Winand Kiran Madhankumar Bechan (born 12 September 1982), simply known as Kiran Bechan, is a Dutch former professional

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 le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Bechan was a product of the

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * ''Ajax'' (play), by the ancient Greek ...

football academy, which he joined at under-13 level, and made his senior debut as a starter on 1 April 2001 against

NEC is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo. The company was known as the Nippon Electric Company, Limited, before rebranding in 1983 as NEC. It prov ...

under head coach

Co Adriaanse Co Adriaanse (born 21 July 1947) is a Dutch football manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career As a professional player, Adriaanse played for six seasons with (now dissolved) De Volewijckers (from 1964 until 1970) and ...

. He did not make the grade at Ajax and was loaned to

Sparta Sparta ( Doric Greek: Σπάρτα, ''Spártā''; Attic Greek: Σπάρτη, ''Spártē'') was a prominent city-state in Laconia, in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (, ), while the name Sparta referre ...

in January 2003, only to be recalled by Ajax and sold to

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, province of Groningen. Founded on 16 June 1971 as the successor of GVAV, the team compete in the Eredivisie, the highest tier of Dutch football. G ...

in November 2004. He was then sent on loan to

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadium is called 'De Vliert', an 8,500 all-seater. R ...

in summer 2006, and in summer 2007 Bechan was released by Groningen and moved abroad to join Spanish side Hércules Alicante. There, his contract was eventually cancelled by mutual consent. He then returned to the Netherlands to play for

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club Emmen. He tried his luck abroad once more when he joined

Ermis Aradippou Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Second Division. Ermis' greatest success came ...

of Cyprus and he had a season at

Muaither Muaither ( ar, معيذر) is a district of Al Rayyan City in Qatar, located in the municipality of Al Rayyan. Etymology Referencing the area's geography, 'muaither' is derived from the Arabic 'mathar', meaning "place where animals are kept". ...

in Qatar. He then played for Kazakh side

Atyrau Atyrau ( kk, Атырау, ', ; russian: Атырау, ), known until 1991 as Guryev (russian: Гурьев, ), is a city in Kazakhstan and the capital of Atyrau Region. Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Cas ...

, where he was joined by fellow Dutch player

Sylvano Comvalius Sylvano Dominique Comvalius (born 10 August 1987) is a retired Dutch professional footballer who played as a forward. Club career At Birkirkara, Comvalius became the club's top scorer and won the Maltese Premier League. On 1 October 2010, he ...

. Bechan received an offer in January 2012 from Macedonian club

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

, but due to the lack of financial guarantees, he was unable to reach an agreement with the club. He then went on trial with Fujian Smart Hero in China alongside Comvalius, but during practice with the team he suffered a torn meniscus, keeping him sidelined for months. In April 2012,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

showed interest, but due to a knee injury, he was unable to travel to the United States for a medical examination. In December 2012, Bechan announced his retirement from football at age 30.

Personal life

After his professional career, Bechan moved to

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km ...

, where he still plays

futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hardcourt, hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and Indoor soccer, indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players ...

at amateur level.

References

External links

Profile
at VI.nl

at Ronald Zwiers {{DEFAULTSORT:Bechan, Kiran 1982 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch footballers Association football midfielders AFC Ajax players Sparta Rotterdam players FC Groningen players FC Den Bosch players Hércules CF players FC Emmen players Ermis Aradippou FC players Muaither SC players FC Atyrau players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Segunda División players Cypriot First Division players Kazakhstan Premier League players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Qatar Expatriate footballers in Kazakhstan Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Qatari Second Division players Surinamese people of Indian descent Surinamese Hindus Dutch Hindus