According to The Athletic, the image of Dutch football has been damaged because many people in Dutch football have been involved in drugs recently. On Tuesday, former Premier League player and Dutch defender Ronnie Stam was sentenced to seven years...
According to The Athletic, the image of Dutch football has been damaged because many people in Dutch football have been involved in drugs recently.
On Tuesday, former Premier League player and Dutch defender Ronnie Stam was sentenced to seven years in prison for smuggling 724 kilograms of drugs. According to Dutch prosecutors, he is "not only a football player, but also a key player in the drug world."
In June this year, former Dutch international and Ajax winger Promes was arrested and extradited in Dubai. He was sentenced to six years in February last year for participating in the smuggling of more than 1.35 tons of cocaine. The drugs are worth an estimated street value of 65 million pounds.
These cases have also put Dutch football into reflection. In an interview with TA, Levchenko, chairman of the Dutch Professional Football Players Association (VVCS), said: "This is painful for Dutch football, it is not good for Dutch football, and it is not good for the Dutch national image. It is very heartbreaking to see so many talented players not understand that they are destroying our football image."
In 2022, former Dutch international David Mendes da Silva was sentenced to seven years in prison for assisting two batches of 179 kilograms of cocaine smuggling into the country. The case has a great impact on the player's former teammate Levchenko. Three cases involving millions of pounds of drugs and the jail of three well-known football players are shocking enough, but the problem goes beyond that. According to Dutch authorities, there have been many cases of active and retired players colluding with serious criminals in the past 10 to 15 years. These players have been involved in conspiracies of drugs, money laundering and game manipulation, some of which are even worse, involving weapons, shootings and deaths.
Levchenko said: "Some players are too close to criminals. They think they are friends, and that's the biggest mistake they can make. We often hear words like, 'Yes, but he is my friend, I've known him for the rest of my life'. And I would say, 'If he were your true friend, he wouldn't use your car to transport drugs, or let you carry a watch worth 1 million euros to different countries'. It could all come from some simple things. Things started, like, ‘Can I borrow your car? Can you help me keep these watches? Can you sign a jersey for me? Want to come to my birthday party? I will introduce you to other criminals’. That’s the beginning, once you step into it, you can’t get out again.”
Promes joined Ajax in 2019, and according to former Dutch detective Van Riuwen, he had witnessed the player with the well-known criminals. According to a document from the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office, Promez has connections with Piet Wortel, a famous Dutch underworld figure who was suspected of participating in a series of serious crimes. In addition to drug trafficking, he also suspected of shooting and killing former football player Kevin Maynard in 2019.
There is a culture in modern football where many players are keen to show off their wealth, which is seen as a good way to gain street reputation. In the process, luxury cars, jewelry and beauties are romanticized. Levchenko said he had asked the top Eredivisie players to reconsider what they posted on social media, but, anyone has listened?
In 2019, former Feyenoord and The Hague player Castrom were arrested at Amsterdam Airport for suspected money laundering of 2.2 million euros. Castrom has played 10 times for the Dutch national team and carried 139,000 euros on his body when he was arrested, claiming that the money was won through football, watch trading and at the casino. "It is considered cool to show off a stack of cash in the football team's locker room," his lawyer said at the hearing, and Castrom denied any misconduct.
Levchenko, 47, has settled in the Netherlands since the age of 18 and has played for six Dutch professional teams. Nowadays, he frequently meets players of different ages in various clubs, admonishing them not to repeat the mistakes of Stam and others: "Not only in the Netherlands, I have seen similar situations in Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia, but for Dutch football, it is a heartbreaking story because the world is paying attention to the Netherlands. We visited clubs and talked to the players and their parents. We found that the younger generation was not very considering the future, they only focused on the present moment: 'If I do this (crime), I can make a lot of money.' This is really unwise. We told them: 'Young guys, one step is wrong and your career is over. Don't be stupid, don't think it's an easy opportunity to make money, and the risk of being caught is very high.'"
