Job Komol

Job Jean Black Komol Ngolo Boue Kouch (born 1 December 1981 in Douala)[1] is a Cameroonian football defender.

Komol played at Rail FC in Douala[2] and was spotted at a youth tournament in France with the Cameroonian youthsquad by Jan Streuer who brought him alongside Émile Mbamba and Soné Masué Kallé in the Vitesse youth-academy in the Netherlands in 1997. Komol was doing well in the youth and in the second team and he was training with the first team.[3] On November 15, 2000, Vitesse chairman Jos Vaessen announced that Komol tested positive for HIV .[4] Komol was the first player in Dutch football with HIV and this caused a shock. Clubs started testing their players and question arose if the disease could be transmitted during the game. Meanwhile, Komol's playing license was suspended by the KNVB. Research showed that the risk of transmission during the game was less than 0.1% in Komols case.[5]

He was allowed to play again but the treatment of his disease prevented him to break in the Vitesse team again. His disease got Komol a permanent residency in The Netherlands. In 2005 he had an unsuccessful trial at Go Ahead Eagles and he played in the 2007/08 season at De Bataven in the Hoofdklasse. In 2008 he started playing at lower amateurside SMC[6] and since 2010 he plays at vv Erica'76 which merged to VV Dieren in 2012.

References

  1. Ook toptalent strandt soms onderweg, Trouw, 22 November 2008
  2. Vitesse: speler met hiv besmet, NRC Handelsblad, 16 November 2000
  3. `Besmettingsgevaar sporters is nihil', NRC Handelsblad, 21 November 2000
  4. Ook toptalent strandt soms onderweg, Trouw, 22 November 2008