Humphrey August Mijnals (21 December 1930 – 27 July 2019) was a

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 played international football for both 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 ...

and Suriname.

Career

Mijnals began his career with the Surinamese football club

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 ...

in the 1950s, where he was one of the stars of the team and won four national titles. Then he played for six months for

América Futebol Clube (PE) América Futebol Clube, commonly known as América or as América-PE, is a Brazilian football club based in Recife That it may shine on all ( Matthew 5:15) , image_map = Brazil Pernambuco Recife location map.svg , mapsize ...

in Brazil. After this he returned to Suriname. Following his transfer in 1956 to

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the fourth-largest city and a municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the province of Utrecht. It is located in the eastern corner of the Randstad conurbation, in the very centre of mainland Net ...

club

USV Elinkwijk Utrechtse Sportvereniging Elinkwijk, known as USV Elinkwijk is a Dutch football club, based in Utrecht. It played professional football during the years 1955–1970. Marco van Basten was a player of the club during his youth years. History The ...

, he received a signing-on fee of $15,000 while his club received a transfer fee of 3000 guilders. The club contracted four more Surinamese footballers; his brother Frank Mijnals, Erwin Sparendam, Michel Kruin and Charley Marbach, collectively known as the "five-leaf clover". He was then transferred to

VV DOS DHSC is a football club in the Ondiep district of Utrecht, Netherlands. The club plays in the 2022-23 Vierde Divisie. History VV DOS (1901–2004) Voetbalvereniging Door Oefening Sterk, in short VV DOS, was established in 1901. The club won ...

, remaining in Utrecht. He debuted in the

Netherlands national football team The Netherlands national football team ( nl, Nederlands voetbalelftal or simply ''Het Nederlands elftal'') has represented the Netherlands in international men's football matches since 1905. The men's national team is controlled by the Royal ...

on 3 April 1960 in a home match against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

. Mijnals, nicknamed ''Minna'', is best known for clearing a Bulgarian attempt on goal with an overhead kick. In total, Mijnals played just three matches for the Netherlands, including a match against Suriname, because he came into conflict with the

KNVB The Royal Dutch Football Association (, ; KNVB ) is the governing body of football in the Netherlands. It organises the main Dutch football leagues (Eredivisie and Eerste Divisie), the amateur leagues, the KNVB Cup, and the Dutch men's and wome ...

. The conflict arose after a training trip to South and Central America; he complained about the game and selection policy to a journalist, which resulted in him being placed on the list of unwanted players by the association. Mijnals also played 45 times in the

Suriname national football team The Suriname national football team ( nl, Surinaams voetbalelftal; Sranan Tongo: ) represents Suriname in international football. The team is controlled by the Surinamese Football Association, which is a member of CONCACAF. History Although th ...

. In 1999, he was elected Surinamese footballer of the century. On 24 August 2008, Mijnals also received Sports Medal of the city of Utrecht. Mijnals died on 27 July 2019, at the age of 88.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mijnals, Humphrey 1930 births 2019 deaths People from Marowijne District Surinamese footballers Suriname international footballers Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Dual internationalists (football) Surinamese emigrants to the Netherlands Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Eredivisie players Association football defenders Dutch expatriate footballers Surinamese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Brazil Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Surinamese expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Surinamese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands USV Elinkwijk players VV DOS players S.V. Robinhood players SVB Eerste Divisie players SC 't Gooi players América Futebol Clube (PE) players