Virgall Joemankhan (17 November 1968 – 7 June 1989) was a 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 ...

. During his career, he played for

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or simply Ajax, is a Dutch professional football club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. Historically, Ajax (named after the l ...

and

Cercle Brugge Cercle Brugge Koninklijke Sportvereniging () is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges. Cercle have played in the Belgian Pro League since the 2003–04 season, having previously spent several years in the Belgian Second Divisi ...

. He died at the age of 20, when on 7 June 1989, he was killed in the

Surinam Airways Flight PY764 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 fli ...

air crash in

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname' ...

Career

At Ajax, although he reached the A1 squad, Joemankhan and Dennis Bergkamp were both relegated to the A2 squad due to unprofessional conduct. While Bergkamp fought hard to improve his behaviour and his skills, Joemankhan chose to leave Ajax and play for

in Belgium. Although Joemankhan made his professional debut at Cercle Brugge, his reputation for partying continued. Along with his friend, Tom Krommendijk, a

Feyenoord Feyenoord Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club (association football), 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 bef ...

player on loan at Cercle with a similar reputation, they were often found together enjoying the nightlife in

Bruges Bruges ( , nl, Brugge ) is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium, in the northwest of the country, and the sixth-largest city of the country by population. The area of the whole city a ...

and

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. He was invited by Colourful 11 founder Sonny Hasnoe to be part of the team travelling to Suriname to play in the "Boxel Kleurrijk Tournament" against three Surinamese teams. On 7 June 1989 Surinam Airways Flight PY764 crashed during approach to

Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport , also known as Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, and locally referred to simply as JAP, is an airport located in the town of Zanderij and hub for airline carrier Surinam Airways, south of Par ...

, killing 176 of the 187 passengers on board, including Joemankhan, making it the worst ever aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Among those killed were 15 members of the 18-member Colourful 11 contingent. Tom Krommendijk returned to Feyenoord for the 1989–90 season, but was sent on loan to

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 ...

for the following season. He never played for Twente: on 25 August 1990 he was killed when his car collided with a tree, over a year after Joemankhan's death.

References

Joemankhan at AndroKnel.nl

* Iwan Tol: Eindbesteming Zanderij; het vergeten verhaal van het Kleurrijk Elftal () * {{DEFAULTSORT:Joemankhan, Virgall 1968 births 1989 deaths Dutch men's footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Dutch people of Indian descent AFC Ajax players Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players Footballers from Amsterdam Belgian Pro League players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Men's association football players not categorized by position Footballers killed in the Surinam Airways Flight 764 crash