Virgall Joemankhan

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Virgall Joemankhan

Full name	Virgall Joemankhan
Date of birth	November 17, 1968
Place of birth	Amsterdam, Netherlands
Date of death	June 7, 1989 (aged 20)
Place of death	Zanderij Airport, Paramaribo, Suriname
Youth clubs
	ZRC/Herenmarkt AFC Ajax
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
????-1987 1987-1989	AFC Ajax Cercle Brugge	0 (0) 1 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Virgall Joemankhan (born November 17, 1968 - died June 7, 1989 in Paramaribo) was a Dutch-Suriname footballer. During his career he served AFC Ajax and Cercle Brugge. He died at the age of 20, when on June 7, 1989 he was killed in the Surinam Airways Flight PY764 air crash in Paramaribo.

Joemankhan was known as one of the most talented Dutch footballers and was said to have a great future ahead of him. He was playing in the Ajax A1 youth team together with his buddy Dennis Bergkamp. During this period he was brought into Ajax first team squad where he did not yet make his professional debut, but was sidelined on the bench. He returned to the A1 squad, but he and Bergkamp both were relegated to the A2 due to unprofessional behaviour. Where Dennis Bergkamp fought hard to improve his behaviour and his skills Joemankhan choose to leave Ajax and play for Cercle Brugge in Belgium.

While at Cercle Brugge he made his professional debut, but was still known as one of the players that liked to party. Buddy Tom Krommendijk, a Feyenoord Rotterdam player on loan at Cercle was the other one. Together they were often found in the Brugge and Amsterdam nightlife.

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 Joemankhan, 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.

Tom Krommendijk who returned at Feyenoord for the 1989-90 season was sent on loan to FC Twente for the following season. He would never play for Twente as he died in a car crash on August 25, 1990 when he drove his car against a tree, just over a year after Joemankhan's death.

Colourful 11 squad

Surinam Airways Flight PY764

Deaths: Degenaar • Doesburg • Van Dorpel • Fräser • Goodings • J. Haatrecht • Joemankhan • Knel • Kogeldans • Linger • Patrick • Scharmin • Veldman • Vijent • Manager: Stienstra • Survivors: De Haan • Lens • Nandlal

[edit] References

Joemankhan at AndroKnel.nl (Dutch)
Crash report
Iwan Tol: Eindbesteming Zanderij; het vergeten verhaal van het Kleurrijk Elftal (ISBN 9020403664) (Dutch)