5 Dutch professional football players who started on the streets

Street football is tough. Tricks, panna’s and akka’s are fun to watch but losing is not an option. Compete against older boys and play football on a hard ground. If you lose there is a chance you can’t play anymore for the whole night. “You had to insist on playing at first. I never cried, but a few times I came home really sad.” That’s how it started for professional footballer Wesley Sneijder. 

Today we show 5 other Dutch professional football players who started on the streets.

1. Bruno Martins Indi

“I’m the man of the street” yelled Bruno Martins Indi when he started playing football at Spartaan’20 in Rotterdam, where he started as an attacking midfielder. “I was very technical and played as number 10. On the streets I did everything, panna, fake shot and I could make a fast run. Martins Indi started on the streets at the legendary square Mullerpier in Rotterdam where he spent a big part of his youth. “I fought a lot on street, but what would you do when your friends are into situations like that? You stand up for them and that’s exactly what I did. I became blind with anger but I have no regrets. I would rather have seen it differently of course. It all had to do with my age and wanting to do the same as the others.”

“I asked myself: what do I want to achieve now? Do I really want to become a professional football player? Well, that’s exactly what I wanted, so I was decided to let my dream come true. I was making steps, not only in the field but also outside the field. The stupid things belonged to the past. For example, I wasn’t hanging around on street anymore until late in the evening, I went to sleep earlier, I was eating good and I was giving 100 percent every training. I became more independent day by day, I was getting my own identity”, said Martins Indi who also turned from attacking midfielder to defender.

Where many friends went the wrong way, Martins Indi didn’t. Nowadays he has 24 caps for the Dutch National team and he played for clubs like Feyenoord and FC Porto. At this moment Martins Indi is playing for Stoke City in England. Youth friend Illias Bel Hassani with whom he grew up became also a professional football player. Bel Hassani nowadays plays for FC Groningen.

  1. Iliass Bel Hassani

Bel Hassani grew up in one of the most dangerous neighbourhoods of Rotterdam, Delfshaven. Just like Martins Indi. De midfielder says in De Volkskrant that many of his homies became drugsdealers. “ My homies had nice expensive stuff and as a young boy you want that too, but how? My brother took me at home at six o’clock in the evening and that helped me on the right path. I wanted nothing to do with criminal activities and I refused to participate. People thought that was weird. When they watched me play football, they left me alone. They are seeing my success also a little bit as their success.”

Bel Hassani says that he tried to keep Bruno Martins Indi on the right path. “We took children on our own costs to the cinema and did other fun things. And then talk. It didn’t make a difference. They didn’t listen, they took the wrong path.” 

It was a big surprise for him when he had to pull the defender out of a club once. “When he sat on the bench at Feyenoord, I saw him more and more often in the wrong circle of friends. I said something about it, but later I saw him again in a lounge club. He was laying in a couch, and he had an empty look in his eyes. That was the moment I became really angry. I said: ‘You need to stop with that shit, you have to much talent, focus on football’! He listened….

  1. Memphis Depay

“I am from the street, you need to survive there.” These are the words of Memphis Depay, currently one of the biggest stars of the Dutch National team. As toddler Memphis played football every day on the streets with older guys in his hometown Moordrecht. To this town he donated a Cruyff court. Memphis says “I was always outside, I was in the bad neighbourhoods and I was often going to tough times. I stayed strong, even though it was tough sometimes.” His best friend Gigi, with whom he grew up in Moordrecht is still every day with him, no matter where Memphis plays. Nowadays he plays for Olympique Lyon and the question is; where are we going to see him next year?

  1. Nasser El Khayati

His first training was at the Under 12 of Feyenoord  and it was the first time he played football on grass. Between his training sessions, you could find Nasser at the squares in the Agniese neighbourhood in Rotterdam. This is the place where it all started for Nasser. A few years ago his career seemed over, after he decided to play for the amateurs of Kozakken Boys and start working in the harbour of Rotterdam. Nothing could be further from the truth. Nasser quickly returned to professional football and even made the transfer to Queens Park Rangers within 1,5 years. Nowadays, Nasser is the most important player of ADO Den Haag. Nasser is also the coach of the boys where he grew up with on the streets. 

  1. Rocky

Last but not least! Rocky is a famous face in the street football world. Rocky says “As a young girl I always played football with my neighbours on a square.” For her it started at the futsal club where her father was playing and where she discovered her passion for football as a young girl. Nowadays she is the first and only female member of the Street Legends! The Street Legends is the best street football team of the world with Edgar Davids, who used to be a professional footballer, as captain. With this team Rocky has given different kind of demonstrations and clinics on international level, among others in the slums of South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Brazil. As field football player, Rocky has made it to the Dutch national team. Because of a serious knee injury, she was forced to stop as professional. But instead of doing nothing, she decided to turn her passion into her job again.

Rocky Hehakaija founded the foundation Favela Street. Favela is the Brazilian name for slum. With the foundation, Rocky inspires young women all over the world. She is as a role model for young people from slums around the world. Favela Street is active in Brazil, Haïti, Curaçao and the Netherlands.