Winand Kiran Madhankumar Bechan (born 12 September 1982), simply known as Kiran Bechan, is a Dutch former 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 lea ...

of Surinamese descent who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

Club career

Bechan was a product of the

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

football academy, which he joined at under-13 level, and made his senior debut as a starter on 1 April 2001 against

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

under head coach

Co Adriaanse Jacobus "Co" Adriaanse (born 21 July 1947) is a Dutch association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player who played as a centre-back. Playing career As a professional player, Adriaanse played for six seasons ...

. He did not make the grade at Ajax and was loaned to

Sparta Sparta was a prominent city-state in Laconia in ancient Greece. In antiquity, the city-state was known as Lacedaemon (), while the name Sparta referred to its main settlement in the Evrotas Valley, valley of Evrotas (river), Evrotas rive ...

in January 2003, only to be recalled by Ajax and sold to

FC Groningen Football Club Groningen () is a Dutch professional association football club based in Groningen, Groningen (province), Groningen province. Founded in 1971 as the successor of GVAV-Rapiditas, GVAV, Groningen compete in the Eredivisie, the first t ...

in November 2004. He was then sent on loan to

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

in summer 2006, and in summer 2007 Bechan was released by Groningen and moved abroad to join Spanish side Hércules Alicante. There, his contract was eventually cancelled by mutual consent. He then returned to the Netherlands to play for

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

club Emmen. He tried his luck abroad once more when he joined

Ermis Aradippou Ermis Aradippou () is a Cypriot professional football club based in Aradippou, a settlement on the outskirts of the city of Larnaca. The club was formed in 1958, and currently plays in the Cypriot Third Division. Ermis' greatest success ca ...

of Cyprus and he had a season at Muaither in Qatar. He then played for Kazakh side

Atyrau Atyrau (, ; , ; ), known until 1991 as Guryev (), is a city in Kazakhstan and the capital of Atyrau Region. Atyrau is a transcontinental city, at the mouth of the Ural River on the Caspian Sea, between Europe and Asia, west of Almaty and east o ...

, where he was joined by fellow Dutch player Sylvano Comvalius. Bechan received an offer in January 2012 from Macedonian club

Vardar The Vardar (; , , ) or Axios (, ) is the longest river in North Macedonia and a major river in Greece, where it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . The maximum depth of ...

, but due to the lack of financial guarantees, he was unable to reach an agreement with the club. He then went on trial with Fujian Smart Hero in China alongside Comvalius, but during practice with the team he suffered a torn meniscus, keeping him sidelined for months. In April 2012,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

showed interest, but due to a knee injury, he was unable to travel to the United States for a medical examination. In December 2012, Bechan announced his retirement from football at age 30.

Personal life

Bechan is

Indo-Surinamese Indo-Surinamese, Indian-Surinamese, or Hindustani Surinamese are nationals of Suriname who trace their ancestry to the Indian subcontinent. Their ancestors were indentured labourers brought by the Dutch and the British to the Dutch colony of S ...

. After retiring from professional football, he moved to

Almere Almere () is a Planned community, planned List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Flevoland, Netherlands across the IJmeer fro ...

, where he plays

futsal Futsal is a variant of association football played between two teams of five players each on a court smaller than a football pitch. Its rules are based on the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game of association football, and i ...

at amateur level.

References

External links

Profile
at VI.nl

at Ronald Zwiers {{DEFAULTSORT:Bechan, Kiran 1982 births Living people Footballers from Amsterdam Dutch men's footballers Men's association football midfielders AFC Ajax players Sparta Rotterdam players FC Groningen players FC Den Bosch players Hércules CF players FC Emmen players Ermis Aradippou FC players Muaither SC players FC Atyrau players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Segunda División players Cypriot First Division players Kazakhstan Premier League players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar Expatriate men's footballers in Kazakhstan Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Spain Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Kazakhstan Qatari Second Division players Dutch people of Indo-Surinamese descent Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Dutch Hindus