Brian Pinas

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Brian Pinas (born December 29, 1978 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch professional football player of Surinamese descent. He is a left-footed winger.

Pinas started playing football at DHZ, an amateur football club in the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. He actually started as a goalkeeper, but discovered soon enough that he was better at other positions on the field. Oddly enough, Pinas was discovered by Ajax, and not their rivals Feyenoord, the biggest team in Rotterdam, where Pinas was living. But due to the distance being too long between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Pinas soon did move to Feyenoord.

In 1996, when Pinas was playing for the reserves of Feyenoord, he was discovered by Newcastle at a youth tournament in Groningen. Pinas would stay in Newcastle for two seasons, in which he made a few appearances for the first team as a substitute. Brian Pinas eventually returned to Feyenoord because of the lack of playtime and the departure of his best friends at the team, Faustino Asprilla and Jon Dahl Tomasson.

Having returned to Feyenoord, Pinas soon made it to the A-team under the influence of coach Leo Beenhakker. But despite his move from the reserves to the first team, Pinas never managed to get more than a few chances as a substitute. Knowing that he wouldn't really get more playtime, Brian was loaned to Excelsior in 1999. This time, Pinas soon became a key player. At the end of the season, teams as Twente and Willem II were interested in buying him, but then Pinas suffered a serious knee injury. Eventually, Pinas would stay at Excelsior for two more seasons, until Feyenoord would get him back in 2002. This situation would only last for a few months, because Pinas noticed that he wasn't getting the playtime he wanted, and he was again loaned to Excelsior.

In 2003, Brian Pinas was transferred to FC Groningen where things all started well for Brian, until the team started playing with 2 attackers in stead of 3. When Brian Pinas' chances of playing decreased, he was offered a trial by the Belgian team Cercle Brugge, who were desperately seeking for a left-footed winger. Pinas immediately convinced the management of the Belgian First division team and he was offered a contract. Cercle Brugge supporters were pleased with the skills of Pinas, but these solid performances weren't constant enough. As a result, Pinas became rather uncertain of his place in the first team. In late August 2006, Pinas was sold to NAC Breda.