Ryan Koolwijk (born 8 August 1985) is a retired 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 ...

for and current assistant coach of the Suriname national team. He previously played for

Excelsior Excelsior, a Latin comparative word often translated as "ever upward" or "even higher", may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * ''Excelsior'' (Macedo ...

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 ...

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the province's fifth-largest city after R ...

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovakia, Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its association football, football department. The first team currently plays in the Slovak Super Liga, Fortuna Liga after winning the 2010–11 Slovak Fi ...

and

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a Dutch professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Flevoland. Founded in 2001, plays in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, and hosts home matches ...

. Born in the Netherlands, he represents the Suriname national team.

Club career

Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, Koolwijk began his senior career with

during the 2007–08 season. He signed for

in May 2011. He also played for

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

and

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest municip ...

, before returning to

in May 2016. He returned to

in June 2019 and became a regular in the team's starting-XI. In April 2020, when the

Fortuna Liga The Slovak Super Liga is the top level football league in Slovakia, currently known as the Fortuna Liga due to a sponsorship arrangement. It was formed in 1993 following the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The record for most titles is eleven, ...

was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Koolwijk ended his contract with the club by mutual agreement, as he intended to spend more time with his family in the Netherlands and he was dissatisfied by the proposed salary cut of over 50%, due to the pandemic. He signed with

in May 2020. He signed for

PEC Zwolle PEC Zwolle is a Dutch football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2021–22 season. They have played in the Eredivisie for a total ...

in September 2021. After a season, which ended with relegation to the

2022–23 Eerste Divisie The 2022–23 Eerste Divisie, known as Keuken Kampioen Divisie for sponsorship reasons, is the 67th season of Eerste Divisie since its establishment in 1956. Teams A total of 20 teams will take part in the league: 17 teams from the 2021–22 ...

, 36-year old Koolwijk announced his retirement from football, as he had accepted a job offer as assistant coach of the Suriname national team.

International career

Born in the Netherlands, Koolwijk is of Surinamese descent. He debuted with the Suriname national team in a 6–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

win over

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

on 4 June 2021. On 25 June Koolwijk 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 ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koolwijk, Ryan 1985 births Living people Footballers from Rotterdam Surinamese men's footballers Suriname men's international footballers Dutch men's footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Excelsior Rotterdam players NEC Nijmegen players FC Dordrecht players AS Trenčín players Almere City FC players PEC Zwolle players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Slovak First Football League players Men's association football midfielders Surinamese expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Surinamese expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players