0–0 (3–4 p)	Puerto Rico	Fort Lauderdale, United States
19:00 UTC−4		Report		Stadium: DRV PNK Stadium Referee: Joseph Dickerson (United States)
	Penalties
	Chery Jozefzoon Pinas te Vrede Abena		R. Rivera Servania Antonetti Ydrach G. Díaz
Note: Puerto Rico advance on penalties 4–3

Grenada  v  Suriname

8 September 2023 2023–24 Nations League	Grenada	1–1	Suriname	St. George's, Grenada
19:00 UTC−4	Lewis 85'	Report	Te Vrede 87'	Stadium: Kirani James Athletic Stadium Referee: Kwinsi Williams (Trinidad and Tobago)

Cuba  v  Suriname

12 September 2023 2023–24 Nations League	Cuba	1–0	Suriname	Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
16:00 UTC−4	Pozo 21'	Report		Stadium: Estadio Antonio Maceo Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico)

Suriname  v  Haiti

12 October 2023 2023–24 Nations League	Suriname	1–1	Haiti	Paramaribo, Suriname
19:00 UTC−3	Haps 17'	Report	Cantave 51'	Stadium: Dr. Ir. Franklin Essed Stadion Referee: Víctor Cáceres (Mexico)

Suriname  v  Grenada

15 October 2023 2023–24 Nations League	Suriname	4–0	Grenada	Paramaribo, Suriname
21:00 UTC−3	Van der Kust 12' Vlijter 27' Abena 35' Bedeau 45+3' (o.g.)	Report		Stadium: Frank Essed Stadion Attendance: 1,285 Referee: Daneon Parchment (Jamaica)

As of 5 September 2022

Head Coach	Aron Winter
Assistant Coach	Henk ten Cate
Assistant Coach	Roberto Gödeken
Assistant Coach	Ryan Koolwijk

As of 19 June 2023[12]

Players in bold are still active with Suriname.

As of 1 February 2022

Team	Pld	W	D	L
Curaçao[lower-alpha 1]	30	10	7	13
Trinidad and Tobago	26	8	6	12
Guyana	21	13	3	5
Martinique	16	3	6	7
Aruba	14	8	4	2
Cuba	13	1	2	10
French Guiana	13	7	3	3
Guadeloupe	11	6	0	5
Haiti	10	3	4	3
Costa Rica	8	0	0	8
Jamaica	7	2	0	5
El Salvador	7	1	0	6
Grenada	5	2	2	1
Guatemala	5	0	2	3
Antigua and Barbuda	5	3	1	1
Barbados	6	1	3	2
Honduras	3	0	2	1
Panama	3	2	0	1
India	2	2	0	0
Dominican Republic	2	0	1	1
Saint Kitts and Nevis	4	1	1	2
Saint Lucia	2	1	0	1
Nicaragua	6	4	0	2
British Virgin Islands	1	1	0	0
Bermuda	2	1	0	1
Brazil	1	0	0	1
Canada	2	0	0	2
China	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	2	2	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	6	2	2	2
Dominica	4	3	1	0
Total	248	92	52	104

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.

• Official website (in Dutch)