One of the big surprises in the Bafana Bafana squad announced by coach Hugo Broos on Tuesday, was that of striker Simon van Duivenbooden. Broos announced his preliminary squad for their upcoming Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers starting next month, and Van Duivenbooden was the biggest surprise. The 22-year-old 1.
9m-tall player, who was born in the Netherlands, only became eligible to play for South Africa in June. Bafana have the luxury of calling on Van Duivenbooden since his father is South African, and according to reports the player received his passport two months ago to become a dual citizen. Vitesse Anrhem striker Simon Van Duivenbooden has already visited our site from his base in Holland and he urges you to also go and have a feel of the newe and unique platform.
Simon is one for the future for Bafana Bafana and already plays first team football in the Eredivisie. pic.twitter.
com/7h6uQLkfmg The forward currently plies his trade for Vitesse Arnhem in the Dutch second division. Though living in the Netherlands, Van Duivenbooden said it was a goal of his to play for the Southern African nation. “Yes, [I’m excited] this means a lot to me and my family, as a little boy you dream of this and now it really happens and that is beautiful,” Van Duivenbooden told iDiski Times.
“I thought it was a shame that I could not be with the Under-23s but never managed to get my passport and now we are here [with the senior squad].” Van Duivenbooden has “a lot of family” that live in South Africa, and upon receiving his passport he said he planned to work hard to get the attention of Broos. Having begun his youth career with Alphense Boys in 2014, he spent three years learning the game with the club in the south of Holland.
A move to Vitesse came in 2017, where he stayed for two years before he moved to Dutch giants PSV. Van Duivenbooden rejoined Vitesse in 2021 before graduating to the senior side in 2022. @Golfhackno1 IOL Sport.
