Frits Lambertus Purperhart (25 December 1944 – 29 September 2016) was a Surinamese football manager and player, a member of the

Suriname Olympic Committee Suriname Olympic Committee (IOC code: SUR) is the National Olympic Committee representing Suriname. Logo Image:Suriname Olympic Committee logo.jpg, Former logo Image:Suriname Olympic Committee logo new.jpg, Present logo External links *Offic ...

board of directors as well as being a board member for the National broadcasting network

Telesur Telesur (stylized as teleSUR) is a Latin American terrestrial and satellite news television network headquartered in Caracas, Venezuela, and sponsored by the governments of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua. First proposed in 2005 and subsidized ...

in Suriname. As a player, he played in the Surinamese

Hoofdklasse The Vierde Divisie (; "Fourth Division"), formerly known as Hoofdklasse () is the second-highest league of amateur football in the Netherlands, and the fifth tier in general. Background The league was divided into two sections: Saturday and Sunda ...

for

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NAKS ''NAKS'' (Sranan Tongo: , ) is a social and cultural organization which promotes Afro-Surinamese culture and expression in Suriname and worldwide. The organisation was founded in 1948 with Eugène Drenthe as its first president, when it emerged a ...

and S.V. Leo Victor, as well as playing for the Suriname national team. He has also managed both Leo Victor and the Suriname national team during the span of his career. He is considered to be one of the greatest footballers in the history of the sport in Suriname, having finished as the league's top scorer twice, winning the Surinamese Footballer of the Year award on two occasions as well.

Career

Purperhart began his career on the Mr. Bronsplein sport terrain in

Paramaribo Paramaribo ( , , ) is the capital city, 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's p ...

Suriname Suriname, officially the Republic of Suriname, is a country in northern South America, also considered as part of the Caribbean and the West Indies. It is a developing country with a Human Development Index, high level of human development; i ...

where he was picked up by one of the local clubs, namely

. His father urged him to transfer to

, where he was coaching at the time, and Purperhart stepped over. After two seasons Purperhart transferred to S.V. Leo Victor. He helped the club to secure its second national title in his first season with the club. Known for his ability to score from a free kick, he is considered one of Suriname's best goal scorers of all time. In 1966 and in 1967 he won the Surinamese Footballer of the Year award consecutively, and in 1965 he became captain of S.V. Leo Victor. In 1970 and in 1972 he finished as the league's top scorer.

International career

Purperhart made his debut for the Suriname national team on 10 June 1966 at the Coupe Duvalier tournament against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several List of islands of Trinidad and Tobago, smaller i ...

in a 3–2 loss at the

Sylvio Cator Stadium The Stade Sylvio Cator is a multi-purpose stadium in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. It is currently used mostly for association football matches, and is turfed with artificial turf. History The stadium bears the name of Haitian Olympic medalist and footb ...

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( ; ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Haiti, most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 1,200,000 in 2022 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The me ...

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. He scored his first two goals for the National team on 13 June 1969 in a

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against

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, scoring the equalizer and the second goal in a 2–1 win at the National Stadion. He played an important role in the countries

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

and

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd ...

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

qualifying campaigns, also helping his team to win the 1978 CFU Championship.

Managerial career

In 1978 Purperhart took over a player–coach function for S.V. Leo Victor before retiring as a player and fully committing himself to his managerial role. In 1996, he was appointed manager of the Suriname national team for their

1998 FIFA World Cup qualification The 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification competition was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA FIFA#Structure, confederations. Each confederation — the Asian Football Confederation, AFC (Asia), Confederation of African Football, CAF (Afr ...

campaign. His side was eliminated by

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

1–0 in the 2nd qualifying round. He also managed Suriname to a fourth-place finish in the

1996 Caribbean Cup The 1996 Caribbean Cup (also known as the Shell/ Umbro Caribbean Cup for sponsorship reasons), was the 8th edition of the Caribbean Cup, the biennial football championship of the Caribbean region (CFU). It was held in Trinidad, where it began on ...

, losing to

Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...

3–2 on penalties after extra time, following a 1–1 deadlock, in the match for third place.

Honours

Player

;S.V. Leo Victor *

SVB Hoofdklasse The SVB Eerste Divisie is the second highest football championship for clubs run by the Surinaamse Voetbal Bond. The league currently comprises twelve teams and operates a system of promotion and relegation. Seasons run from November to June, w ...

(2): 1963–64, 1978 * Surinamese Footballer of the Year (2): 1966, 1967

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Purperhart, Frits 1944 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Paramaribo Surinamese men's footballers Suriname men's international footballers Surinamese football managers S.V. Leo Victor managers Suriname national football team managers S.V. Leo Victor players SVB Eerste Divisie players SVB Eerste Divisie managers 20th-century Surinamese businesspeople Men's association football forwards