Ruben Kogeldans

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Ruben Kogeldans

Personal information
Date of birth	(1967-01-04)4 January 1967
Place of birth	Venlo, Netherlands
Date of death	7 June 1989(1989-06-07) (aged 22)
Place of death	Paramaribo, Suriname
Position(s)	Defender
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
????–????	VVV-Venlo	?	(?)
????–1989	Willem II	8	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ruben Kogeldans (4 January 1967 – 7 June 1989) was a Dutch

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

Kogeldans was born in Venlo. With his father as his idol he 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

, killing 176 of the 187 on board, including Kogeldans, making it the worst ever aviation disaster in Suriname's history. Among the dead 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. 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.

References

• Profile at Willem II (in Dutch)
• Kogeldans at AndroKnel.nl (in Dutch)
• Crash report
• Iwan Tol: Eindbesteming Zanderij; het vergeten verhaal van het Kleurrijk Elftal (
  ISBN 9020403664
  ) (in Dutch)