Ruben Kogeldans
Encyclopedia
Ruben Kogeldans was a Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

-Suriname
Suriname
Suriname , officially the Republic of Suriname , is a country in northern South America. It borders French Guiana to the east, Guyana to the west, Brazil to the south, and on the north by the Atlantic Ocean. Suriname was a former colony of the British and of the Dutch, and was previously known as...

 footballer
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

. During his career he served VVV-Venlo and Willem II Tilburg
Willem II Tilburg
Willem II , also known as Willem II Tilburg, is a football club based in Tilburg, North Brabant, Netherlands. The team was founded on 12 August 1896 as Tilburgia...

. He died at the age of 22, when on June 7, 1989 he was killed in the Surinam Airways Flight PY764
Surinam Airways Flight PY764
Surinam Airways Flight 764 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport in Suriname on a Surinam Airways DC-8...

 air crash in Paramaribo
Paramaribo
Paramaribo is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 250,000 people, more than half of Suriname's population...

. His father was also a footballer and was played for the Suriname national football team
Suriname national football team
The Suriname national football team is the national team of Suriname and is controlled by the Surinaamse Voetbal Bond.Although the former Dutch colony is located in South America, it competes in CONCACAF, together with Guyana and French Guiana...

. One of his passions off the pitch were the drums.

With his father as his idol Kogeldans was determined to succeed as a professional footballer. He was talented and was able to sign his first professional contract with VVV-Venlo. Media and fans were not convinced of his qualities and he received a lot of criticism from the media, but every time he was able to response with his feet. He was a strong defender with a lot of professional discipline in both the matches as on the training pitch. Among the Willem II fans he was a popular player and his status was still growing.

Kogeldans left VVV-Venlo and moved to Willem II Tilburg
Willem II Tilburg
Willem II , also known as Willem II Tilburg, is a football club based in Tilburg, North Brabant, Netherlands. The team was founded on 12 August 1896 as Tilburgia...

. Here he was no key player, but was occasionally used in their line-ups in which he performed well and again was able to response on criticism with his efforts on the pitch. He was invited by Sonny Hasnoe, the founder of the Colourful 11 to be part of the team and travel to Suriname to play in the "Boxel Kleurrijk Tournament" with three Surinamese teams. The Surinam Airways Flight PY764 crashed during approach to Paramaribo-Zanderij International Airport, killing 176 of the 187 on-board, including Kogeldans, making it the worst ever aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Among the deads were a total of 15 members of the Colourful 11, only three of them survived.

Ruben's parents still are in a process against the Surinam Airways
Surinam Airways
Surinam Airways is the national airline of Suriname, based in Paramaribo. It operates regional and long-haul scheduled passenger services. Its hub is at Johan Adolf Pengel International Airport.On 16 September 2008, Surinam Airways had 400 employees....

. Due to the mistakes made at the company they were not satisfied with the fact that they blamed the crew for their mistakes that caused the disaster.
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