The Kitchen Champion Division has been used as a nursery for national and international talents for decades and this season too, many football players with potential are walking around on 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 Tijjani Noslin, who got the eagerly desired chance in professional football thanks to the lessons of Wesley Sneijder and Mounir El Hamdaoui at TOP Oss.
By Chris Meijer
Tijjani Noslin shuffles across the KNVB Campus, where a faint sun does not beat a bleak wind. “Come on, I know a place,” says Noslin. He beckons as if the national training complex in Zeist, where TOP Oss has pitched his tents for three days, is slowly becoming his second home. With his eyes glittering like a child in a candy store, he steps into the hall of the training center, a space that breathes football and especially the Dutch. “Here I am”, he points to his place at the end of the table, which has already been set for the lunch of the TOP Oss players. “I have never experienced such a training camp. I enjoy moments like this, you have to make the most of it. It’s only been three days, but this will stay with me forever. It’s the life of a pro and that’s what you dream of, right? From professional football.”
However, it took a lot of perseverance, labor and patience for Noslin to get to this point. He played for the amateur clubs ASV Arsenal, SC Buitenveldert and AVV Swift before he got his first chance in professional football at the age of fourteen at FC Den Bosch. His first pro adventure was limited to one season, followed by a second chance three years later. At FC Twente he was also part of the Under-19 for one year. “I didn’t play very much at Twente and I know how to behave towards teammates and the coach. You always have to stay positive and work even harder, because you are sitting on the couch for a reason. The more questions you ask and ask for help to see what it takes to play, the greater the chance that you can play once. And then when you get the chance to play, you have to show it.”
“I took a step twice and then had a setback. But I do work for it, you know. That is the most important. You have to keep working. Mental strength, discipline and a positive attitude are the most important in football,” continues the 22-year-old striker, who can also play as a wing attacker. After his departure from FC Twente, he took a step back to the amateurs of Hercules, where as a second-year A-junior he could immediately join the first team that played in the Third Division. A good level, but also a culture shock for an eighteen-year-old boy with the ardent ambition to become a professional football player. “Most guys work next to football, have a beer or smoke after the game. I am not of that, because I have always kept dreaming. That was not always easy, because you are drawn into it anyway. In that respect you try to keep your distance, although I did enjoy staying after the game. Then I was happy with a drink of water.”
The experiences in amateur football also eventually helped him towards a professional life. “For many boys, the step from youth to senior football is a very big one. I have been playing in senior football for four years now and I can use those experiences here, it makes the step less big.” Still, Noslin acknowledges that as the years passed, doubts about a future in professional football grew slowly but surely. “I was a youth trainer, I also liked that. After all, you are involved in football and you can help other people to the right level. Of course I also worked and I went to school, you start to think differently. The longer you stay away from your goal, the more your goals will change. At some point I thought about whether it would still work.”
The fact that Noslin managed to make it to professional football is partly due to the choice he made after three years at Hercules. He seemed to go to Sportlust’46 and completed an internship at Noordwijk, but ultimately chose DHSC. In the Utrecht big league, he was suddenly on the field with Wesley Sneijder and Mounir El Hamdaoui. “I was shocked when I saw Wesley in the beginning. He was definitely someone I looked up to. The same goes for Mounir, we used to imitate those boys in the schoolyard. Wesley automatically takes you into the group, he talks to you in a friendly way. He was an assistant coach at DHSC, but before every training he took his football boots with him to play football. If I made a run that nine out of ten people don’t even see, he would give a perfect through pass over the defense that all I had to do was run into it. I didn’t even have to shout. The first training with Mounir we did small batches. He put every ball in the corner with the outside of his foot. Cross with outside right. Abnormal to see how far along they are in level. At some point, Ismaïl Aissati also joined. I did enjoy that immensely. It also gives me energy or strength to grow again, they helped me with that.”
“Wesley said very early on, ‘I see potential in you, I really think you can make it’. If Wesley tells you that you can’t do anything about it, you’ll think differently,” Noslin laughs. “I got a lot of advice from him, he told me what I can do better and how things are in football. You can’t spend a single day thinking: should I go back to playing football. No, you always have to have the mindset to go back to it, to want to be the best and prove that you belong in the grassroots. ” With El Hamdaoui, Noslin started talking in the locker room of DHSC. The former striker of Tottenham Hotspur, AZ, Ajax and Fiorentina, among others, settled down as a football player at the Utrecht amateur club, a leisure activity in addition to the work he picked up after his professional career. One of those activities is MEH Sports Agency, with which he represents various players together with his partner Juanito Sequeira.
“At one point he called me if I still wanted to make it to professional football and told me that he intended to guide me in that. Mounir and Wesley decided together that they were going to help me make it to professional football. I did an internship at Telstar for a while, but TOP Oss came very quickly after that. In terms of system and environment, that suited me best,” explains Noslin. In two internship matches, he forced a contract on an amateur basis with TOP Oss. “You have two games and it could be just two days when the net doesn’t go well. I’m glad they gave me the chance and it’s now up to me to prove myself further. That one time you roll six, you have to seize the opportunity. That has now happened and I hope I can hold on to it. I have to work harder to get even further and develop myself. I think there are still two hundred, maybe five hundred guys in amateur football who can make the step. I’m glad I’m the one who got this chance.”
The first weeks in professional football were difficult for Noslin. “I often trained extra for myself and by playing football with better players, you automatically get better yourself. As a result, I can relate quite well to the level. The longer I do that, the better my qualities will emerge. I think and hope that this is the same if you make the step to the Eredivisie at some point. If you work hard and keep training, it will work itself out,” he puts into perspective calmly and in a balanced way. His preparation is ultimately going well, including two goals in the 3-2 lost practice match against sc Heerenveen. “You want to get there eventually. Or maybe even higher, if you can dream further. But that is the target you want to work towards. It gives confidence, for sure. The trainers (Bob Peeters and Marcel van der Sloot, ed.) and the director (Peter Bijvelds, ed.) also express confidence, they give me the time and space to develop further. First I want to play as much as possible next season, deliver goals and assists and finish as high as possible with the team.”
Name: Tijjani Noslin
Date of birth: July 7, 1999
Club: TOP Oss
Position: rush hour
Strengths: speed, technique, focus
Voetbalzone is the official media partner of the Kitchen Champion Division
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