Simon Melkianus Tahamata (born 26 May 1956) is a Dutch

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 ...

coach and former professional player who is the current head of scouting of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. Throughout his career, he played for multiple Dutch and Belgian clubs. He also played 22 times for the Netherlands national team, scoring twice. He took Belgian nationality in 1990.

International career

Tahamata made his debut for the Netherlands national team on 22 May 1979 in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Switzerland in the 75th Anniversary Match of the

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Managerial career

After his career as a professional football player Tahamata went on to work as a youth coach for

Standard Liège Royal Standard de Liège, commonly referred to as Standard Liège ( ; ; ) or simply Standard in Belgium, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Liège. They are one of the most successful clubs in Belgium, having won t ...

Germinal Beerschot Koninklijke Beerschot Antwerpen Club (), simply known as Beerschot AC, was a Belgian association football, football club based in southern Antwerp. Beerschot played in the Belgian Pro League from Belgian First Division 1999–2000, 1999–2000 ...

and

AFC Ajax Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax (), also known as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam, or commonly Ajax, is a Dutch professional Association football, football Football team, club based in Amsterdam, that plays in the , the top tier in Dutch football. ...

. Occasionally he also played for the team of old Ajax players, named Lucky Ajax. From 2009 he worked for a period as a technical coach for the youth teams of under-10 until under-15 of the Saudi Arabian football club Al-Ahli. Since October 2014 Tahamata is back at Ajax. Since September 2015, next to his duties at Ajax, he also has a football academy, Simon Tahamata Soccer Academy. On 22 May 2025, Tahamata was hired as the head of scouting for the

Indonesian national football team The Indonesia national football team () represents Indonesia in international men's football matches since 1945. The men's national team is controlled by the Football Association of Indonesia (PSSI), the governing body for football in Indones ...

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list the Netherlands' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tahamata goal.''

Honours

Ajax *

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 ...

: 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80 *

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

: 1978–79 Standard Liège *

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023– ...

: 1981–82, 1982–83 *

Belgian Cup The Belgian Cup (; ; ) is the main knockout football competition in Belgium, run by the Royal Belgian FA. The competition started in 1908 with provincial selections as the "Belgian Provinces Cup". Starting from 1912 only actual clubs were allowed ...

: 1980–81; runner-up 1983–84 *

Belgian Super Cup The Belgian Super Cup ( ; ; ), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian Pro League champions (also received the Super Cup host) and the Belgian Cup winners. If both teams are the same, ...

: 1981, 1983 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

runner-up: 1981–82 *

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

Group Winners:

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

Beerschot *

runner-up: 1994–95 Individual * Man of the Season (Belgian First Division): 1990–91 * Belgian Fair Play Award: 1993–94, 1994–95 * DH The Best Standard Liège Team Ever: 2020

References

External links

Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tahamata, Simon 1956 births Living people Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Dutch football managers Dutch people of Moluccan descent AFC Ajax players Standard Liège players Feyenoord players Eredivisie players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Belgian Pro League players Sportspeople from Vught Beerschot A.C. players AFC Ajax non-playing staff Dutch people of Indonesian descent Sportspeople of Indonesian descent Men's association football midfielders Standard Liège non-playing staff Beerschot A.C. non-playing staff Al-Ahli Saudi FC non-playing staff 20th-century Dutch sportsmen