The Kitchen Champion Division has been a breeding ground for domestic and foreign talents for decades and this season again many football players with potential are walking around at the second level. Football zone, the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division, highlights one of these talents every week, this time focusing on Xander Severina, who is experiencing his final breakthrough at ADO Den Haag in a difficult season. By learning from experienced wingers such as Eljero Elia and Ricardo Kishna, the 21-year-old winger has been able to develop enormously over the past two seasons.
By Wessel Antes
Severina was born in Rijswijk, the city where the main force of ADO has been training for several years at Sportpark Prinses Irene. The wing flash itself started playing football about three kilometers away at Sportpark Hoekpolder, near Semper Altius. At a young age it became clear that he has talent. “I have always been a real striker. As a child I loved to watch videos of creative players. My examples were Ronaldinho and Lionel Messi. I still love to watch Messi.” After the F-jes, Severina quickly made the switch to Sparta Rotterdam.
“I remember well how that went,” says Severina, who joined the Rotterdam youth academy in 2008. “A scout from Sparta came to watch and after the game he went to my trainer to ask if my parents were present. Then my brother Jason and I were allowed to participate in a talent day. He eventually dropped out, I was allowed to come and play at Sparta. At first I didn’t really realize that I was playing at a professional club, but over the years I did realize that. Especially because of the matches against Ajax and Feyenoord, those were really matches at a high level.”
In 2018, Severina’s dream of playing professional football fell apart. “When I had to make the transition from the Under 16 to the Under 17, I had a year in which I was injured for a long time. I almost didn’t play. That gave me the chance to stay with the Under 16, but not to play with my peers. After that year, Sparta thought that I had not developed enough as a player.” The Castle Club informed the left leg that he had to look for a new club, after which Severina joined amateur club HV & CV Quick in The Hague.
Severina as a Sparta youth player in a duel with Ajax player Paul Fosu-Mensah (in the background Jurriën Timber)
Severina had a hard time processing the departure from Sparta. “I thought for a moment: it’s done now. I had to start over again, at a new club. Back to the amateurs. Fortunately, Quick still played at a high level, so that was a conscious choice.” Finally, the attacker made the switch. “I still had two years in youth football and there are plenty of players who have become professionals from the amateurs. Even in old age. So I never gave up on that dream.”
In his second year at Quick, the then nineteen-year-old Severina played a match against SV Den Hoorn. An ADO scout stood along the line. “The club had just started with a new U21 team, ADO Under 21. After the match, I was asked if I was interested in playing at ADO. Everything went very quickly after that.” In July 2020, Severina made the switch from Quick to ADO, followed by his debut in the Eredivisie ten months later.
“I didn’t expect that at all at the time. In that year, the corona virus had the Netherlands in its grip. I had hardly played matches with the reserves team. In the six games with ADO Under 21 I did well, I had about six assists”, Severina remembers well. During a training with his own team, head coach Ruud Brood suddenly came to pick him up. “He told me that I had to train with the former. That was special. Since it came out of nowhere, I didn’t feel any tension. So it went really well, I think. My Eredivisie debut against FC Utrecht (1-4 defeat, ed.) I found exciting. I was then allowed to fill in after the break.”
Severina made her debut as a professional football player on April 4, 2021 at the Bingoal Stadium in The Hague
In his debut season, Severina played a second time during an away match at FC Twente. ADO was relegated from the Eredivisie that year. A level lower, in the Kitchen Champion Division, Severina mainly had to make do with raids in his first full season with the main force. “I had a little trouble with that. As a footballer you naturally want to play as much as possible. Fortunately, I can always count on my brother at such times. I also talk a lot about football with my mother and friends. That gives me something to hold on to. From that season I learned to be patient at times. My moment has finally come.”
Severina is now a regular basic player at ADO. The young man knows well what qualities he needs. “I am a fast and technical winger with a good kicking technique. My cross in particular is really a quality, I think.” Yet he also remains self-critical. “In the transition and on a defensive level, I have to contribute more. I still have a lot to learn. My right leg also really needs to improve.” In seventeen official games (in all competitions), Severina scored three goals and four assists this season.
ADO is currently in seventeenth place in the Kitchen Champion Division. “That is of course very difficult,” says Severina. “It all feels very double. Personally, I’m having a good season. I play everything, score my goals and provide assists, but at the end of the day football is about winning games. No one expected us to start the season like this. That hurts.”
The winger is very grateful for the opportunities he got from Dirk Kuijt. Severina learned a lot from the ex-international of the Dutch, he says. “He was of course a very great footballer himself and was regularly up front in the same positions as me. He helped me a lot during training sessions, for example during finishing. Then I got tips on how to finish. I really learned that from Kuijt.” ADO announced last Thursday that it would not continue with Kuijt as head coach. With Dick Advocaat, the club from The Hague will once again have an established name for the selection.
Severina during ADO’s away match at Telstar (0-0) this season
At ADO, Severina is now used to being on the field with big names. Former internationals such as Daryl Janmaat and Elia, among others, have been walking around in The Hague in recent years. Severina talks regularly with teammate Kishna, who played for big clubs such as Ajax, Lazio and LOSC Lille in the past. “He really helped me last season. It is a great experience to be able to play with guys like Elia and Kishna. At the training sessions I have to see what I can pick up from them. In the field of running actions, for example.”
In The Hague, Severina is still fixed until mid-2023. Recently made Football zone known that he enjoys interest from several Eredivisie clubs, including Sparta. Serie A clubs such as Sassuolo and Torino also keep a close eye on his performance. Severina herself says she is not concerned with that. “Now I just want to focus on my game and on ADO. I don’t know what my next step will be yet. I’ve already had talks with the club, but we’re not done yet. It’s up to me to develop myself and become even more important for the team. We now have to pick up the thread and take the road up.”
In the future, Severina could play international football for both the Netherlands and Curaçao. Many Dutch-born players preceded him in recent years with a choice for Curaçao. “I would certainly be open to that. If asked I would do so immediately. A good friend of mine, Nigel Thomas (Paços de Ferreira, ed.), also made that choice. I hear good stories from him, so I hope that opportunity will come for me too.”
Passport
Name: Xander Severina
Club: Ado den Haag
Age: 21
Position: attacker
Length: 185 cm
Number of matches: 34
Strengths: speed, technique, cross
Football zone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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