The Suriname national football team

The Suriname national football team (Dutch: Surinaams voetbalelftal; Sranan Tongo: Sranankondre fubal pluga) represents Suriname in international football. The team is controlled by the Surinamese Football Association, which is a member of CONCACAF.

History

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. 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. Another famous player is Andre 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 ga

This page also has a version in other languages :  Сборная Суринама по футболу (russian)