Football

  • I’ve written about Eddy Hamel before, but I wanted to revisit his story as we’re in the middle of the FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign, with the finals set to take place in the United States — in East Rutherford, New Jersey in 2026. I hope his memory will be honored then. Eddy Hamel was

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  • (Originally posted on December 28, 2018) For the size of the country it is astonishing how many football greats come from the Netherlands. Names like Johann Cruijff, Johan Neeskens, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten and Arjen Robben to name but a few, but the name Sjaak Swart certainly belongs in that list. Sjaak (Sjakie) Swart

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  • Football in the Netherlands did not come to a complete halt during World War II, despite the Nazi occupation and the hardships of wartime. Instead, it became both a form of escape and subtle resistance for many Dutch people. When the Germans invaded in May 1940, football matches continued under occupation. The Dutch football association

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  • Fortuna ’54, founded in 1954 in the city of Geleen, played a pioneering role in the history of Dutch football. The club, formed during a time when professionalism in Dutch football was still controversial, became one of the country’s first professional teams. Fortuna ’54 not only helped lay the groundwork for the development of professional

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  • Salo Muller is a Dutch physiotherapist, author, and Holocaust survivor known for his efforts in seeking justice and compensation for Holocaust victims. He was born on February 29, 1936, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Salo Muller’s early life was profoundly affected by the Holocaust. His parents, who were Jewish, were deported and murdered in Auschwitz when he

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  • Dutch football manager Rinus Michels once said, “Football is war.” The Estadio Nacional disaster was a tragic event that took place on May 24, 1964, at the Estadio Nacional in Lima, Peru. It is still the deadliest football disaster in history. Here are the key details of the disaster: On 24 May 1964, Peru hosted

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  • We are in the middle of a new UEFA Champions League season and only a few months away of UEFA Euro 2024 This inspired me to look at some players who never had a chance to play in football tournaments, either as players or coaches. Before I go into the stories of some individual footballers,

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  • When I say football heroes, I don’t mean heroes on the pitch, scoring goals and winning matches, even though they did that too. In this case I am referring to the conduct of the whole football club. Sunday, 22 June 1941, the same day that Germany broke the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and

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  • The Netherlands has produced some of the greatest football players in the world. The Dutch are proud of their footballing history. My hometown of Geleen is where Dutch professional football originated. However, there are some football stars we are not proud of. Gejus van der Meulen was a goalkeeper of HFC and the Dutch national

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