Jaïro Jocquim Riedewald (born 9 September 1996) is a Dutch 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 plays as a defender or

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 ...

for club

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

Club career

Ajax

2013–14

On 15 March 2013, Riedewald signed his first professional contract with Ajax, a product of the

Ajax Youth Academy The Ajax Youth Academy (Dutch: ''Ajax Jeugdopleiding'') is a football youth academy based in Amsterdam, Netherlands, from where the organization manages a total of 13 youth teams (ages 7–18). The academy is the primary youth clinic of Dutch foo ...

having joined the club from SV Overbos at the age of 11. His first contract with the club was a three-year contract binding him to the club until 2016. On 21 December 2013 he made his professional debut in the

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 ...

, the second tier of professional football in the Netherlands, playing for the reserves team

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax () (''English: Young Ajax''), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2 is a Dutch association football team, the reserve team of Ajax. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. History Jong Ajax (''formerly more ...

, in a match against

VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo (, ''VVV'' stands for ''Venlose Voetbal Vereniging'' meaning "Venlo Football Club") is a Dutch football club from Venlo, a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following ...

which ended in a 5–1 away loss. On 14 December 2013, Ajax head coach

Frank de Boer Franciscus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredi ...

announced the inclusion of Riedewald in the first team squad for the away match against

SC Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football, after winning the 2020–21 Ee ...

on 15 December 2013. Not having made an appearance in that fixture it was the first time he was called for the first team. He made his debut for the first team on 19 December 2013 in the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

match against

IJsselmeervogels IJsselmeervogels () is a Dutch amateur football club. With seven national amateur titles IJsselmeervogels is the most successful amateur club in the Netherlands. The Reds come from Bunschoten Bunschoten () is a municipality and a town in th ...

. The match ended in a 3–0 away win, with Riedewald coming on for

Daley Blind Daley Blind (; born 9 March 1990) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder, left-back or centre-back for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team. He is the son of former Ajax defender and fo ...

in the 73rd minute of the match. Three days later he made his

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

debut against

Roda JC Kerkrade Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; Ripuarian: ), also known as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. ...

. After

Bojan Krkić Bojan Krkić Pérez (; sr-Cyrl, Бојан Кркић Перез, ; born 28 August 1990), also known as simply Bojan, is a Spanish professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different t ...

, Riedewald was substituted on as well in the 80th minute, where he replaced

Christian Poulsen Christian Bjørnshøj Poulsen (born 28 February 1980) is a Danish former footballer. After starting his career with Holbæk, he played for a number of European clubs as a defensive midfielder, winning the Danish Superliga championship with F. ...

, quickly scoring two goals, after trailing 1–0, helping Ajax to a 2–1 away victory, hereby becoming the youngest scoring debutant in the club and league history with 17 years, 104 days. The youngest scoring player before him in the Dutch Eredivisie was Jeroen Lumu with 17 years, 111 days, while

Marco van Basten Marcel "Marco" van Basten (; born 31 October 1964) is a Dutch football manager and retired professional player, who played for Ajax and AC Milan, as well as the Netherlands national team, as a striker. Widely regarded as one of the greatest pl ...

was the youngest scoring debutant at the club with 17 year, 154 days of age. In January 2014, Riedewald became a permanent member of the first team at Ajax. On 27 February 2014, Riedewald made his continental debut for Ajax, in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

away match against Red Bull Salzburg where he replaced Christian Poulsen in the 63rd minute in an eventual 3-1 loss.

2014–15

2015–16

After

Niklas Moisander Niklas Moisander (born 29 September 1985) is a Finnish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Swedish club Malmö FF. Moisander was born in Turku, where he played for the local TPS youth team before moving to AFC Ajax. Following ...

departed the club at the start of the 2015–16 season, Ajax manager

decided to choose Riedewald as the new partner of

Joël Veltman Joël Ivo Veltman (born 15 January 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a defender for Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Netherlands national team. A product of the Ajax youth academy, Veltman made 246 appeara ...

in central defense. In

de Klassieker De Klassieker (''The Classic'') is the main football rivalry of the Netherlands, between Ajax (of Amsterdam) and Feyenoord (of Rotterdam). The record attendance was on 9 January 1966, when 65,562 watched in Rotterdam. History Amsterdam vs Rott ...

against

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club in Rotterdam, which plays in the Eredivisie, the top tier in Dutch football. Founded as Wilhelmina in 1908, the club changed to various names before settling on being called after its ...

on 7 February 2016, Riedewald got injured soon after kick-off; he had broken his left ankle, which ended his season early. Until that moment, he had only missed one league game due to suspension. However, he returned early from injury on 1 May 2016, replacing

Kenny Tete Kenny Joelle Tete (born 9 October 1995) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a right back for club Fulham and the Netherlands national team. Club career Ajax Tete was born in Amsterdam where he grew up and played for AFC DWS and A ...

in the 76th minute in a match against

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

2016–17

After Ajax lost the Eredivisie title to PSV on the last matchday of the season by drawing to

De Graafschap VBV De Graafschap () is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands, playing in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the De Vijverberg stadium. ...

, manager De Boer decided to leave the club. His successor

Peter Bosz Peter Sylvester Bosz (, born 21 November 1963) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player. Playing career Club A midfielder, Bosz started his professional career played with Vitesse in 1981; after a loan season with then amate ...

decided to use Riedewald more as a defensive midfielder during the opening of the season. On 15 September 2016, Riedewald scored the rebound of

Davy Klaassen Davy Klaassen (born 21 February 1993) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Eredivisie club Ajax and the Netherlands national team. Club career Early career Klaassen began his football career in the youth ranks of l ...

's missed penalty in a Europa League match against

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

, his first goal for Ajax since his debut match.

Crystal Palace

In July 2017, Riedewald signed a five-year contract with

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 Foo ...

side Crystal Palace for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in the region of £8m. He was named the club's player of the month in January 2020 and again in October 2020. He scored his first goal for Palace in a 2-1 away win over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

on 24 October 2020. In February 2021, Riedewald extended his contract with Crystal Palace until 2024.

International career

Riedewald received his first call up to the senior Netherlands team in August 2015. On 6 September, he made his official debut for Oranje against Turkey.

Personal life

Born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

, Riedewald is of mixed

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north ...

se and

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

n heritage. His father hails from Suriname, while his mother is of half Dutch, half Indonesian descent.

Career statistics

Honours

Ajax *

: 2013–14 *

runner-up: 2016–17

References

External links

Profile
at the Crystal Palace F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Riedewald, Jairo 1996 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Netherlands under-21 international footballers Netherlands international footballers Association football defenders AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players Crystal Palace F.C. players Eerste Divisie players Eredivisie players Premier League players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch people of Indonesian descent Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent