Vurnon San Benito Anita (born 4 April 1989) is a Curaçaoan 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 ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

or full-back for club

Volendam Volendam () is a tourist town in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Edam-Volendam, Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands, known for its streets, old fishing boats and the traditional clothing wor ...

. Born in Curaçao and raised in the Netherlands, Anita played for the Netherlands national team in 2010 before switching to play for the Curaçao national team in 2021. Anita releases rap music under the moniker "JR (Vurnon Anita)".

Club career

Early career

In his youth years on

Curaçao Curaçao, officially the Country of Curaçao, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located in the southern Caribbean Sea (specifically the Dutch Caribbean region), about north of Venezuela. Curaçao includ ...

, Anita started to play football at local team CVV Willemstad. After he and his family moved to the Netherlands in 1997, he started playing for amateur side VV Maarssen. Later he was scouted by

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 ...

and he joined their world-famous youth program in 1999.

Ajax

As of the 2005–06 season he was promoted to the first team of Ajax and on 19 March 2006 he made his

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 ...

debut in a 3–2 away loss against

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 ...

. That year he also participated in the

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 ...

semi-final against

Roda JC Sportvereniging Roda Juliana Combinatie Kerkrade (; ), shortly as Roda JC Kerkrade () or commonly Roda JC or simply Roda, is a Dutch professional football club based in Kerkrade, Netherlands. Roda JC Kerkrade plays in the Eerste Divisie. The c ...

. Ajax went on to win the

that year. The following season he added another match to his

total, bringing it to two appearances. He also made his European debut in the 3–0 away loss against

Werder Bremen Sportverein Werder Bremen von 1899 e. V. (), commonly known as Werder Bremen, Werder or simply Bremen, is a German professional sports club based in Bremen. Founded on 4 February 1899, Werder are best known for their professional association foo ...

in 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 ...

. In the 2007–08 season Anita did not play any matches for the first team, but in the 2008–09 he returned to the first team squad. He played a total of 16 matches, mainly as a replacement for injured or suspended teammates. In the 2009–10 season Anita became a first team regular under new head coach

Martin Jol Maarten Cornelis "Martin" Jol (born 16 January 1956) is a Dutch football manager and former midfielder. He played over 400 games during his career which included spells in the Netherlands, Germany and England, as well as earning three caps wi ...

. Because of a suspension of Urby Emanuelson and a long-time injury of Thimothée Atouba, Anita was posted as a left back. Jol was satisfied with his performance and continued to let him play as a left back for most of the season. He also played in the

final against Feyenoord and won his second KNVB Cup. His good performances also led to his debut at the Dutch national team. However, he was not selected for the squad for

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

by coach

Bert van Marwijk Lambertus van Marwijk (; born 19 May 1952) is a Dutch Association football, football manager who is a member of the supervisory board for MVV Maastricht. As a player, he played for the Go Ahead Eagles, AZ Alkmaar, AZ, MVV Maastricht, MVV and For ...

. The 2010–11 season started as the previous season ended with Anita playing most matches as a left back. Ajax managed to qualify for the

Group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2005–06. Because of the poor team performances during the first half of the season, Martin Jol left Ajax in December 2010 and was replaced by Frank de Boer. He believed Anita should play as a defensive midfielder rather than left back. As a consequence, Anita had to compete with other midfielders for his place in the starting line-up. He successfully did so and managed to play most matches. The season ended with two finals against

FC Twente Football Club Twente (), sometimes known internationally as FC Twente Enschede, is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub E ...

. Twente won the KNVB Cup final with 3–2, but Ajax secured the

championship at the last matchday by winning 3–1. It was the first league title of Anita. In April 2011 it was announced that Anita signed a new contract at Ajax, binding him to the club until 2014.

Newcastle United

After Ajax had rejected Newcastle's first bid, the clubs eventually came to an agreement after the second offer from the English club of an undisclosed fee, thought to be around £6.2 million. He signed a five-year deal and took the number 8 shirt, last worn by Danny Guthrie. Anita made his debut on 18 August 2012, replacing Yohan Cabaye, as the Magpies defeated

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

2–1 on the opening day of the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

season. He made his first start for the club against Atromitos F.C. in the Europa League on 23 August, the game finished 1–1. He scored his first goal for Newcastle in a Europa League fixture against

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,042. They pl ...

at the

Jan Breydel Stadium Jan Breydel Stadium (, ) is a multi-purpose stadium in Sint-Andries, Bruges, Belgium. The city-owned stadium is the home stadium of two top-flight association football clubs and rivals, Club Brugge and Cercle Brugge K.S.V., Cercle Brugge. It is us ...

on 8 November. Anita scored his first league goal for Newcastle on 1 March 2014 in a comfortable 4–1 win away from home over Hull City, but the match was marred by controversy as manager Alan Pardew headbutted Hull player David Meyler. After Siem de Jong signed for Newcastle on 1 July 2014, the player revealed that both Anita and Tim Krul were very influential in persuading him to leave Ajax and join Tyneside. Under new Manager

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English football coach and former player who is currently the manager of the Jamaica national team. McClaren began his coaching career with Oxford United, before joining Derby County in 1995. In 1999 ...

, Anita became a regular in centre midfield during the 2015–16 season. In the first half of the season he played eighteen of the first nineteen games before on 28 December 2015 he picked up a hamstring injury against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

, which would keep him out for a lengthy period, the season saw Newcastle relegated to The Championship with Anita playing 28 games. He was played mostly at right back during the 2016–17 season, playing 31 games in all competitions, which saw Anita win the EFL Championship 2016–17 season and gain promotion to the

On 9 June 2017, Anita left Newcastle when his contract expired at the end of the 2016–17 season.

Leeds United

On 6 July 2017, Anita signed a three-year contract with

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. On 6 August 2017, Anita made his Leeds United debut at left back coming on as a first half substitute for the injured Gaetano Berardi in the 3–2 victory against

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. His first start came in the following game on 9 August 2017 in the League Cup 4–1 victory against Port Vale. Due to injuries to regular fullbacks including Luke Ayling, Gaetano Berardi and Laurens De Bock during the season, Anita was used as

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 ...

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

during the 2017–18 season, with

Talksport Talksport (styled as talkSPORT) is a sports radio station in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, owned by News Broadcasting. Its content includes live coverage of sporting events, interviews with the leading names in sport and entertai ...

's Billy Hawkins opining that Anita and De Bock "made appearances on the left of defence to little success". On 26 July 2018, Anita was not given a shirt number for Leeds for the upcoming 2018–19 season. On 2 September 2019, Anita's contract with Leeds was terminated by mutual consent.

Willem II loan

On 31 August 2018, he joined Dutch club Willem II on a season-long loan. He made his debut on 1 September 2018 in a defeat to

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

. In total, he made 27 appearances for Willem II in

. After returning to Leeds after the end of his loan spell, Anita held talks with

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

side Panathinaikos over a move.

CSKA Sofia

Anita joined Bulgarian club

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sports Club of the Army'' ...

in late February 2020, but only made two league and one

Cup A cup is an open-top vessel (container) used to hold liquids for drinking, typically with a flattened hemispherical shape, and often with a capacity of about . Cups may be made of pottery (including porcelain), glass, metal, wood, stone, pol ...

appearances for the team, as the championship was suspended in March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He cancelled his contract with the club prior to the resumption of the matches in June.

RKC Waalwijk

On 31 August 2020, Anita joined Dutch club

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 ...

for free. After initially leaving the club at the end of the 2020–21 season, on 26 August 2021 he re-signed for another season. He renewed his contract on 24 July 2022, another one-year deal.

Al-Orobah

On 23 June 2023, Anita joined

Saudi First Division League The Saudi First Division League (), currently known as the Yelo League for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of professional football in Saudi Arabia. It ranks below the Saudi Pro League and above the Saudi Second Division League in the ...

side Al-Orobah.

Volendam

On 16 January 2025, Anita moved to

on an amateur basis until 30 June 2025.

International career

Netherlands

Anita competed in the 2005 FIFA U-17 World Championship in Peru for the Netherlands U-17, where the Dutch came third. He has also represented the Netherlands U-19 and Netherlands U-21 teams. On 26 May 2010, Anita made his full international debut for the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 friendly victory over

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

. He made his first appearance in the starting eleven in a 1–1 friendly draw with Ukraine on 12 August 2010, being replaced at half-time by

defender Erik Pieters. Anita was included in the preliminary squad for the

in South Africa. However, on 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager

announced that the player would not be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the competition.

Curaçao

Anita, who had not appeared for the Netherlands in a competitive senior international football match, formally filed a one-time switch in 2021 to play for the Curaçao national team. He debuted for Curaçao in a 5–0

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

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

on 25 March 2021.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Ajax *

: 2010–11, 2011–12 *

: 2009–10 * Johan Cruijff Shield:

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Newcastle United *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

: 2016–17 European Selection U-18 * UEFA–CAF Meridian Cup:

FC Volendam *

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 ...

: 2024-25 Individual *

Team of the Month: September 2022

References

External links

Holland U19 stats
at OnsOranje
Holland U19 stats
at OnsOranje
Holland U19 stats
at OnsOranje {{DEFAULTSORT:Anita, Vurnon 1989 births Living people Footballers from Willemstad Curaçao men's footballers Curaçao men's international footballers Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers 21st-century Dutch sportsmen Dutch people of Curaçao descent C.V.V. Inter Willemstad players AFC Ajax players Jong Ajax players Newcastle United F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Willem II Tilburg players PFC CSKA Sofia players RKC Waalwijk players Al-Orobah FC players FC Volendam players Dutch expatriate men's footballers Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate men's footballers in Saudi Arabia Eredivisie players Premier League players English Football League players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Saudi First Division League players Men's association football fullbacks Dual internationalists (men's football)