Milano Koenders (; born 31 July 1986) is 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

or as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Tweede Klasse The Tweede Klasse () is the seventh tier of football in the Netherlands and the fifth tier of Dutch amateur football. The league is divided into 21 divisions, 12 played on Saturday and nine on Sunday. Each division consists of 14 teams. The ch ...

club DWS. Koenders also runs his own football school.

Club career

Koenders is a defender who was born in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

. He began his career at SDZ before joining the Ajax youth department in 1996. He left Ajax after ten years, in 2006. Koenders then joined to

RKC Waalwijk RKC Waalwijk () is a Dutch professional association football, football club based in Waalwijk. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football league system, Dutch football, following relegation from the Eredivisie i ...

and made his debut in the professional football in the 2006–07 season, playing 30 matches. After one year, he left the club in 2007, and moved to AZ Alkmaar. There, he would make his European debut as a starter in a 1–1 away draw in the group stage of the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

against

Zenit Saint Petersburg Football Club Zenit (, ), also known as Zenit Saint Petersburg or simply Zenit, is a Russian professional football club based in Saint Petersburg. Founded in 1925 (or in 1914, according to some Russian sources), the club plays in the Russian Pr ...

. In January 2009, he was loaned out to

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 ...

. AZ went on to win the

2008–09 Eredivisie The 2008–09 Eredivisie was the 53rd season of Eredivisie since its establishment in 1955. PSV were the reigning champions. The season began on 29 August 2008 with a game between Vitesse Arnhem and FC Groningen and ended on 10 May 2009. A t ...

in his absence. He was once again loaned out in early 2010, this time to

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 competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

. In the summer of 2010, he signed another loan contract, now at

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 Eredivisi ...

. In 2016, he opened his own football school after being inspired by fellow footballer

Nordin Wooter Nordin Sibadich Wooter (born 24 August 1976) is a Dutch footballer who played as a right-winger. Club career Wooter was born in Breda, and started playing at OSV and AVV Zeeburgia before joining the youth academy of Ajax. He entered the Ajax fi ...

. In summer 2016, Koenders joined Romanian club

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional Association football, football football team, club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best ...

for the 2016–17 season. In May 2019 it was confirmed, that DWS would collaborate with the football school of Koenders. One month later, in June, DWS announced that Koenders also would be playing for the club.

International career

Born in the Netherlands, Koenders is of Surinamese descent. Koenders was member of the Netherlands U21s and played his first game on 14 November 2006 against

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

. Koenders also represented

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 ...

in two unofficial matches against

W Connection W. Connection Football Club is a professional football (soccer), football club from Trinidad and Tobago, which currently plays in the TT Pro League. The club plays its home games at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella. The club's offices are ba ...

and

Curaçao national football team The Curaçao national football team (; ) represents Curaçao in international football, and is controlled by the Federashon Futbòl Kòrsou (). Following a constitutional change that allowed its predecessor, the Colony of Curaçao and Depend ...

, captaining the team on both occasions.

Career statistics

Honours

AZ Alkmaar *

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

: 2008–09

References

External links

* * *
Milano Koenders
at Voetbal International 1986 births Living people Men's association football central defenders Men's association football fullbacks Dutch men's footballers Footballers from Amsterdam Netherlands men's youth international footballers 21st-century Dutch sportsmen Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Eredivisie players Liga I players RKC Waalwijk players AZ Alkmaar players NEC Nijmegen players NAC Breda players Heracles Almelo players CS Concordia Chiajna players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Romania {{Netherlands-footy-defender-stub