Alvaro Verwey (born 12 January 1999) is a Surinamese

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who previously played for WBC of the SVB Topklasse. He is the first native-born Surinamese youth player to sign for a European club directly from Suriname.

Club career

Youth

As a youth, Verwey played for the junior side of

S.V. Robinhood Sport Vereniging Robinhood is a Surinamese football club based in Paramaribo that competes in the SVB Eerste Divisie, the highest level of football in Suriname. Founded on 6 February 1945, Robinhood is the most successful club in Surinamese foo ...

of the

Topklasse The Derde Divisie (; en, Third Division), formerly known as Topklasse (; en, Top Class), is the fourth tier of football in the Netherlands, which had its inaugural season as a third tier in 2010–11 and as a fourth tier in 2016–17. The league ...

and Club Oase. He remained with Robinhood until 2011. During his final season with the club, he was one of the league's top scorers with double digit goals. He joined Club Oase in 2012 and stayed at the club until 2016. For the 2016 season, he was the top scorer in the U17 division with 24 goals. In 2014 and 2015 Verwey participated in the Digicel Kickstart Clinics hosted by

Chelsea F.C. Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, West London. Founded in 1905, they play their home games at Stamford Bridge. The club competes in the Premier League, the top division of English football ...

of the English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

. In 2015, his 3-on-3 team was picked to represent Suriname at the Digicel Academy later in the year by Chelsea FC Foundation Senior International Football Development Officer, David Monk. In 2016, Verwey trained with Argentine giants Boca Juniors. He was the first Surinamese player ever at the club. In summer 2016 he trained in the Netherlands.

Professional

In November 2016, Verwey went on trial with

Vejle Boldklub Vejle Boldklub is a Danish professional football club based in Vejle in Jutland. Formed in 1891, the club is one of the most successful clubs in Danish football history, having won the Danish championship five times and the Danish cup title six t ...

of the Danish 1st Division. During the trial he appeared in matches against

FC Helsingør FC Helsingør is a Danish football club from Helsingør. The club plays in the Danish 1st Division, having been promoted after winning the Danish 2nd Division The 2nd Division ( da, Danmarksturneringens 2. division or Herre-DM 2. division) i ...

and

Nykøbing FC Nykøbing FC is a Danish professional association football club based in Nykøbing Falster on Falster. The club competes in Danish 1st Division, the second tier of the Danish football league system, and plays its home games at the Lollands B ...

. He returned to Suriname after the trial and played for

S.V. Walking Boyz Company S.V. Walking Boyz Company also SV WBC or WBC, is a Surinamese association football club based in Paramaribo. They have won the Surinamese Hoofdklasse title three times. The club play at the Essed Stadion with a capacity of 3,500 spectators, which ...

of the

to gain experience while he waited to return to Denmark. During his time with WBC, he made one league appearance and scored a goal in his league debut on 17 December 2016, a 3–1 victory over SNL. He returned to Denmark in early January and it was announced that he was signed to a first-team contract for the second half of the season shortly thereafter. It was also expected that he may also play with the club's under-19 side. On 18 January 2017 he made his first appearance for the club after signing, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 2–2 friendly draw with

Kolding IF Kolding IF is an association football club based in Kolding, Denmark. The team competes in the Danish 2nd Division, the third tier of Danish football, after suffering relegation at the end of the 2020–21 season. Founded in 1895, Kolding IF pl ...

during the league's winter break. The following week he made his debut for the Under-19 team away at FC St. Pauli II. Verwey started in the eventual 1–1 draw before being substituted off in the 63rd minute. A few days later on 28 January 2017, he scored his first goal for the U19 team in a 3–2 victory over Esbjerg fB U19 in what the club called the player's "best performance so far." Following his strong performances with the U19 team, he was named to the senior side's 18-man squad to face the first team of

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each ye ...

club

Esbjerg fB Esbjerg forenede Boldklubber (; commonly known as Esbjerg fB or EfB in short) is a Danish professional football club based in Esbjerg, West Jutland, that plays in the 2nd division, the third-tier of the Danish football league system. Found ...

on 30 January 2017, still during the Danish 1st Division's winter break. Verwey appeared in the match as an 81st-minute substitute for Dominic Vinicius. It was announced in June 2017 that Verwey had been released from Vejle. Following his departure from Vejle, he returned to Suriname and re-signed for WBC. In February 2018 he was tied for the top scorer in the under-20 division with eight goals.

International career

Verwey has represented Suriname at the under-15 and under-17 levels. In 2014, he was named to Suriname's final squad for 2015 CONCACAF U-17 Championship qualification. In July 2018 he traveled with the senior national team for a training camp in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in preparation for

2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League qualifying The qualifying phase of the 2019–20 CONCACAF Nations League was a one-off tournament that took place from 6 September 2018 to 24 March 2019. The qualifying determined the seeding for the group phase of the inaugural tournament, as well as determ ...

and played in several matches against professional Dutch sides. After returning from the camp, he made his official senior debut on 18 August 2018 in a friendly against

French Guiana French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label=French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas. ...

. He also scored his first senior goal in the match, the fourth goal of the 4–0 victory. Verwey was named to the Suriname squad for the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled t ...

on June 25, 2021.

International goals

Score and result list Suriname's goal tally first.

References

External links

Lindsey Wilson profile Vejle Bk profileEurosport profileUSL League 2 profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Verwey, Alvaro 1999 births Living people Footballers from Paramaribo Surinamese men's footballers Men's association football forwards S.V. Walking Boyz Company players Vejle Boldklub players SVB Eerste Divisie players 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Surinamese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Surinamese expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Suriname men's international footballers Suriname men's under-20 international footballers Suriname men's youth international footballers