Radjin de Haan (born 12 August 1969) is a retired Dutch

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 ...

and currently is a football manager. During his career he served Telstar,

FC Eindhoven FC Eindhoven is a Dutch football club based in Eindhoven, North Brabant. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie (second tier of Dutch football), and are one of two professional clubs which are based in the city of Eindhoven, the other one bei ...

and

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 ...

. He was one of the footballers that survived the Surinam Airways Flight PY764 air crash in Paramaribo on 7 June 1989. He was the only player to return on the pitch after the disaster. De Haan was known as a talented player and started his career at Telstar where he made his debut. He was the youngest footballer (18) to be invited by

Sonny Hasnoe Sonny is a common nickname and occasional given name. Often it can be a derivative of the English word "Son", a name derived from the Ancient Germanic element *sunn meaning "sun", a nickname derived from the Italian name Salvatore (especially in N ...

, the founder of the

Colourful 11 Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways DC-8-62. On Wednesday 7 June 1989, the f ...

to be part of the team and travel to Suriname to play in the "Boxel Kleurrijk Tournament" with three Surinamese teams. The Surinam Airways Flight PY764 crashed during approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, killing 176 of the 187 on board, making it the worst ever aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Among the dead were a total of 15 members of the Colourful 11, only three of them, including De Haan survived. After the crash De Haan saw dead bodies all around him. He managed to grab a little kid and brought himself and the kid in safety, while having a fractured vertebra. Despite the broken vertebra he was able to return on the football pitches seven months after the disaster, making him the only player who survived the crash to make a comeback. Unfortunately for him he was unable to get his old form back and was forced to withdraw from professional football. He played for several amateur sides like

FC Lisse FC Lisse is a Dutch football club from Lisse which was founded in 1981. It currently plays in the Tweede Divisie. History The history of FC Lisse is linked to its Catholic religion, the first version of a football club being formed in 1911 by a ...

, Holland Utrecht and the

Koninklijke HFC Koninklijke Haarlemsche Football Club (Royal Haarlem Football Club) is a football club based in Haarlem, Netherlands. It is the oldest existing club in Dutch football, founded by Pim Mulier in 1879. During the club's early years the team only ...

. He later got another chance in professional football and was signed by

. Later he would also move to

, but in both occasions his injury prevented him from any outstanding performances. After his career he became an amateur football manager and led the Koninklijke HFC to position eleven of the "Sunday 1A class" in the 2002-03 season, his first season as a manager. He managed the Koninklijke HFC for another two years, but moved to

Geel Wit'20 Geel () is a city located in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which acquired city status in the 1980s. It comprises Central-Geel which is constituted of 4 old parishes a/o towns: Sint-Amand, Sint-Dimpna, Holven and Elsum. Further on around the ce ...

in between (2004–05). He then moved to

VV Young Boys 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 metropolita ...

, playing in the "Saturday 4E class" and became league champions in the 2005-06 season, resulting in promotion. A year later when the team played in the "Saturday 3C class" they would become champions again and were promoted to the second class for the 2007-08 season. At the end of the 2007-2008 season they became champions again and promoted to the first class for season 2008-2009. De Haan is following a managers education and his wish is to become a professional football manager in the near future.

External links

De Haan at Voetbal International

References

Crash website AndroKnel.nl

Short biography of Radjin de Haan

Managing career profile at trainers.voetbalnederland.nl
* Iwan Tol: Eindbesteming Zanderij; het vergeten verhaal van het Kleurrijk Elftal () {{DEFAULTSORT:Haan, Radjin De 1969 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Dutch football managers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent SC Telstar players FC Eindhoven players FC Den Bosch players Eerste Divisie players Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents FC Lisse players Men's association football forwards Koninklijke HFC players