Ryan Koolwijk (born 8 August 1985) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player who is the assistant coach of the Suriname national team and the

ADO Den Haag Alles Door Oefening Den Haag (), commonly known by the abbreviated name ADO Den Haag (), is a Dutch association football club from the city of The Hague. They play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football, following relegation ...

under-19 team. During his playing career, he played for

Excelsior Excelsior may refer to: Arts and entertainment Literature and poetry * "Excelsior" (Longfellow), an 1841 poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow * "Excelsior", an 1877 picture book in verse by Bret Harte, published as an advertisement for the Sa ...

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 ...

Dordrecht Dordrecht (), historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, ) or Dort, is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Western Netherlands, lo ...

AS Trenčín AS Trenčín () is a Slovak sports club in the town of Trenčín, most known for its football department. The first team currently plays in the Slovak First Football League after winning the 2010–11 Slovak First League. The club plays its hom ...

Almere City Almere City Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Netherlands. Founded in 2001, the club currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, following relegation from the Eredivisie in 2024–25 Eredivisie, 20 ...

, and

PEC Zwolle Prins Hendrik Ende Desespereert Nimmer Combinatie Zwolle, commonly known as PEC Zwolle, is a Dutch professional football club based in Zwolle, Netherlands. They play in the Eredivisie, the top tier of Dutch football. They have played in the Ered ...

. Born in the Netherlands, he represented the Suriname national team.

Club career

Born in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

, Koolwijk began his senior career with

during the 2007–08 season. He signed for

in May 2011. He also played for

and

, before returning to Excelsior in May 2016. He returned to Trenčín in June 2019 and became a regular in the team's starting eleven. In April 2020, when the Fortuna Liga was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country, Koolwijk ended his contract with the club by mutual agreement, as he intended to spend more time with his family in the Netherlands and he was dissatisfied by the proposed salary cut of over 50%, due to the pandemic. He signed with

in May 2020. He signed for

in September 2021. After a season, which ended with relegation to the

2022–23 Eerste Divisie The 2022–23 Eerste Divisie, known as Keuken Kampioen Divisie for sponsorship reasons, is the 67th season of Eerste Divisie since its establishment in 1956. Teams A total of 20 teams will take part in the league: 17 teams from the 2021–22 ...

, 36-year old Koolwijk announced his retirement from professional football, as he had accepted a job offer as assistant coach of the Suriname national team.Ryan Koolwijk stopt met voetballen en vindt nieuwe uitdaging: 'Deze kans moet ik grijpen'
rijnmond.nl, 12 May 2022 At age 36, Koolwijk opted to continue playing and joined Smitshoek in the

Vierde Divisie 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 ...

ahead of the 2022–23 season, encouraged by friend

Luigi Bruins Luigi Bruins (born 9 March 1987) is a football manager and a retired Dutch professional association football, footballer. Bruins played in the position of Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder. After being declined by Feyenoord ...

, who highlighted the club's positive environment. Koolwijk spent two seasons at Smitshoek before retiring from playing in June 2024 to focus on his coaching career.

International career

Born in the Netherlands, Koolwijk is of Surinamese descent. He debuted with the Suriname national team in a 6–0

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

win over

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

on 4 June 2021. On 25 June Koolwijk was named to the Suriname squad for the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's association football, soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean regions organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was ...

Coaching career

Koolwijk retired as a professional player in 2022, and became an assistant coach of the Suriname national team. He continued to play in the lower leagues, and after retiring from playing in 2024, Koolwijk was appointed assistant coach of

's under-19s.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Koolwijk, Ryan 1985 births Living people Footballers from Rotterdam Surinamese men's footballers Suriname men's international footballers Dutch men's footballers Dutch sportspeople of Surinamese descent Excelsior Rotterdam players NEC Nijmegen players FC Dordrecht players AS Trenčín players Almere City FC players PEC Zwolle players VV Smitshoek players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Vierde Divisie players Slovak First Football League players Men's association football midfielders Surinamese expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate men's footballers Surinamese expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Association football coaches ADO Den Haag non-playing staff