Rydell Romano Poepon (born 28 August 1987) 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

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

for

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 ...

. An academy graduate of Ajax, Poepon made his senior debut for Willem II in 2007. The following years brought him to several clubs in the lower table of the

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 ...

, including

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently compete in the Eredivisie, the top flight ...

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation f ...

and

NAC Breda NAC Breda (), often simply known as NAC, is a Dutch professional football club, based in Breda, Netherlands. NAC Breda play in the Rat Verlegh Stadium, named after their most important player, Antoon 'Rat' Verlegh. They play in the Eerste Divi ...

. Apart from a six month stay at Roda JC Kerkrade, Poepon would spend the next years abroad in France, Azerbaijan and Turkey, experiencing his most successful period at second-tier

TFF First League The TFF 1. Lig, officially known as Spor Toto 1. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the second level of the Turkish football league system. The league was founded in 2001 as the ''Turkish Second League Category A'' after the reorganization of the ...

club Boluspor. Poepon is a former Netherlands youth international, having gained two caps for the Netherlands U21 team in 2007.

Club career

Poepon played in the youth departments of AFC, ASV Fortius and Zeeburgia until he was included in the youth academy of Ajax. He progressed through the youth ranks there, but never made an appearance for their senior team. He was sent on loan to Willem II in January 2006. After six months, Poepon returned to Ajax without having scored for the club in eight appearances. Willem II subsequently again showed interest in loaning him. Ajax agreed, after Poepon's contract was extended for four years. His first league goal came in November 2007, at home against

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

in a 1–4 defeat. He then scored a brace against Excelsior and scored a hat-trick at home 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 ...

. At the end of the season, he had scored 10 goals in 32 league appearances in his first full season of his career. Despite Willem II showing interest in taking over Poepon from Ajax on a permanent deal, he chose to sign for

on a three-year contract in May 2008. In his first season, he scored nine goals in 31 games. The club nevertheless suffered relegation to the second-tier

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 ...

after two consecutive seasons in the

. In his last season in Rotterdam, Poepon scored ten goals in 33 games. After Sparta's relegation to the Eerste Divisie in 2010, he moved 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. ...

on a three-year contract, after the club had recently achieved promotion to the top tier. After suffering relegation with De Graafschap, Poepon signed a two-year contract with an option for an additional year with

in June 2012. Poepon moved abroad for the first time in his career after signing with French

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

club

Valenciennes Valenciennes (, also , , ; nl, label=also Dutch, Valencijn; pcd, Valincyinnes or ; la, Valentianae) is a commune in the Nord department, Hauts-de-France, France. It lies on the Scheldt () river. Although the city and region experienced a s ...

in August 2014. He made 35 appearances in the second tier in which he scored seven goals. After the season, his contract was terminated by mutual consent. In July 2015, Poepon signed a two-year deal with

Azerbaijan Premier League The Azerbaijan Premier League ( az, Azərbaycan Premyer Liqası) is a professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Azerbaijan football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. It is conteste ...

club Qarabağ. After 15 league appearances in which he only scored one goal, his contract was dissolved in December 2015, after he found out through media reports that the club wanted to part ways with him. Poepon signed a six-month contract with Roda JC Kerkrade in January 2016, with an option for another year. He made his debut against AZ in a 0–1 home loss and scored four goals in 17 league matches for the club. At the end of the season, Roda did not trigger the option in his contract, effectively making him a free agent. In June 2016, Poepon signed a two-year contract with Turkish second-tier

club Boluspor. There, he was joined by fellow Dutch players

Mitchell te Vrede Mitchell te Vrede (born 7 August 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a striker. He formerly played for Excelsior, Feyenoord, Heerenveen, Boluspor, NAC Breda, Al-Fateh, Abha, Al Dhafra and Hatta. Born in the Netherlands, he repres ...

and

Anco Jansen Anco Jansen (born 9 March 1989) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward. He formerly played for Zwolle, Groningen, Cambuur, Veendam, De Graafschap, Roda JC and Emmen. Club career PSM Makassar On 20 June 2021, Jansen moved ...

and was coached by Fuat Çapa with a background in Dutch football. In June 2018, Poepon moved to Gazişehir Gaziantep, before returning to Boluspor one year later, in August 2019. In May 2021, his contract with the club was terminated by mutual consent. On 31 August 2021, Poepon signed a one-year contract with

Tweede Divisie Tweede Divisie ( en, Second Division) is the highest amateur (and historically the lowest professional) football league in the Netherlands. It was established in 1956, together with the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie. Between 1956 and 1960 and b ...

club

International career

Foppe de Haan Foppe Geert de Haan (, born 26 June 1943) is a Dutch football coach. He is known for his long association with Frisian club SC Heerenveen. De Haan was the manager of the Tuvalu national football team during 2011 and then rejoined Heerenveen's ...

included Poepon for the first time in the squad for the Netherlands U21 on 17 August 2007. On 22 August, he made his debut, in a 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier against

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

Personal life

Born in the Netherlands, Poepon is of Surinamese descent.

References

External links

Voetbal International profile

Player stats
– Sparta Rotterdam {{DEFAULTSORT:Poepon, Rydell 1987 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch footballers Netherlands youth international footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Association football forwards Association football wingers A.V.V. Zeeburgia players Amsterdamsche FC players AFC Ajax players Willem II (football club) players Sparta Rotterdam players De Graafschap players ADO Den Haag players NAC Breda players Valenciennes FC players Qarabağ FK players Roda JC Kerkrade players Boluspor footballers Gaziantep F.K. footballers IJsselmeervogels players Eredivisie players Ligue 2 players Azerbaijan Premier League players TFF First League players Tweede Divisie players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Azerbaijan Dutch expatriate sportspeople in France Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Azerbaijan Expatriate footballers in Turkey Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Turkey